Silk Road forums

Discussion => Silk Road discussion => Topic started by: czxtvr on December 19, 2011, 06:24 pm

Title: Saving Bitcoins
Post by: czxtvr on December 19, 2011, 06:24 pm
Is it a good idea to save bitcoins in my SR account and spend as needed? Or should I only purchase bitcoins when i'm about to make a purchase?
Title: Re: Saving Bitcoins
Post by: dunk on December 19, 2011, 06:37 pm
The exchange rate has been pretty stable recently so it's not so risky to have a stash of bitcoins in your account, however you never know when it might drop and you could lose some money so it's easier to just buy them as need imo.
Title: Re: Saving Bitcoins
Post by: Silpheed on December 20, 2011, 12:35 am
I would typically only buy bitcoins right before making a purchase.

But it also depends if BTC values are going up or down. For example, in the past 30 days BTC values have gone up 63%, from about $2.15 to over $3.50.

http://bitcoincharts.com/charts/mtgoxUSD#rg30zigHourlyztgTzm1g10zm2g25zv

That's great for buyers and vendors who've had BTC sitting in their accounts for a month, because buyers can buy more product than they could a month ago, and vendors get more cash for product they've already sold. A vendor who correctly predicts that BTC is going much higher could make many times more money on their sales.

But with a rise in value like that, the price may drop down again, you never know really. You could buy a bunch of coin at $3.50 and hold onto it, and later it could be worth only $2.50 and you'd have to buy more coin to purchase the product you wanted.

However, if you buy coin right before a purchase, it can take time (if you're moving money to Dwolla then to an exchange then to SR). You could keep money on an exchange (if you think it's safe). There are also people on SR who will sell BTC quickly, although they often charge a big % of the value or large overhead, and many build up a good reputation and then run off with a lot of money.

Also if you don't like to wait, it looks like Dwolla now has a thing called Instant. I guess it's like a $500 line of credit:
http://blog.dwolla.com/its-instant/

It costs $3/month and there's a $5 late fee. It sounds like you can deposit money and have it immediately show up in your Dwolla account (rather than 3 days later or so) which you could then deposit at an exchange and buy coin. I think you can get up to $500 and then pay it back in a month, like a credit card (that costs $3/month to use).

..and it looks Instant has been disabled due to overwhelming demand:
http://dkn255hz262ypmii.onion/index.php?topic=7082

Maybe that's why the BTC price has jumped to $3.50+?
Title: Re: Saving Bitcoins
Post by: czxtvr on December 21, 2011, 05:07 am
Thanks for the info guys. You have been very helpful...