Topic: If BitInstant is down, what is the best way to get Bitcoin in USA? (Read 3174 times)

localbitcoins.com are the best option

localbitcoins.com is a good source when you either want to do a low volume purchase to get your feet wet in bitcoins (while you wait to be approved at Coinbase/Bitstamp/etc) or you need coins in a hurry. The prices are higher of course, but the service is safe & fast with trusted sellers, like me .

I specialize in small volume sales, at the price of bitstamp +4-8% (depending on market volatility) and as I buy at bitstamp price, that is certainly a reasonable spread for the risk. I also have a 100% reputation rating. You can see my offers in my sig.

Come to think of it, that idea is so good I'm going to try and find one in Colorado Springs or make one if it doesn't exist.
Anyone else game?

To answer the OP, the best way to get it is to start a local club and evangelize the currency.
Linux had a similar problem in adoption when it first started and the answer were LUGs (Linux User Groups).

Start with localbitcoins.com and do some face to face trades. Get to know the people you're trading with, meet up for pizza and presentations.
Maybe we should have a term for that (BUGs) Bitcoin User Groups.  (*disclaimer, this might exist already an I just haven't seen it*)

Bitcoin currently has two problems it needs to over come before it can become a true currency (as in medium of exchange, not a speculative investment).
Those are, exchanging fiat into bitcoin and exchanging bitcoin into fiat.

The more people who accept and utilize it as an actual currency the less need there is for these 2 services and these problems eventually all but go away.
In the end we will probably end up with a couple of major exchanges than exchange into fiat and those are only used so people can pay government bills like taxes.

I would not be surprised to see governments move to adopt cryptos in the future.  However they will never give up central control of the money supply, so while they might be cryptographically secure and use the same algorithms, they will still be central issue.  Nevertheless once that step is taken, BTC and all it's babies will finally be able to be used as a full on real currency.

You should make sure to retain an attorney before you launch this. 
What you are talking about is the literal definition of money laundering.
KYC isn't a US requirement.  It's a world wide thing.  If you aren't collecting and retaining enough info to identify your customers to the feds (or tax authority of any country), then you will end up just like Liberty Reserve who had a very similar thing going on.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_Reserve
They weren't even in the USA and I don't think that even slowed the feds down.

Best to try and be legit.  No one should be using crypto's to try and dodge taxes there are plenty of loop holes in the US Tax code that no one needs to pay very much in taxes if they structure things correctly.  Plus it's above board, clean and legal.

This is exactly why you should not use exchanges like BitInstant, CoinBase, CaVirtex or MtGox!

Charlie Shrem is going to provide all financial records of his customers to the FBI and IRS.  Goodbye Bitcoin, Hello IRS.  Did you buy significant amount of bitcoin through BitInstant? Expect a knock on the door. Good luck.

Instead of using these government-compromised exchanges, try the anonymous exchange https://CoinChimp.com and the anonymous Bitcoin debit card https://BitPlastic.com

We do NOT store client information! 

Oh i see. Thanks. I'll give them a shot if they are the best option

ACH withdrawal from a checking account.

They are not actually a trading platform - they are a Bitcoin distributor. You order a given amount of bitcoins from them, they pull the funds from your checking account, and release the bitcoins you've purchased as soon as the ACH transaction clears.

hmm, yes kind of ironic. i guess if coinbase is the best way right now, i'll use it. How do you get money into their service? bankwire?

At current prices, $13 is about 6%.

Historically Bitcoin increases in price at a little over 6% per week on average, so buying from Coinbase instead of CampBX means you're buying at next week's prices instead of today's prices.

However you can't actually buy at today's prices from CampBX, because now the only way to get dollars into the exchange is to mail a personal check or money order.

How long does it take from the time you mail the check/MO until it becomes available in your trading account?

Approximately a week (depending on what day of the week you start from).

Funny how that works out, isn't it?

Remember that Coinbase locks in the exchange rate when you initiate the order, but with CampBX you can't do that until the funds clear.

tl;dr: If the price is trending generally up, just buy from Coinbase and don't worry about the spread because it's going to be a wash anyway. If the price is trending generally down, mail a money order to CampBX so that you buy at a lower future price instead of today's higher price.

Thanks. It's too bad that coinbase's price is about $13 higher than campbx :\

Coinbase or LocalBitcoins.

I had been using campbx with dwolla to fund it.

Now that Dwolla is no longer an option, what do we do in USA to buy btc cheaply and easily?

I've used www.Bitcoin-Brokers.org a few times. Pretty good service.

https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/buy-bitcoin-with-cash-deposits-at-most-banks-in-the-usa-with-bitcoin-brokers-237164

I was wondering about the tax implications myself. If I were to keep bitcoin as bitcoin and never convert it to US Dollars, would I have to pay taxes on it? And if so, how would I go about determining what I owe?

Or are taxes due only on "cashing out" to fiat?

Very key to do. Keeping track of your cost basis for your bitcoin is important, and something of a pain in the ass. When you sell, are you opting to FILO (first in last out) or LILO (last in first out), for instance, when you're doing multiple sales from a single address that you used when you bought bitcoin multiple times. There are going to be a lot of bitcoin folks being hit hard by the I.R.S. for failing to pay the capital gains tax they owe on cashout.

Thanks.

I was going to try Coinbase. But I would consider Campbx.

What is your opinion of Coinbase vs Campbx?

my volume will be about 20 btc

CampBX if you can wait and the volume works for you. Localbitcoins if you need them pronto or a Satoshi Square if there is one in your area.

I've started using bitcoin-brokers in seller mode.  I know I authorized several sales, and have no reason to believe that the BTC were not released.  Usually the same day a fiat deposit is made unless I have reason to wait for the deposit to go out of 'pending' mode in which case it would be early the next business day.

I thought about localbitcoins, but something was wonky with their certs (on my browser and machine), I live in a rural part of the country where there is not much interest, and for the hassle, I want to be doing volumes that are atypical on the high side.

I cannot vouch for Bitcoin Brokers, but will say that they seems responsive, active, and competent so far and things are working well for me.  Over half of the BTC I had up for sale has been converted into fiat in my bank account, and so far I have not been ripped off...or arrested...but it's been less than a week.

I also looked around to make sure that there was nothing illegal about depositing cash into someone else's bank account and it does not appear to be so.  Nor is Bitcoin in and of itself illegal, and in fact it's been pretty good to a lot of people who speculated in it over the years, and I take some amount of pride in having done so.  It's anyone's guess about how much longer a channel such as this will remain open.  I'm damn sure going to pay my taxes, and do keep accurate records for this purpose since I suspect that tax evasion would be the attack mode against people who are not doing money laundering or other illegal activities.

The main thread for the broker thingy is on 'services' as I recall.  It gets several conversations per day so it should be on the first page.  My main complaint at this point is that the operator(s) have not responded to my queries about escrowing their identity with a reliable agent such as John K. who seems pretty thorough about this sort of thing.  This failure imposes a limit on how much value I would be willing to risk with them at one time.

Oh ya...unfortunately for the buyer, I (and I think most other sellers) ask based on Mt. Gox prices plus or minus some percentage.  Buyers would likely prefer just about any other exchange be used as a basis at this point I would expect.  But it is possible to convert cash to Bitcoin in a pretty short span of time, especially if everyone happens to be checking their mail at the right time and there is no indication of fraud.

I have been using CampBX, mainly because I had money in my Dwolla account before MtGox stopped taking it.

They seem to be the lowest price per BTC but they also have a very low volume so if you make a huge purchase it would not be the lowest price anymore.