Topic: Tips for local transactions - page 30. (Read 816101 times)

some of these tips are really basic but some of them are quite good and helpful, and will surely help new traders

BitOnyx: It doesn't makes sense for you, because you have a smartphone, and can hook it into your bank. At some point, you have to have fiat. Some people don't have a bank. Some people have a bank, but could live in an area where btc is frowned upon. Some people have a bank, but their bank doesn't like bitcoin (many accounts have been closed even when doing nothing 'wrong', because the bank doesn't understand it). Some people live in an area with differing money laundering laws than others, and don't wish to be put under a microscope by anyone.

netbin: If your crypto is on anyone else's computer (like an exchange) then you can't be 100% sure of anything. Their computers could be top-notch, but an unscrupulous employee could empty it all. Long passwords are great to deter intruders, but don't help on an inside job. If it's on your computer, it's 100% up to you. Do you use Windows? Do you torrent anything? Do you visit web sites? Do you have effective malware filtering on your email? Do you follow good security practices? Do you live in a high crime area? Do you have outdated electrical wiring, or a wood stove (burn your house down)? Did you jailbreak your Iphone?

100% security is impossible, but we can eliminate the most likely things. If you use Windows, even though you keep your anti-virus up to date, there are *always* zero-day virii, that are not even known about by your virus profiles. If you are being security conscious, you should not let anyone (wife, kids, friends) use it that is not on your wavelength of taking care of things use your computer.

Unless you are a high-power day trader (and you are probably not) there's no reason to keep much fiat or crypto on any exchange. Offline cold storage with distributed backups is the safest way to hold your crypto.

Coinbase is to be commended for Americans, they have had to comply with AML/KYC laws for all 50 states. They are a convenient way to buy with ACH transfer, but only keep a small amount on there to buy things, or give/sell to friends/family, and move the rest off. They have an easy SMS method to buy, sell, send and check your balance, that works on any phone, and doesn't require you to install anything.

Good practices are using strong passwords for your crypto that you do not use anywhere else! Don't use that favorite one you use because it's easy to remember. Don't make your passwords any phrase from any book/song/movie/play. Dictionary attacks will try every word there is. There are attack dictionaries of song lyrics, movie quotes, Star Trek lines, and everything else. Pick a phrase that only means something to you, "When I was a kid, there was always SOMETHING I wanted to be older for."  Use the first letter of each word, and the punctuation, making it WIwak,twaSIwtbof.   and throw in a shift 567 (making %^&) at the end. Of course don't use that phrase, because this is public...

That's long enough, and random enough that it will certainly take more years to brute force (trying every combination of letters, and symbols) than you will have this computer, and maybe longer than you will live. As long as it's a phrase that means something to you, it will quickly be easy to remember.

Paper wallets are great as long as you can secure physical access to them. Truecrypt encrypted USB keys can be good as long as you trust the key to not die. Don't use it, make copies and keep them in multiple locations. Learn to use a Linux LiveCD to generate paper wallets, and crypto addresses. If you have a thousand-character password, it won't help if your Windows box gets a virus with a keylogger, they still get everything, everywhere  available from your PC. bitcoinfiresafe.com is good for long-term storage, QR codes drilled into metal blocks (no affilation, just a happy customer).

If you do all of these things you still aren't 100% secure, because there is no such thing. You will be very, very safe, however.

Local trading for bitcoin doesn't make sense. Even though it is possible i would rather expect to use normal ways and just use your smartphone for it.

If I have some Bitcoins just sitting in my Coinbase account are they 100% safe from being hacked into ?

If I have some Devcoins just sitting in my Cryptsy or Vicurex account are they 100% safe from being hacked into ?

Are there any simple and-or min-level-strategies-guidelines to follow-employ to ensure optimal BTC-DVC-LTC security for the alt-coin-exchanges, such as proper choice of passwords and any other high-security enhancing account profile measures-methods-choices ?

How did the seller get a hold of the BTC before the transaction was completed. Couldn't that kind of situation have been easily avoided ?

By the buyer sitting down with the seller in a safe open public area with lots of other people around such as inside the McDonalds restaurant.

And then releasing the payment of BTC to the seller through a laptop computer right then and there only after the transaction was completed.

I saw a post here some time ago, about a guy doing a face-to-face meeting for about USD $20k. He met in a casino. Plenty of cameras, obvious and plainclothes security people around, easy access to pro counterfeit testing (just change them for something else). People with a lot of cash there would not stand out like they would at a Starbucks.

My prediction is that more Bitcoins will be lost on the Exchanges than will be lost during face-to-face transactions.

There is much useful information in this thread, but for me, the general rules include:

• agree on price and procedures in advance
• meet in a neutral place with video surveillance and secure wifi
• verify that both parties have all the required Bitcoins and cash
• perform incremental transactions, exchange small amounts first
• if the other party wants to change the procedure, walk away
• never do a transaction with anyone who tells you that it will be used for something illegal

Good tips. Exchanges are safer.

Will few people, most won't like face to face,like me

i am using localbitcoin for selling/buying bitcoins. And i use bitcoin to purchase other coins in cryptsy.

thank you for this great post. Lots of good advice

good

Are there any other sites like localbitcoins.com that offer escrow services for local transactions?

That was my point I think

Not a good idea. A paper wallet that you didn't create yourself means the private key could be somewhere else as well.  The only way I would suggest using this idea is if the funds were swept to a new address that the buyer controls at the time of exchange.

I'd say just do some cold storage transferring. Put the money on a paper wallet with the private code on it, verify that the money is on it by letting them scan it, and when they get home they just transfer it to their own personal wallet.

I have started to do more blind transactions.  Using my bank for deposits (anyone buying)  and deposits to buyers' bank (anyone selling).  This is usually done with counter-parties I have done at least two complete orders with in person or using escrow service.

Basically, I offer trusted trading partners 10k sell limits and wholesale buy orders if they can complete 2 buy or sell orders with me.  Sometimes I have met before, other times I have never met at all.

Becoming a Trusted Trading Partner requires a level of trust on the buyers or sellers part.  Since transaction history is established and fraud reduced buy using the banks, blind transactions require the buyer or seller to send me the btc or usd to me first.  Cash, wire, checks, money orders, cashiers check, etc.  As long as the banks clear payments the btc will be released.  Sending btc is quick and verified via blockchain.  Sending usd is simple as making a deposit to any US bank (since I am in the US).  Although, international wire is also a possibility.

Saves time driving around and it's winter time, so I don't really want to meet anybody at all.  This is great if you want to go statewide, national, or international.

There is the option to do a local transaction, but phone a remote assistant to initiate the Bitcoin transfer.  This avoids untrusted WiFi.

I agreed. There is hac.king tools which can break wifi passwords so easy.

I highly discourage public WiFi...despite what most of these so called security expert clowns would have you believe the simple fact that a website uses HTTPS alone is not enough to shield yourself from someone capturing packets (assuming they know what their doing).