Silk Road forums
Discussion => Security => Topic started by: psychedelicinsight on December 02, 2011, 03:36 am
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I'm going to buy bitcoins from get-bitcoin.com directly from my bank account. Send it to my first instawallet, then tumble it through 4 or 5 more, then send it to my SR account.
I figured any more security would just be overkill, what do you guys think?
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I personally prefer to buy from get-bitcoin by cash via BoA or Chase > one or two Instawallets > SR, that way the only money link to me is through a surveliance camera at the bank I'm depositing cash.
I'm not certain how long you have to let btc sit in a instawallet before they are tumbled, or how/if they are, but my first time I was being super cautious and let them sit for a while and during that time the price of btc dropped 30% (a nice lesson but it cost me). I prefer not to link my real life bank account to btc in any way, but that's me.
I've said this before on the forums, but the most likely way you are going to get busted is through more conventional means (someone you told about SR talking to LE, seller getting busted by LE, package being intercepted, etc). btc seems like one of the safer parts of this equation to me.
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Wait, so you let BTC sit in an instawallet before they are tumbled? I thought you just transferred them to other instawallets.
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not sure if thats all necessary. your SR bitcoin address is anonymous, so no one knows that your coins are being sent here.
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Wait, so you let BTC sit in an instawallet before they are tumbled?
Letting them sit in an instawallet does the "tumbling". After a time, the specific coins you deposited -- the ones that may be traceable back to you -- will have been sent to others. Later, when you transfer your balance out of the instawallet, you'll be sent coins that were deposited by others in the interim.
I thought you just transferred them to other instawallets.
Transfering them *rapidly* through multiple wallets could result in your getting back some of the same coins you initially deposited, effectively defeating the "tumbling" effect.
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Oh, I thought the instawallet was where I store my bitcoins right after I buy them. Is this incorrect? Is that what the client is for?
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...your SR bitcoin address is anonymous, so no one knows that your coins are being sent here.
If the coins cannot be traced back to you -- you purchased them with cash, not a bank transfer -- *or* if Silk Road isn't compromised by LE, you're probably right. I like *knowing* my coins are untraceable so I do both (buy with cash and tumble).
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What if there are no chase or BOA branches where I live? As in, no branches within 50 miles. What is the second best option?
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Oh, I thought the instawallet was where I store my bitcoins right after I buy them. Is this incorrect? Is that what the client is for?
You can use either the Bitcoin client or an instawallet to recieve coins from your vendor. However, the coins aren't being "tumbled" with those of others while they sit in wallet.dat on your computer, of course. It's simply a personal preference.
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So instawallets are ideal because they tumble your coins?
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What if there are no chase or BOA branches where I live?...What is the second best option?
Bank transfer followed by tumbling -- however much tumbling makes you feel safe -- would likely be the fastest. USPS money order would be slower (due to the time your vendor will wait to make sure the MO is good) but is certainly more anonymous. Most anonymous would be cash by mail (very preferably by PriorityMail or FedEx), if your vendor accepts that. It's just a trade off between speed and anonymity, IMO.
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So instawallets are ideal because they tumble your coins?
Given enough time in the instawallet(s), yes, that should have the same effect as a tumbling service.
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I used GetBitcoins 3 times.
Go to their site and put in the $amount you want to purchase.
For the Bitcoin price I always put "market value" cause I wanted it NOW!
Then put an instawallet address in--bookmark that instawallet cause it's yours and yours only.
Then choose a payment option. The people at GetBitcoin will email you with instructions.
I used Western Union online with a credit card. It's fast and I got my transfer # and sent it to the folks at GB.
Within a couple of hours I had the btc's in my instawallet.
Here's where you could do a couple things:
get more instawallets and transfer various amounts into them and then, eventually to SR; or try Bitcoin Fog ( a TOR service)--I tried that once on my last purchase. Not bad, whatever amount you put in there and then eventually withdraw (to SR, I would think) they chop into small increments and deposit over an extended period of time (minimum 6 hours)--they do take a cut, but it's small; for me, transferring 50 btc's I ended up in SR with 49 and change.