Ultimate Bitcoin Thread
Hello MM community, welcome to your one-stop shop for all your Bitcoin questions. We've had some fruitful discussion elsewhere on this forum but MM and I wanted to make one single thread where users can easily find answers to all of their Bitcoin questions.
Here are the most important facts you need to remember about Bitcoin:
- Two steps! If you don't already have Bitcoin, there are two steps that you must take. First you must exchange dollars for Bitcoin, and then you must send the Bitcoin to us. Many exchanges, most notoriously Coinbase, make you wait on the first step before you can go on to the second one, so watch out for that.
- Copy and paste! If you get very comfortable with the Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V (Cmd-C and Cmd-V on Macs), then everything about sending Bitcoin will be much easier. If you copy and paste both the wallet address for your order and the exact amount of Bitcoin requested, everything will go much more smoothly.
- 1 order, 1 wallet. Every new order you place with our site has its own unique wallet address associated with it. Make sure it lines up every time! If you try to pay a new order using a wallet address from an older order, the payment won't process correctly.
- Bitcoin Cash is NOT Bitcoin! Many exchanges now offer to sell you Bitcoin Cash (BCH) in addition to Bitcoin (BTC). They are not the same thing! If you send BCH to a BTC wallet you will throw your money away. Don't let this happen to you, if you have any doubts about the currency you're sending, check with me first.
Thanks for supporting us!
-MB
Comments
Awesome great idea!
So I guess everyone's having a pretty easy time with Bitcoin right now. Great!
Can I ask a poll of the group? I'm very curious to know why so many of our customers are choosing Coinbase, which is in my opinion the very worst Bitcoin service there is. MM and I have gone through the site, looking for any link or reference to them that we can find. We're pretty sure we have erased all links and references to Coinbase, yet our customers are still choosing them more than any other service.
This is bad for our customers and it's bad for us. Does anyone know why so many folks are choosing the worst option there is? Is there anything we can do, more than we already have, to steer customers away from Coinbase?
Any insights? Thanks in advance.
If it helps. I would promote Coinmama for the ease of use and the quickness of processing orders. I haven't used any other service, but I did research a few of them and found CM to be the best for me.
What are some of the issues with CB?
I chose it when I first got here because it was recommended on the website at the time. But they hosed me by keeping the funds tied up for over 2 weeks. I think people choose it cuz to me it’s becoming the McDonald’s of bitcoin and newbies don’t know better.
Once I got a little smarter I jumped to a software wallet with Glidera to buy the coin. But they held funds too.
Now I use cashapp to add debit funds in real time AND buy bitcoin in real time. Then transfer it to my BRD wallet, then off to MM. It’s the magic bitcoin bullet 👍
*Coinmama doesn’t support all US states.
Coinbase is the first I ever used and it's so easy to use that I've just stuck with it. Plus I've never had a problem with Coinbase. Payments sent and received in a matter of minutes. Perfect transactions everytime..?
Thanks so much for the responses! Any insight as to why some customers have instant, painless transactions while others are forced to wait while Coinbase holds their money hostage? I've seen some people forced to wait as long as 50 days! I could not in good conscience recommend any service that does that to people.
They claim the long hold times especially in the beginning are to reduce wire fraud and “are done with our best interests in mind” per their CS. But think about the interest they make off the holds, those pennies can add up to big dollars 😉 Sadly it’s probably all based on a buggy computer algorithm that predicts if a person’a money can be trusted or not. Hence all the hoop jumpin they make you do with photos and ID verification.
Bitcoin offers many barriers for entry that need to be eliminated for digital-currency to truly thrive. It needs to, and don’t get me wrong guys I love y’all and what you provide, but BC needs to shake its reefer madness status as a black market currency. The media propagandas this and its hurting the growth IMHO.
I tell ya cashapp asked for nothing and the fees to convert are low. No photos no license no bloodwork or DNA samples or teeth from your firstborn. As long as your bank lets a debit go through to them your Golden. No I don’t work for them 😆
I have had an account with Coin base for a couple of years and really never had a problem with it.
I find it easy to use.
Using my credit card (debit cards work too), I can buy bitcoin in about 2 minutes. If a bank account is used, it takes about 7 days.
Once I have my bitcoin, I can send it to the Medicine Man wallet or my trading exchange wallet in about 2 minutes.
Of course there are fees but everyone has fees and charges.
I prefer ease of use and am willing to pay the fees.
Don't use a bank account, use a card for instant purchase of bitcoin on Coin Base.
One other thing I'll mention; if I remember correctly, when you first use Coin Base, some of your abilities are hindered until you have had some transactions under your belt.
If you're new, you may have problems such as limited to how much you can buy/spend weekly.
That must be it. The credit card option is faster than bank account. Thanks, I'll spread the word!
I don’t use Coinbase, but I use Coinbase Pro (formally GDAX). Until recently trading was basically free, but now they charge 0.2%, which isn’t bad IMO. Sending and receiving is free of course. And deposits are free and show up in a few days to a week at most. I haven’t had any issues.
Okay... so... I THINK it may have been the first Bitcoin app that showed up in my App Store?? Or maybe I googled “bitcoin” and it seemed the least formidable and intimidating to me? It’s been a couple of years, but, knowing myself, I would’ve gone the path of least resistance. I don’t recall you guys steering me that way, though. You were the ones who popped my Bitcoin cherry, though... otherwise, I’d still be scratching my head while looking at business news and asking my husband “Explain what Bitcoin is again..??” I will say that it has been relatively painless and quick when I’ve used Coinbase for you guys ( the only reason I use it, in fact). I use my debit card and have never spent over $200 at a time, though, sooo... yeah. That may be why I haven’t encountered any obstacles or stalls. Is there one you guys recommend or one that is more convenient for you on your end? I certainly don’t mind checking it out and converting, if it’s easy for me.![]()
Somebody here mentioned CashApp which I had sitting on my phone but never used. I traded in Coinbase and then Glidera and never looked back. I buy coin instantly using CA via debit card and then flow the coin to my software wallet BRD and then off to Medman. Easy peasey and with low fees and zero wait time 👍
SativaSmiles - Same here, I hadn't explored bitcoin until I discovered these good people. I buy from Coinbase and use BitBuy for my wallet. So far, no issues, except for checking in with 'informed delivery' 5 times a day while waiting for my order. :-D
Well— I think I jinxed myself.
I just tried to buy what Bitcoin I needed for an order here TWICE because both times it said “Deposit Successful” ( or something like that) with the green check mark underneath, but no money has been added to my wallet OR taken from my bank account ( I used my debit card). First time I’ve ever had trouble. I just hope I don’t have $400+ suddenly taken on Monday or Tuesday, since when I call Coinbase and selection the appropriate option for this particular problem I get an auto response of “Our customer service agents are unable to help with deposit/withdrawal issues at this time”
What is that?? Going to download CashApp now! I’m leaving on a trip this coming weekend and am going to cross my fingers that the order can be placed, shipped, and arrive by Friday morning! I can’t go almost two weeks with no relief!! My last order ran out a lot quicker than it normally would, for some reason. I think maybe I wasn’t warming my vape oil properly or something...🤷🏼♀️
Funkynugz, what does BRD stand for?
BRD is a software wallet I use on my iPhone. BRD.com
Had to give up on bitcoin, I had too much trouble with it. Hoping a smoother way to purchase comes down the line soon
Tom, what's the point where you're getting stuck?
Hey medboy. So! Here's what I've figured out about using bitcoin to make purchases, and hopefully this can help the business (and the uhh... consumers):
I chose to use Coinbase like many other people on medicineman.is. The User Interface was very straightforward and trustworthy so it seemed like the best option. What is not apparent with them is that IF you use a bank account, you will not be able to access your funds immediately.
I transferred $95 into the Coinbase account in bitcoin at around $11,700. I had to wait 7 days to actually have access to transfer my money, and by then, Bitcoin had dropped to $11,400, so I couldn't afford the purchase at that point.
So then I figured, I'll just transfer a few extra dollars into the account, then I'll have the amount I need. ****Even on a small purchase**** Coinbase charged me a substantial fee and it will still take 4 days to access the additional Bitcoin. So I'm just hoping by then, it wouldn't've dropped anymore.
I also looked around for discount codes to see if I could just take off a tiny amount of the total so I could make the purchase to no avail.
Note for the users: Don't use coinbase and make sure the crypto software you are using doesn't have a hold on transferring to accounts.
Note for Medboy: Please give me a coupon so I can make my purchase before I leave town!!!!
Note for Med-Man: Please use this information to further steer people away from Coinbase and softwares that require a transfer hold.
Please feel free to contact me with any further questions on the topic.
Best,
Lance O.G.
Thanks for the feedback, Lance. We have been trying to steer folks away from Coinbase but your experience suggests that maybe we need to try harder.
Coinbase is the easiest to use ! that I have found ,to this day ! You just have to have patients ! It takes time to understand it at 1st ! But iv been with Coinbase for over 2 years now ! and it only takes 15 minutes from start to finish ! I buy my bitcoins from Coinbase, send them to MM, and have my confirmation email that payment was received ! All with in 15 minutes ! Complete ! No stress no waiting ! And package is here in 3 to 5 days ! Make sure to use your debit card !!! Not back account ! Iv Never had 1 problem ever !!! Coinbase is the best I think !!!
A 1 stop shop and no stress !
Same here regarding Coinbase. Never had a problem. 15 minutes max from start to finish with every order just like Rella321 said.
Okay, one more time:
Don't use your bank account with Coinbase because it takes a week for your money to transfer.
Use a credit card/debit card to fund Coinbase because it's INSTANT.
I started using Coinbase over 5 yrs ago. Honestly, I have not always been happy with their service or fee's. I recommended a friend to this site and he likes using Coinmama.
Uphold is good, but the availability of your fund be the next 7 business day. Cash app is allowing you to buy and transfer instantly but you got less for your money. coinbase, naaaah, just forget about it.
I agree, Cash App seems to be the easiest option. Except only that it's a little tricky to figure out how to send BTC from their app. These instructions are very helpful:
https://cash.app/help/us/en-us/3106-bitcoin-withdrawal-instructions
I agree with @medboy, the Cash app is a little tricky in it's workflow at first, but I switched to Cash App and they've really made bitcoin usable for me. I tried half a dozen other methods over the years to use Bitcoin and it's the easiest.
CAVEAT - for the first month, I had horrible times transferring money from my bank to them. It would get denied over and over, and then work - it felt tied to the amount, at their (Cash App support) suggestion I would try odd and/or small amounts. Some would go through, some wouldn't.
Then one day, like magic, the curse was lifted and I can transfer money into Cash, buy Bitcoin, and send Bitcoin, and it's been flawless ever since.
Does anyone know how much bitcoin fees you to buy bitcoin and how much to send