Silk Road forums
Discussion => Security => Topic started by: j3an on October 31, 2012, 12:00 am
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///////////////////////////////////////////////Bitcoin-otc: The Complete Guide\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
Brought to you by j3an!
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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1. INTRODUCTION
2. BACKGROUND
2.1 Mtgox/Intersango Alternatives
2.2 What is Bitcoin-OTC and how does it work?
2.3 Bitcoin-OTC: Advantages and Disadvantages.
3. STEP BY STEP GUIDE
3.1 Install a new temporary Windows OS (Optional)
3.2 Install GPG4Win
3.3 Configure GPG4WIN Settings
3.4 Create Certificate
3.5 Export Certificate to Server
3.6 Create an e-Wallet at blockchain.info
3.7 Move to a different (i.e. not your homes) Internet Connection (Optional)
3.8 Sign into the bitcoin-otc chatroom.
3.9 Re-authorise your nickname using your PGP key
3.10 Attach your PGP Certificate to your BTC-OTC username
3.11(Finally) Buy some Bitcoins!!!!
3.12 Ship your BTC to TSR
4 CONCLUSION
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1. INTRODUCTION
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This guide details in full how to buy bitcoins (BTC) via the OTC (over-the-counter) marketplace bitcoin-otc.com (BIT-OTC) as simply, conveniently and anonymously as is practical for most casual users UK users of The Silk Road.
BTC-OTC is kind of a pain to understand, and can be quite overwhelming for newcomers. I found the wiki and main site to be extremely opaque, and could not find a good or even decent A-B guide to get started with Bitcoin-OTC. There is more to BTC-OTC than clicking on a BUY BTC NOW button like Mtgox/Intersango (M/I) users are accustomed to.
This guide was designed so that complete newcomers to BTC-OTC will be able to buy BTC as straightforwardly and as simply as possible using just this walkthrough, without having to google around/search the forums to help you through bottlenecks. I've received a good deal of PM's and replies saying that this guide has helped them a lot, so this should hopefully help you too. Going by replies to my previous guide, it takes people about a day to get started and buy some BTC using this this guide this latest revision should make it even simpler and quicker for you to do the same.
It is also hoped that, even if M/I resumes service in the UK, UK users will keep on using BTC-OTC because of its many benefits including a lack of exchange fees, quicker deposit time, dealing with one person rather than a company with a single bank account etc.
This guide generally assumes that:
a) You are buying BTC via Bank Wire/Cash Deposit in the UK (Not always necessary, and obviously this guide can be used by anybody in any country respectively)
b) You are using any Windows OS i.e. XP, Vista, 7 etc (Again, probably not necessary with google and a bit of patience fiddling with certain options).
This guide is not intended to be:
a) The most anonymous way to buy BTC (This is your responsibility; I will describe means of mitigating risk but will not go into detail.
b) The most efficient way of buying BTC via BTC-OTC. It would be impossible to cover everything about BTC-OTC in a short, practical guide, but I promise you: follow everything I say and you will end up with BTC in a few hours if you meet the above assumptions and follow everything I say!
The guide is a little tl;dr, but it is recommended that you read through everything to understand how BTC-OTC actually works.
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2. BACKGROUND
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2.1 Mtgox/Intersango Alternatives
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Speaking on behalf of myself, many frustrated forums users and countless newbie threads, (M/I) were relied upon by many in the U.K. to purchase BTC. This is now no longer possible as you have probably found out by now. Therefore, at least for the present, UK buyers must resort to other methods of purchasing BTC.
Luckily, thanks to a great bunch of helpful people in TSR forums, a number of alternatives to M/I have been suggested including:
a) PingIt! Via blockchain.info. Uses a mobile app to send money via your phone to a bank account. Deposit limit/week £100. Extortionate (imo) fees.
b) Localbitcoins.com. A huge databse of sellers who will sell to your face to face, via e-mail etc etc. Search for more info. A great alternative to BTC-OTC.
c) Depositing money via Bank Wire into Mtgox's Japanese account. Bank transfer fees, currency exchange fees, longer deposit times etc. Probably easier to figure out. Again search for more info/success stories.
d) Bitcoin-OTC.
Only Bitcoin-OTC will be discussed in any great detail, however through some googling and searching TSR forums you should be able to find some helpful information if you find that Bitcoin-OTC is not for you.
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2.2 What is Bitcoin-OTC and how does it work?
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Chances are, you can relate to everything below:
You're down to your last spliff or two with fuck all weed in it. Its time to make the magical and scary trip down to TSR to stock up again.
You hit up Mtgox. You log in. You swear loudly because you can't buy BTC anymore.
You hit up TSR forums for help.
You see BTC-OTC being discussed.
You open your browser, google bitcoin-otc, find the website and look for the magic BUY BTC NOW button.
You can't find it.
You check the wiki and main site for help, still with no idea of what BTC-OTC actually is.
You swear again, cursing why you have to go through all this ridiculous longwindeded bs just to buy a bag of weed
So what is BTC-OTC basically in overly simple terms?
A chatroom, accessed in a browser, that is operated by bitcoin-otc.com where buyers and sellers meet up to carry out transactions with one another.
You access the chatroom via your browser. You say what you're looking for in the main chatroom e.g. Looking for 10BTC at £10GBP/BTC. Someone interested PM's you. You check their rating via a simple command. You check if they're authenticated to see if they are who they really are (more on this later). They give you their account number and details. You pay them. They send the BTC to your wallet.
To help you understand, it may be helpful to explain how a centralised bitcoin exchange, e.g. M/I actually works, and then explain the differences between such exchanges and OTC or Over the counter sites such as BTC-OTC
To buy BTC on M/I you essentially do this:
1. Make an account.
2. Make a note of M/I's account name and number, and sort code
3. Log on to your online banking website and make a deposit using the above details.
4. Wait a few days for Mtgox to credit your account with the deposit you made.
5. Enter in how much you want to spend in GBP, then click the magic buy bitcoins button.
6. Your account is credited with the number of BTC you purchased.
Now between 5. and 6., there is a hidden step that casual users do not notice. Mtgox makes a note of how many BTC you want. Mtgox pairs you with a seller that has the BTC you need and at the rate you are willing to pay. Mtgox automatically carries out the transaction for you, without the need to deal directly with the seller.
And this hidden step is what differentiates centralised exchanges like MtGox from BTC-OTC and other similar sites. Mtgox acts as a middle-man or intermediatery between the buyer and seller. Bitcoin-otc does not provide this middle-man service. To purchase BTC you have to contact a seller directly, make a note of his bank account details and give him a wallet address so he can send the BTC to you. So the differences are:
1. Bitcoin-otc does not have built in e-wallets, like Mtgox and TSR do. You must therefore make your own one (this will be explained).
2. Bitcoin-otc is completely decentralised/there is no escrow. Mtgox pairs suitable sellers for you to make transactions. You must find suitable sellers yourself through the provided IRC chatroom.
3. It provides an environment, or chat room, for sellers and buyers to gather and do business. It also provides a means of making sure you are dealing with reliable people, who are who their ratings say they are.
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2.4 PGP Authentication i.e. But is a user who they are, who they say they are?
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But wait; how do you know if someones rating is genuine?
How do you know if someone is who they say they are i.e. is Jill with 100% +ve rating is actually the Jill who is signed in?
Well, luckily Bitcoin-OTC integrates Web of Trust technology into the chatroom where buyers and sellers meet up. Web of Trust basically relies on PGP to make sure that someone genuinely is who they are logged in as. Each buyer/seller has their own PGP ceritifcate attached to their own chat nickname, which they use to prove their identity.
Lets say our chat nickname is Bob. We have a good rating, and we want to make sellers to trust that we really are Bob with a great rating. Every time we want to prove that we really are Bob with great rating, we have to sign in using our PGP key that only we have access to.
Using a chatroom bot called Gribble, we use a command to ask the bot to challenge us to prove that we really are Bob. Gribble generates a PGP-encrypted message that can only be decrypted using our key. We decrypt this message, and send it back decrypted to the bot. If the message we send back is correct, Gribble authenticates us, basically proving that we are who we say we are.
Still confused? Probably, but hopefully all we become clear as you work your way through this guide.
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2.3 Bitcoin-OTC Advantages and Disadvantages
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I've summarised below (with a slight bias) the main advantages/disadvantages of using BTC-OTC (or localbitcoins etc) compared to centralised exchanges like Mtgox/Intersango. It is not comprehensive, but might sway non-UK buyers who are interested in the benefits of BTC-OTC.
+No exchange fees/commission i.e. more bitcoins for your money.
+Decentralised i.e. you are dealing with one person.
+Opportunity to shop around and look for the best rates
+Speed of getting BTC in your account. i.e. with M/I you have to typically wait œ days for the funds to be deposited in your account, so you can buy some BTC. With OTC it is pretty much instanteous, allowing you to feasibly buy BTC, order on TSR and get your shit next day!!
- No buyer protection/escrow, but by utilising the rating system it is easy to minimise this risk.
- Requires a bit more work to buy BTC, learn the basics, but if you follow this guide in full you should have no problem learning the ropes.
- TOR is incompatible with the chatroom (So is Mtgox and Intersango for that matter).
Convinced by the benefits? Lets get started.
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3. STEP BY STEP GUIDE
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In addition to this guide, I highly recommend watching this youtube video as you follow along http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYJ-GdErX1c (It is not mine!). As a bonus to my guide, it visually walks you through most of this guide (albeit with godawful blurry visuals). The video probably explains how bitcoin-otc works a lot better than me. Have it running as you work your way through. Can't recommend it enough really, watch it.
If you are reading this guide outside your usual working environment e.g. Liberte, you should copy and paste this whole guide into a txt document and save it onto a USB drive. In Liberte, go to start, accessories, gededit. Save as, media, name of USB drive. When you open it in windows, the filtype will be file, but just open it and it will load in notepad as usual. Once you are done with this guide, format your USB drive and use Erasure to complete erase any traces of the file left over.
You will also need to write down your The Silk Road ewallet address for later copy and paste/write it down now so you have it when you need it later on.
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3.1 Install a new temporary Windows OS (Optional)
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Install Windows XP into a truecrypt partition (search for more info on this). This is so all traces of you BTC buying activity will not be visible in your main OS if your PC is searched. This isn't strictly necessary, but will be essential for those of you who are extremely wary of any LE activity. It is up to you.
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3.2 Install GPG4Win
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As I discussed in 2.2, to prevent scammers BTC-OTC and ensure that a seller with a good rating logged on really is that seller, you will need to attach your BTC-OTC chatroom username to a PGP certificate. Instead of going into any technical detail, I hope that by working through this guide you will understand how and why the whole authentication and rating process works.
Go here http://www.gpg4win.org/download.html and download Gpg4win 2.1.0 or the latest version. You should grab the Full installer ? http://files.gpg4win.org/gpg4win-2.1.0.exe
If you're running MacOSX you're on your own, but hopefully you should be able to get by through a little research and fiddling with the options. If not, just install WinXP in a virtual machine.
Run the installer.
Next through everything, using defaults for all the settings.
Wait for it to do its thing.
Tick root certificate defined or skip configuration. Next
Click finish when it's finished doing doing its thing. Close the README file that pops up.
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3.3 Configure GPG4WIN Settings
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Go to Start/All Programs/Gpg4win/Kleopatra
Go to Settings/Configure Kleopatra.
Click on the GnuPG System button on the left under directory services, appearance etc.
In the GPG for OpenPGP tab, find Configuration for keysevers at the bottom. To the right of the Use keyserver at line, click on the Edit button.
Double click the existing entry in the Server name column and replace whatever is there with pgp.mit.edu. Check that the Scheme is hkp and the Server Port is 11371 and the Base DN is blank just in case. Click OK
Click Apply. Then Click OK.
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3.4 Create Certificate
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File/New Certificate.
Create a personal OpenPGP key pair.
Give it a Name, preferably the name you're going to use on bitcoin-otc. For the purposes of this guide, lets say I use the name Bob. DO NOT USE YOUR SILK ROAD BUYERS NAME FOR OBVIOUS REASONS.
Give it an e-mail address, this is not necessary so type in anything. I think it's visible in the bitcoin-otc chatroom through some command, so don't put anything foolish in.
Give it a comment, again unnecessary so leave this blank.
Enter and re-enter a strong password, preferably a four phrase one like jewels dies gnarly apache or something like that.
Make a backup of your key pair if you like and keep it somewhere safe and well hidden. I recommend storing your backup by uploading it to a tormail account.
Click finish.
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3.5 Export Certificate to Server
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Once you've created your certificate, it should appear in the My Certificates tab and will be emboldened. Hover your mouse over the ceritifcate, right click, export certificates to server, avoid the warning message and click continue.
The warning message is basically informing you that you can never remove your certificate from the server once you export/send it. So obviously dont use your TSR identity or real name...
IMPORTANT: This feature is glitchy as hell, and has been reported as an issue by many TSR forum members. You may get an error message saying Gribble cannot find your ceritficate on the server. From personal experience, I've found it takes time for Gribble to reimport newly exported ceritifcates, so give it an hour or two and come back if it doesn't work. If it still doesnt work, try re-exporting the certificate again, waiting, then log in again.
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3.6 Create an e-Wallet at blockchain.info
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When you buy BTC, you will need an e-wallet for the seller to send them. As I discussed earlier, BTC-OTC does not provide its own e-wallet for users. I recommend creating one with blockchain.info. In case this is not obvious for the love of christ DO NOT USE YOUR SILK ROAD WALLET ADDRESS.
Go to http://www.blockchain.info
At the top, by home, charts, etc click on Wallet.
Click on Create my free wallet.
Create a password.
Optional: Create a nickname to sign into your account with, instead of an identifier of the form XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX. If you don't create a nickname make sure you make a note of your identifier, otherwise you will lose access to your e-wallet unless you have a savant-like memory.
Logout and login again to make sure everything works and you can resign into your e-wallet.
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3.7 Move to a different (i.e. not your homes) Internet Connection (Optional)
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When using Bitcoin-OTC your IP address can be looked up by anybody in the chatroom, through the whois command. If you want to minimise the risk of your anonymity being exposed as much as possible, I recommend taking your laptop to an internet cafe/library a good distance from your home address. I don't think the intended audience of this guide will do this, but I am just notifying you that your location is very much visible when you are logged in to the BTC-OTC chatroom!
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3.8 Sign into the bitcoin-otc chatroom.
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Fortunately, no need to install (yet another) piece of software. You can access the chatroom in your browser
Go here http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=#bitcoin-otc
Nickname: Put the same nickname as the one you gave for your PGP key. We will login as Bob
Channels: #bitcoin-otc
Auth to services: Leave unticked
Complete reCAPTCHA and click connect.
You should (hopefully) see a pale blue window, with a white tab #bitcoin-otc at the top with a pale blue status tab. You should also see a list chatroom/marketplace users on your right. If so, you're in the right place!
Take some time to look around and get accustomed to the interface. Note you can PM (private message) another username by clicking on their name, then clicking on -query. This will bring up a new tab labelled with their username.
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3.9 Attach your PGP Certificate to your BTC-OTC username
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At the top of the list of usernames, you will see a name called @gribble. Gribble is essentially a bot which will help you link your nickname to your PGP key, and authenticate yourself every time you return to BTC-OTC.
Click @gribble
Click -query
A new gribble tab will open.
In Kleopatra, under the "My certificates" tab, double click your newly created certificate/pgp certificate. In the Technical Details tab, make a note of your ID in the subkeys table. It will have 16 characters (letters and numbers). Lets say our ID is 0123456789012345. Inside the gribble tab in the message box, we would type (substituting your data for mine of course):
;;gpg eregister Bob 123456789102345
You will hopefully see something like this:
<gribble> Request successful for user Bob, hostmask Bob!XXXXXXXX@gateway/web/freenode/ip.00.000.000.000. Get your encrypted OTP from http://bitcoin-otc.com/otps/jknkghjkghnkgnkr
Open up the above bitcoin-otc.com url in a new tab/window.
You will see a standard PGP encrypted message of the form much like you do when you (hopefully!) encrypt your delivery address on TSR.
-----BEGIN PGP MESSAGE-----rgjrgkijrgoirjgrkghrjg.....---END PGP MESSAGE-----
Ctrl+C everything in the new tab, including the begin and end PGP message bits.
Right click the Kleopatra icon in the bottom rigjht hand corner of your desktop (i.e. by your volume/wifi/date and time icons) /clipboard/decrypt
Enter in the password you chose when you made the certificate.
Finish
Your clipboard (i.e. the text you get when you paste/ctrl+v) will automatically change to something like this
freenode:#bitcoin-otc:999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
Paste it somewhere safe.
Now go back to the gribble BTC-OTC tab and now type:
;;gpg everify ctrl+v
which will basically look like:
;;gpg everify freenode:#bitcoin-otc:99999999999999999999999999999999999999999
You should now get a message saying
[00:00] <gribble> Registration successful. You are now authenticated for user Bob with key 123456789102345
NB You will not need to do this step (3.8) again.
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3.10Re-authorise your nickname using your PGP key
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This step is strictly optional, but unless you don't plan on buyiong BTC from bitcoin-otc again it is pretty much mandatory. You will have to do this step every time you want to use BTC-OTC to buy BTC using your identity. You are already authenticated, so close all the chatroom tabs down to see this in action.
Repeat Step 3.5 to log into the chatroom again.
Load up the Gribble tab, and in the chatbox type
;;gpg eauth Bob
You should hopefully get something like <gribble> Request successful for user Bob, hostmask Bob!0000000e@gateway/web/freenode/ip.00.000.000.000. Get your encrypted OTP from http://bitcoin-otc.com/otps/00000000000000
Exactly as before in step 3.8, open up the BTC-OTC url generated by the gribble bot. Copy and paste everything, right click the Kleopatra icon, Clipboard/Decrypt, enter password. Your clipboard will now have something like this stored
freenode:#bitcoin-otc:11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
In the gribble tab, in the message box type:
;;gpg everify freenode:#bitcoin-otc:11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111-
You should hopefully get a confirmation from gribble something like:
[00:00] <gribble> Authentication successful. You are now authenticated for user Bob with key 123456789102345
Double check that you're registered by typing in the gribble tab:
;;getrating Bob
If you've done everything right, it will spit out something like:
[00:00] <gribble> This user has not yet been rated. Currently authenticated from hostmask Bob!00000000@gateway/web/freenode/ip.00.000.000.000 .
As you can see, we have (obviously) not been rated yet. But we have been authenticated successfully! That means we now have some degree of credibility, and as we make transactions people will be able to check out our buyers rating, check that we're authenticated (i.e. we're are who we say we are).
So to recap, you will have to do authenticate doing everything in 3.9 everytime you sign into Bitcoin-OTC to buy bitcoins.
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3.11 (Finally) Buy some Bitcoins!!
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If you've made it this far, then pat yourself on the back. Your bitcoins are within your grasp, my friend! Now lets find a seller.
Return to the bitcoin-otc tab. Theres an awful lot of stuff going on, with people executing various commands but stick close to my instructions and you can't go wrong.
Lets say for sake of example, I want to buy 10BTC for £10.00/BTC via uk bank transfer. As a rule of thumb, check out the current market rate at mtgoxand aim for around the average rate, or a bit more if nobody takes you up. You might have to wait a little bit for offers try and take it slow and shop around for the best rates. Be careful, people will smell that you are new and offer extortionate rates: don't just jump for the first person who gets in contact.
In the message box, I would type Looking for 10BTC at £10.00/BTC via Bank Wire transfer.
After a few minutes, I get a PM in a new tab from a seller e.g. Jill, expressing interest saying Hi Bob, are you still looking? My rates are 10.25GBP/BTC. After deciding that the offer seems good enough, I check Jill's rating by typing in the message box in the gribble tab
;;getrating Jill.
The chat window will spit out something like:
<@gribble> Currently authenticated from hostmask Jill!~jill@unaffiliated/jill . User Jill, rated since Mon Sept 10 00:00:00 2012. Cumulative rating 100, from 50 total ratings. Received ratings: 100 positive, 0 negative. Sent ratings:10 positive, 3 negative. Details: http://bitcoin-otc.com/viewratingdetail.php?nick=Jill
Lets analyse this to see if we trust Jill. You should check each of the following:
a) Is she authenticated? Well, it says Jill is currently authenticated! That means Jill really is Jill with the ratings.
b) Are her ratings good? Well, she has 100 positive ratings! Looks pretty good doesnt it? Also open up her rating detail url http://bitcoin-otc.com/viewratingdetail.php?nick=Jill. You can sift through all the ratings to look at them in more detail, including comments given by buyers.
After we are satisfied that Jill is not a scammer, we decide that we want to buy our 10BTC off her. So in the PM tab type Hi Jill, yes I'm happy to buy 10BTC. Just to make sure, are you find with uk bank wire? She will say yes. Ask her what the process is. She might say Here are my account details. Once I have confirmation, I will send the bitcoins to your wallet. What is your ewallet address?
Log into your blockchain.info account and copy your ewallet address and paste it into the message box. Make the deposit via online banking/cash deposit. She might ask for proof, e.g. by e-mail screenshot. Create a fake e-mail and send her the screenshot once you're done. She should (hopefully!) send you the goods, so refresh your blockchain.info until it comes in and check that your balance is what it should be.
Once you're satisfied, ask her to rate you. Also, rate her. Lets say we want to give her a rating of 1 meaning You've had 1 or 2 good transactions with this person. This is a standard rating across the general board. We also want to comment that she is Good for newcomers! Easy, quick transaction. Would recommend!
We would type in the message box:
;;rate Jill 1 Good for newcomers! Easy, quick transaction. Would recommend!
Once you've done that, open up her viewratingdetail url http://bitcoin-otc.com/viewratingdetail.php?nick=Jill to check that its there. If you can't find the url, just type ;;getrating jill to get access to it again.
Finally (!) check that she has rated you, via checking your own rating and checking that you now have 1 positive rating.
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3.12 Send BTC to TSR
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This guide assumes that your BTC have been safely laundered/tumbled by a service like bitfog or tor wallet. For brevity, this guide will not cover how to do this because its long enough as it is.
Log into your TSR account, and make a note of your ewallet address somewhere safe. In your blockchain.info account, click on Send Money. By To: enter your TSR address, enter in the amount, click send payment!!
We're done!
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4 CONCLUSION
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Hopefully, by using this guide you've just bought some BTC successfully. There are some great benefits to OTC, such as better anonymity, avoidance of transaction fees, speed etc. Even if M/I were to return to UK shores, I would likely stick with OTC.
As stated at the start of this guide, this isn't the most anonymous or efficient means of using BTC-OTC. However, this should cover basically everything you need to get started and get back up running with TSR. Again, I encourage you to learn more, through finding more about commands, working out how to be more anonymous e.g. using VPNs, using cash deposit wherever possible.
Good luck.
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Reloaded the entire thread as I reached the 20000 character limit. Cleaned it up, made the formatting as appealing as possible. Any questions, don't hesistate to get in touch etc. Enjoy.
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Great guide thanks :D
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+1 Thanks for the guide. :)
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3.5 Export Certificate to Server
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Once you've created your certificate, it should appear in the My Certificates tab and will be emboldened. Hover your mouse over the ceritifcate, right click, export certificates to server, avoid the warning message and click continue.
The warning message is basically informing you that you can never remove your certificate from the server once you export/send it. So obviously dont use your TSR identity or real name...
IMPORTANT: This feature is glitchy as hell, and has been reported as an issue by many TSR forum members. You may get an error message saying Gribble cannot find your ceritficate on the server. From personal experience, I've found it takes time for Gribble to reimport newly exported ceritifcates, so give it an hour or two and come back if it doesn't work. If it still doesnt work, try re-exporting the certificate again, waiting, then log in again.
I've also found this step "glitchy". From the reading I've done, the various keyservers propagate new keys around the net once per day, and till they've gone through this process, your new key won't be accessible by Gribble or anyone else. For me, I needed to wait nearly a day before my key showed up and I was able to register and authenticate with Gribble.
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J3an - unfortunately I can't give karma but this guide definitely deserves a +1, top stuff! Thank you for making the effort.
Very informative and easy to follow. I registered successfully and am just awaiting a vendor getting back to me about a potential trade.
As a newbie I'm unsure what sort of rates I can expect to be offered. Is the going rate much above Mtgox base? I'll be looking to pay by UK bank transfer and buy approx £100 of BTC.
Can anyone give me an indication of what I can expect to pay? I know it's easy to spot a newbie and I don't wanna get ripped off.
Cheers
mrbump
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Mrbump;
You're welcome! Glad it helped you.
Sellers usually charge mtgox*1.05 or so at best, some a little more. Its just a case of asking around and seeing who'll give you the best deal. Make sure they're authenticated and have a good rating!!!!!!! I cant stress this enough, use ;;getrating seller. Especially the former!!!
Good luck
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Thanks for the guide, really helped me a lot.
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A very good guide, pity the moderators will not make it a sticky, because there are so many newbies asking "how do I buy BTC's now Bitinstant is no longer an easy option" or similar. But I have a question for you j3an or anybody that can help. I have been on the forum:
https://bitcointalk.org
and see that some people, especially vendors, use the same nick-name on the bitcointalk forum as they do on the Bitcoin-OTC. Is there any advantage or disadvantage to doing this because I am just about to set it up and wondered which way to go? Any help would be appreciated.
Meanwhile I am going to keep bumping this to the front!
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I think I will use different nick-name, in the absence of any advice to the contrary. And a bump to the front :)
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This thread has been so well written. Very clear.
One issue i'm having is when accessing bitcoin OTC through liberte i receive this error : "-syn- Your reported IP [216.66.72.154] is banned: Your tor exit node must not allow connections to freenode (tor exit node (chat.freenode.net:80))."
Any ideas?
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Bumping this thread for interest.
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Glad to see everyone's getting on well with OTC :)
At some point I'll do another revision, with guides to torify everything as much as possible including the use of mixers.
I might even go the full mile and just show people how to do the whole thing, from Tails CD to Address encryption.
Stay tuned, friends. : )
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As a newbie I'm unsure what sort of rates I can expect to be offered. Is the going rate much above Mtgox base? I'll be looking to pay by UK bank transfer and buy approx £100 of BTC.
Can anyone give me an indication of what I can expect to pay? I know it's easy to spot a newbie and I don't wanna get ripped off.
You can usually get Mt-Gox plus 3% though you may need to haggle a bit. Don't think anyone there will go below that.
You open your browser, google bitcoin-otc, find the website and look for the magic BUY BTC NOW button.
You can't find it.
They have the big BUY BTC Button now. Someone on BTC-OTC-UK has made a seperate site *** https://bitbargain.co.uk/buy *** that most of the OTC sellers are selling on too.
Rates are a bit higher than on BTC-OTC but that's the price you pay for the big BUY NOW button.
Very good guide J3ane, hopefully it should help out a lot of people & shorten the learning process that the rest of us went through with BTC-OTC.
To add to your excellent guide I would say that for UK purchasers it might be easier to go directly to the UK sub-channel on BTC-OTC #bitcoin-otc-uk as you'll find more UK based traders there.
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Bumping this guide because:
1.) The number of threads asking where to buy bitcoins
2.) Bitcoin-OTC is pretty fkin sweet.
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This thread has been so well written. Very clear.
One issue i'm having is when accessing bitcoin OTC through liberte i receive this error : "-syn- Your reported IP [216.66.72.154] is banned: Your tor exit node must not allow connections to freenode (tor exit node (chat.freenode.net:80))."
Any ideas?
The freenode IRC server has banned many TOR exit nodes therefore if you are using TOR you may not be able to access freenode.
If you care about anonymity, the solution is to use a VPN, but use the OpenVPN software, not their own proprietary VPN software (may have backdoors). Then run TOR and setup OpenVPN proxy to 127.0.0.0. Connect to the VPN via TOR.
Now you can run the IRC client (mIRC, XChat, etc). Use one that supports SSL.
Message to the newbies: This guide is not limited to the UK, you can use it to BUY or SELL BTC anywhere in the world.
+1 to OP, great guide!