Silk Road forums
Discussion => Newbie discussion => Topic started by: NoHopeLeft on January 31, 2013, 11:04 pm
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After a year of debating this I have decided to try this. I am so confused on how to obtain bitcoin as well as how to deposit them onto my SR account. How do I make a bitcoin account? Some help would be very appreciated.
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Bitcoin is a virtual currency, you need to find somewhere that will exchange your 'real' money for bitcoins. Then you need a wallet to keep them in.
After you've filled your wallet, you need to transfer them to your wallet in your SR account.
It depends on what country you're in, but mtgox is the most recommended site, and is probably the best place to start.
There is also a Bitcoin guide in the Sold Road Wiki.
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*Silk Road. Not, sold road. lol
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Getting Bitcoins is a pretty arduous task when you first start as it is pretty complicated. I would recommend VirWox to start so you can use PayPal or a credit card. Limits are low at $52/24hours but will suffice for the beginning. Once you deposit on VirWox you have to convert your USD into SLL via the trade screen. Then you need to convert your SLL into BTC. If you're not familiar with trading use the market order type to buy each of the legs of the trade.
You could also run down to CVS and deposit into MtGox using MoneyGram. This one has fewer transaction fees but will take up 20 minutes of your time and you have to leave your house to do it. You would do this using BitInstant. Open an account with MtGox, get your account number and then go to bitinstant.com and follow the instructions for depositing via MoneyGram. It works and is near instant.
After you figure out BTC you need to learn how to use PGP. There are number of guides detailing how to with picture. Find one and follow it.
If this all sounds too complicated to be worth it then SilkRoad has done its job. The harder this service is for the layman to access the fewer idiots will be running around fucking it up. So be patient and take your time.
PGP tutorial and Silk Road write up attached. Read them both. Good luck.
http://www.gwern.net/Silk%20Road
http://p3lr4cdm3pv4plyj.onion/guides/shepj.html
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First you have to get some bitcoin. Rather than mess with online wallets I think you should really start with the original bitcoin wallet.
http://bitcoin.org/clients.html
You want to download "Bitcoin-QT" and install it. Then you generate an address to receive bitcoins at. Rather than rush out and buy bitcoins- which is a hassle- you can practice using a place like "bitcoin faucet" to send you a tiny amount of free bitcoins. There are places that give out tiny amounts of bitcoin to newbs. Read and participate in the bitcoin forum http://bitcointalk.org/ and ask questions about bitcoin there. I think it's a good idea to generate ("mine") your own bitcoins to see how that works, but that may be asking too much of a newb and it requires a powerful graphics card.
I recently purchased some bitcoin using "bitinstant" and it went well and was almost hassle-free. You can have them send bitcoin direct to your own wallet, avoiding an online wallet. I am not a fan of Mt Gox as it seems expensive and they have a lot of rules and regs and they seem distant as well.
One you get up to speed with bitcoin and have managed to acquire some, it's then that you can come back to Silk Road and start becoming familiar with PGP and how to use Silk Road. But the first thing to do is become familiar with how Bitcoin works.
Feel free to practice sending bitcoins to: 14AjQ88NANQco4BPRN4wQy5mknpNpMZbEi
8) ;)
That's my wallet and I will let you know when I receive them, just message me here when you are ready!