Silk Road forums
Discussion => Security => Topic started by: ascent5154 on December 25, 2012, 03:36 am
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I'm still new to bitcoin transactions and am confused.
It seems simple to purchase bitcoins with the cash deposit option using the money gram system at places like CVS. However, I am very concerned about the security of sending the bitcoins directly to my silk road account.
If I send the bitcoins to an email address, how do I retrieve them and resend them from that address? Is this safer? I also don't understand how to use instawallet. I'm afraid I'm going to do something stupid and lose all of my bitcoins or get tracked by the authorities.
If there are better ways to purchase bitcoins please share them with me (and explain clearly).
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You don't send coins to an email address, but rather a bitcoin address. You should have instawallet (https://www.instawallet.org) on your PC which is kept online. Back up the wallet URL in case something happens as it's the key to your wallet? Instead of sending coins directly to SR, make sure you give your instawallet bitcoin address to the cashier where your depositing your cash. Then enter your SR bitcoin address into your instawallet , where it says Send Payment
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Sigh....
Where in the world did you read anything about an email address? You send bitcoins to a wallet. Instawallet.org is a website which provides throw-away wallets. Each time you go to instawallet.org a new address is generated for you to use and you can send bitcoins to that address.
There are tons of posts about bitcoins and security, UTMFSE.
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On the bitinstant page I saw an option that said "bitcoins to email", but if nobody is familiar with this method then I won't try it.
I know about instawallet but I'm not sure how to use it safely. Every time I access the site it gives me a different random bitcoin address and I see no options for downloading or anything. I see that I'm supposed to copy the bitcoin address, but how would I access the wallet after transferring bit coins to it?
And also, are people still getting asked for ID when using bitinstant because I'm planning on using fake information and making an excuse about not having ID on me.
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You don't send coins to an email address, but rather a bitcoin address. You should have instawallet (https://www.instawallet.org/w/qMcSnQCqeqCndAlxeYXjXg57vH2EHXA) on your PC which is kept online. Back up the wallet URL in case something happens as it's the key to your wallet? Instead of sending coins directly to SR, make sure you give your instawallet bitcoin address to the cashier where your depositing your cash. Then enter your SR bitcoin address into your instawallet , where it says Send Payment
IMPORTANT: The above URL is for a specific Instawallet account. So as it's now publicly known please do not anyone use it or else you will loose whatever coins you put in it. If you want to use Instawallet go to https://www.instawallet.org. The /w/qMcSnQCqeqCndAlxeYXjXg57vH2EHXA part is essentially the access key.
Wadozo, not sure why you posted the address of a specific wallet? Someone who does not understand how it works might actually use it, and then get cleaned out by anyone else who knows the URL - which is now everyone who reads this post. Not very responsible...
BG
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So as long as I'm the only one that knows the URL I don't have to worry about being cleaned out? I saw a couple recent posts of people complaining that their bitcoins didn't show up in their instawallet. Should I have to worry about this happening to me?
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You don't send coins to an email address, but rather a bitcoin address. You should have instawallet (https://www.instawallet.org/w/qMcSnQCqeqCndAlxeYXjXg57vH2EHXA) on your PC which is kept online. Back up the wallet URL in case something happens as it's the key to your wallet? Instead of sending coins directly to SR, make sure you give your instawallet bitcoin address to the cashier where your depositing your cash. Then enter your SR bitcoin address into your instawallet , where it says Send Payment
IMPORTANT: The above URL is for a specific Instawallet account. So as it's now publicly known please do not anyone use it or else you will loose whatever coins you put in it. If you want to use Instawallet go to https://www.instawallet.org. The /w/qMcSnQCqeqCndAlxeYXjXg57vH2EHXA part is essentially the access key.
Wadozo, not sure why you posted the address of a specific wallet? Someone who does not understand how it works might actually use it, and then get cleaned out by anyone else who knows the URL - which is now everyone who reads this post. Not very responsible...
BG
Thanks BlueGiraffe for picking up my mistake. Just to clarify, this address was NEVER USED for anything and was as an example only, however looking back, I should have just posted https://www.instawallet.org and left it at that. Sorry if I confused anyone by doing this. +1 BG.
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So as long as I'm the only one that knows the URL I don't have to worry about being cleaned out? I saw a couple recent posts of people complaining that their bitcoins didn't show up in their instawallet. Should I have to worry about this happening to me?
Pretty much yes... If you read their FAQ: https://instawallet.org/static/faq They directly talk about security concerns... Basically there are sooo many wallets that finding one with coins in it would not be worth the time...
That does NOT mean you should use it like a bank account or other type of wallet, generally people use it for temporary storage and transfer coins out short after deposit into the instawallet. You then go to the site again for a new one when needed.
I was one of those posters, a few days ago instawallet seemed to have technical issues where the site and wallets weren't updating. Instawallet received the coins but their server didn't update the wallets. It was resolved in less then 24 hours and coins were in the wallets. Interesting note, I transferred my coins out of the wallet and they were NOT mixed, many people say instawallet does some mixing, but I was able to trace it with blockchain (1 record direct transer, no mixing at all). I would guess this also had to do with the technical issues.
From other internet searches seems like something similar happened last month, but many people have used this service for a while...
You get what you pay for, it's a free service. If you want something more reliable, maybe blockchain or bit coin fog is better for you.
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Is it really worth the hassle of using a wallet when you can just send them straight to SR? Doesen't SR tumble anyway?Is this a big security concern?
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Is it really worth the hassle of using a wallet when you can just send them straight to SR? Doesen't SR tumble anyway?Is this a big security concern?
Risk is a personal decision, though my personal opinion is that if you are able to buy btc without giving any personal information or links to you (aka cash via bank deposit or westernunion and the like), then direct to SR is just fine. If you happen to have more legit uses for BTC and have accounts for other uses, it might be worth sticking with that and using a mixing/wallet service.
Though the cash to btc is pretty easy and quick in most cases, no matter what you can use that.
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Is it really worth the hassle of using a wallet when you can just send them straight to SR? Doesen't SR tumble anyway?Is this a big security concern?
Risk is a personal decision, though my personal opinion is that if you are able to buy btc without giving any personal information or links to you (aka cash via bank deposit or westernunion and the like), then direct to SR is just fine. If you happen to have more legit uses for BTC and have accounts for other uses, it might be worth sticking with that and using a mixing/wallet service.
Though the cash to btc is pretty easy and quick in most cases, no matter what you can use that.
If I send bitcoins directly from a bitinstant cash deposit to my silk road address, would anyone be able to know that it is a silk road address?
I thought that the whole point of bitcoin is that it is an anonymous currency so I don't see why I would have to put it trough several wallets and a tumbling service before I finally buy something illegal on here. I also would be strictly a buyer and not get anything worse than a few grams of cannabis or ritalin pills. However, I don't want to take any stupid risks with my anonymity and freedom .
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If I send bitcoins directly from a bitinstant cash deposit to my silk road address, would anyone be able to know that it is a silk road address?
Maybe but highly unlikely, read up on address' here: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Address
The bit-coin currency allows and encourages different addresses for each transaction, to the point where you can create your own addresses even offline and it only is in the system when coins are sent to it (at least according to that wiki). Then the receiver would go online and IP would be recorded. The danger is that bitcoins track IP and transactions for a long time, they can be tracked, but to what? Cash or a mixing service?
So if SR reused addresses and didn't cycle their IPs or something it could be tracked after the fact I suppose but if you used cash untied to you OR mixers you then are safe again... Unless SR is completely compromised and somehow can track back coins in your account (SR mixes btc anyways).
BTW you can change your SR bitcoin address when ever you want, just go to your orders page.
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BTW you can change your SR bitcoin address when ever you want, just go to your orders page.
You should use a new bitcoin address for each and every transaction you make. Making a habit of doing this is highly recommended to minimize any potential risks.
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BTW you can change your SR bitcoin address when ever you want, just go to your orders page.
You should use a new bitcoin address for each and every transaction you make. Making a habit of doing this is highly recommended to minimize any potential risks.
I could not agree more. Deposit-----> mix -----> secured wallet for storage ------> mix ------> SR ----------> Enjoy! ;)
When removing funds, simply reverse the order.
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You don't send coins to an email address, but rather a bitcoin address. You should have instawallet (https://www.instawallet.org) on your PC which is kept online. Back up the wallet URL in case something happens as it's the key to your wallet? Instead of sending coins directly to SR, make sure you give your instawallet bitcoin address to the cashier where your depositing your cash. Then enter your SR bitcoin address into your instawallet , where it says Send Payment
The URL of the wallet ((https://www.instawallet.org/w/**************)) is permanent or does it last for a few hours?
I read in the FAQ, that if you forget the URL or in case you lose the back up, you can just check the browser history and find your wallet again. - Is that right?
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The URL of the wallet ((https://www.instawallet.org/w/**************)) is permanent or does it last for a few hours?
I read in the FAQ, that if you forget the URL or in case you lose the back up, you can just check the browser history and find your wallet again. - Is that right?
Not sure how long they keep their address', I know the one I used was available for at least 2 days. Though I had another link which had no activity for 3-4 days and was unavailable.
The point is, if you want something more permanent, use a real wallet, if you just want to hop funds quickly (say within 24 hours), instawallet is a decent service.
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You don't send coins to an email address, but rather a bitcoin address. You should have instawallet (https://www.instawallet.org) on your PC which is kept online. Back up the wallet URL in case something happens as it's the key to your wallet? Instead of sending coins directly to SR, make sure you give your instawallet bitcoin address to the cashier where your depositing your cash. Then enter your SR bitcoin address into your instawallet , where it says Send Payment
The URL of the wallet ((https://www.instawallet.org/w/**************)) is permanent or does it last for a few hours?
I read in the FAQ, that if you forget the URL or in case you lose the back up, you can just check the browser history and find your wallet again. - Is that right?
The URL of your wallet is permanent. You should regularly use a new bitcoin address after you complete a transaction. It is possible to gather info. from your browser history/cache relating to any wallets accessed from that particular PC. Below are some important points
relating to Instawallet's.
The URL is the key to your wallet. If you loose it, nobody can be certain of which wallet is yours and the coins will remain unclaimed.
Instawallet is designed for responsible use only:
•Properly backup your Instawallet address or key before receiving coins.
•Only share your bitcoin address, NOT the wallet URL or key, with the public.
•Be aware of who may have access to your browser's history or cache.
•Never trust shared computers such as the ones found in internet cafes.
Please consider yourself warned: If you lose wallet's key or URL, your Bitcoins are lost, no matter the circumstances.
Hope that helps. :)
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thanks peeweed.
another question, is blockchain required if using instawallet? (-:
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has anyone ever used bitcoin wallet i was thinking of using it along with instantwallet to mix my coins up
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Update:
I was able to do the bitinstant cash deposit at walmart to the SR address. I used fake information and thankfully they didn't ask for id and I got my bitcoins. The only problem was they took a lot of money out in fees. Now I'd like to find a cheaper alternative. Does anyone know of other ways to but bitcoins that don't require real information and an ID check?
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@Wadozo
Thanks mate, that cleared out some air (-: