Topic: completely new and need help please... (Read 943 times)

Online wallets like Xapo or coinbase are never recommended for holding big amount of bitcoins as they are online wallets where all your coins are under control of their own services, while using electrum would be good as it also works like bitcoin core but it does not require you to download all the blockchain in order to sync the data.

You can control your coins in Bitcoin core without needing to wait for the sync. It is not easy and you should test it (testnet or another wallet with small amounts) until you know what you are doing.

I can't give you a complete tutorial, but try searching by keywords. For more security you can use a Linux LiveCD btw.

(No need for an internet connection)
1. Encrypt and backup your wallet.dat (multiple backups is better and NEVER EVER FORGET YOUR ENCRYPTION PASSWORD)
2. Open Bitcoin Core Console (no need to be syncing. )
3. Export private keys (This is pretty complicated for beginners, but done in a few seconds by someone that is experienced. You will need help here or test it until you are safe)
4. Install Electrum wallet ( https://electrum.org/#download )
5. Import Private Keys from your Bitcoin Core wallet
6. Now you need to be online to let Electrum sync, which needs a minute or so.
7. Spend your Bitcoins.

Good luck

edit: To understand the main concept of Bitcoin I would recommend this one for beginners:
Bitcoin 101 - Quindecillions & The Amazing Math Of Bitcoin's Private Keys
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZloHVKk7DHk

Welcome to the community!  We all started somewhere.  Many of us have made our own mistakes and have learned from them.  Be careful....avoid the investments that are too good to be true---no matter how convincing they might be!  And, watch out for the altcoin markets....while there are some good investment opportunities, most are very volatile and full of deceptive people.

Got it.  Thanks again!

last advice.
anyone saying you can download a program that will increase your bitcoin holdings. or offers you a double your money. stay away. these days you need a special device to create new bitcoin by being part of another mechanism of bitcoins security.

apart from:
buying bitcoins from a legit service. (like you did via circle)
selling a product for bitcoin
working (job/starting a business) in exchange for a bitcoin wage,
which are other ways to legitimately get more bitcoin (just like any currency), anything else is just a scam.

dont be fooled by any of these get rich schemes suggesting you can get bitcoin for no effort.

Wow that's very helpful, thank you everyone for typing all of that out!  I guess I should have researched this better before trying to just dive in.  I appreciate everyone taking the time to explain all of this to me!

Yes, like Longbob says, there is no "better" or "worse" really.

"Light" wallets:

• Setup is fast
• Not as private as full node wallets
• Takes from the network, doesn't really give back anything
• No real double-spend protection

"Full node" wallets

• Setup is slow
• Better privacy
• Contributes to the network
• Best available double-spend protection

Web wallets

• Setup is instant
• Worst privacy available (still ok, the service has an incentive not to sell you out)

Web wallets are essentially a full node wallet running from the website, and the website provides the graphical front-end to let you use their full-node. But obviously, you have to tell the website (almost) everything about your Bitcoin wallet for that to work.


Ignore anyone telling you that Light wallets rely on servers: it depends on the wallet. The Mycelium light wallet, for example, does use it's own special servers, and if those go down, accessing the funds is a technical job. But if you used the Bitcoin Wallet light wallet, you'd never have that problem, as it uses any Bitcoin node on the network, not special servers.

multibit/electrum/mycelium are server linked wallets (lite wallets) where the server is synced up to the latest network data.
and you keep the private key.. but dont have to worry about being synced up yourself

coinbase/xapo/circle are web services (webwallets) where they are all synced up
and you are literally handing them the private key and using them to handle transactions on your behalf.

the downside of not having the full network data is that you are not part of securing bitcoin. you are just a bitcoin user.
it depends on how often you use bitcoin. and how deeply you want to be involved in it. and how much control, or ease of use you want, which will help you make your choice of what you use to transact with.

the downside of using a lite/web wallet is that if their server goes down. your left in limbo. atleast with lite wallets you can move the key to another wallet service/software when it happens.

the downside of webwallets. they have your keys. they could at some point just take your funds and pretend it was a hack. leaving you with nothing.

dont use webwallets as long term store. just use it as a temporary use within the hour to move funds.. generally stick away from web wallets

Multibit HD or electrum doesn't need to sync, that's why they're called light wallets. However multibit HD doesn't allow importing private keys or even sweeping (afaik).
Coinbase and Xapo pays the tx fee for you (they're the only web wallets that does this afaik), but you'll be trusting them to keep your money safe because the bitcoins will be fully under their control. If their service/site go down you bitcoins goes down with them too.

Are multibit hd or electrum a lot faster?  and are online wallets like coinbase and xapo a lot better?  How much faster would this have all been done had I used one of those other options?  Sorry for all of the newbie questions, just trying to figure this all out so that in the future I make the right choice.  Thanks for all of the replies.  

It depends on your download speed. Last 2 years of blockchain is above 50GB.

Thank you for the advice and warning, I really appreciate it.  I'm not using the online wallet for big amounts.  How long will it take to sync if it says 2 years and 35 weeks?

I sense this kind of post can attract scammers, so OP, if someone sends you a private message offering "help" in getting your coins quickly and asks for your private keys or backup file, do not send them anything, just ignore or report to moderators as scam attempt.

It's been confirmed, and you'll be able to use the bitcoins as soon as you get synced.

If you want to use the bitcoins right away without waiting for the sync to finish, do this:
1. Download and install the latest version of electrum from http://electrum.org/.
2. In your bitcoin core wallet,  go to Help > Debug window > Console.
3.1. If you have a passphrase type walletpassphrase "yourpassphrase" 600.
3.2. Type dumpprivkey "yourreceivingaddress".
4. Open electrum. If this is your first time you should see an installation wizard. If you don't see it, go to File > New/Restore. Now choose "Standard wallet" then "Use public or private keys. Enter the private key you got from bitcoin core. Done.

You can use multibit hd or electrum for faster usage. You can try online wallets like coinbase and xapo. But you must know this; online wallets is not secure 100%. Dont use online wallets for big amounts.

1Ckr8jDoC6xgSnGKemjhhpQg55duobhnmg

Transaction ID:
a582e02de82ee93b92f9301000b09b89036fc1912de7d0ac1b9860cda6362b89

You can check that this completed on blockchain.info

Best,

Rachel - Team Circle

Thank you so much for explaining that to me.  Now that makes more sense.  Sorry for not knowing this already

That "synchronizing with network... 2 years and 46 weeks behind" means that you're not synced yet. The tx id is what circle sent you when you contacted them.

i think you need to get synchronized and post your TX ID for further assistance

bitcoin core is not a bank and doesnt have a call centre
it is just a piece of software.

your bitcoin is not actually transfering from a single central service to another service. bitcoins are on the network every service sits around.
so
go to blockchain.info(a network transaction explorer) and type the transaction ID(TXID) into the search box to see if it shows the amount in bitcoin in green or red square.
if green then it is indeed confirmed to be in the destination. so you can relax..
if red then its not yet confirmed.
but circle seemed to have already checked the network for you, to say its confirmed. but still worth checking yourself to ease your mind.

as for using core. it takes a while for your computer to get all the 7 years worth of data of the network to then see the most recent data (which includes your recent transaction).
so you have to leave bitcoin core open for it to 'sync'

down at the bottom of core, you will see it tell you how far behind/out of sync it is and how much it has to go before being uptodate.

this does not mean the funds are in limo. all it means is that bitcoin core doesnt/cannot see the recent transaction yet to show it within bitcoin core.
you can easily get the private key out of core and use another service or wallet or software if you want to spend your bitcoin if you dont want to wait for core to sync.