Bitcoin

Out of context: Reply #1226

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  • allthethings0

    @ yuekit

    As near as I can figure, BitPay is a scam. All I was trying to do was pay BitPay $9.95 for a BitPay Visa card. I bought BTC at Coinbase and linked the accounts I'd opened at both. But when I tried to buy the card, the two accounts weren't linked after all...I needed to transfer BTC from Coinbase to BitPay. It ended up transferring some money, but not all I needed, and meanwhile the value of BTC was plummeting. It took three transfers, admittedly of a small amount of money...$19 and change I believe it was, which after a few hours was showing up as $14 and change...with each of the transfers taking mining fees...

    ...AND THEN when I tried to buy the card, it didn't recognize my password. I tried various permutations, but nothing. So I pressed "forgot my password," and 14 hours and counting later, I have received no email link to do so. There is no way to contact the company...no chat function, no email, no phone.

    So what was supposed to be simple, pay them $10 for a card, has been anything but. My bank account is less $20, and I have $14 in a BitPay account that I can't access. And I've spent several teeth-gnashing hours trying to figure this out.

    I'm thinking Bitcoin has its own problems beyond this one company's scam, which is why I wanted the card in the first place. I went in this direction to avoid my book's $60 charge to send winnings via FedEx. But if I do that, when I get a check it will be the same amount that I expect. Buy Bitcoin and it's like participating in the most fraudulent exchange on the planet, but even worse...if you're in a foreign country and your hotel rips you off exchanging your currency for the local currency, well, you've been ripped off but you have the bills in your hand. With BTC, you make the exchange and then every half hour the hotel employee shows up wherever you've gone with your exchanged money and grabs some more of the bills out of your hand.

    My girlfriend said, "Couldn't the value of your BTC go up one of these days, and then you'll have $30 instead of $14?" I guess, theoretically. Probably the mining fees would go up too in that case.

    allthethings 0Permalink
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    • Bitcoin is like a gain magnet for all the worlds sleazy scammers, marketers and greedy thefts.shapesalad
    • Download a digital wallet to your phone (Copay, Bread, etc.) and have your book send the bitcoin to that address. You dont need (or want) a BitPay visa cardridg0026
    • And if you want it ready to convert to $USD, then just keep your bitcoin on a respected exchange like Gemini or I guess Coinbase (personally I'd hold it)ridg0026
    • They left out (I think) the biggest vulnerability. Sloppy security, or outright fraud on exchanges, and market manipulation. It destroys the public trust.monNom
    • Aww man... That was for the post with the table below.monNom
    • @ ridg0026 I downloaded a digital wallet to my phone; get an error message when I put in my "spending password"allthethings
    • The main thing is, I want to turn BTC into USD, and I want to do it quickly so that if I'm sent $2,000, I have $2,000 to spend and not $1824 or somethingallthethings
    • Coinbase takes a fee to exchange and send to your linked bank account, but they don't tell you how much they'll chargeallthethings
    • Personally I avoid Coinbase for that exact reason, but they're generally the most often used 'on-ramp' for ppl new to crypto. Gemini is a very reputable exchangridg0026
    • and I recommend getting a verified account on there. I've never had issues quickly selling or storing bitcoin on there. as for your wallet, which did you get?ridg0026
    • So you're saying Gemini has listed and low fees? I don't have the faintest idea what kind of wallet I have...I believe I mentioned I'm 56? Am cluelessallthethings
    • Yea Gemini is only like .25% or something. https://gemini.com/ If you want to email me from my profile, I can try and help you out.ridg0026
    • Failing to see an email there mate, but thanks. The BitPay Card purchase just went through so maybe I'll try that and find out about fees the hard way.allthethings
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