Updated: Tuesday, January 20

Last Wednesday at the Decentral meet-up, part of the discussion touched on the idea that while it’s getting much easier to SPEND bitcoins, buying bitcoins is still a pretty daunting task.
Sure, there are a few bitcoin ATMs sprinkled around the world, (including one here at Decentral), and there’s also LocalBitcoins as an option. But what if you don’t live in a city with a BTM? What if there isn’t a LocalBitcoins trader handy? Or if you don’t feel like schlepping across town to find the BTM or the trader?

 

This lack of access to coins was lamented as a real barrier to adoption. Why would anyone in the Western world go to the trouble of sourcing out bitcoins when fiat money is so darn handy? And using PayPal for online purchases or accepting payments? Piece of cake!

 

Philosophical arguments aside (and yes, those definitely came up!) I thought I’d try to challenge this premise by going right back to the roots of setting up a bank account, a PayPal account, and an account on an exchange. Since I’ve never tried to set up a new bank account with a new bank online, and it’s been 10 years since I set up my PayPal account, I decided to start from scratch. I’m not much of a techie, so I figured, if I can sort my way through the processes, anyone can.

 

(Note: I could also have gone into the process of applying for a new credit card but chose not to go through that whole thing too. Suffice to say, the last time I got a card, it took a good week and a half to get it delivered and the PIN number – mailed separately – got lost in the mail.)

 

For now, let’s imagine I live in Northern Ontario. There are no BTMs and the nearest LocalBitcoin trader is a dogsled ride away. But there is a bank down the road and I have a decent Internet connection.

 

Scenario 1: Get an online bank account.

To get a bank account at one major Canadian bank, here is what they want me to do:

That’s a lot of personal information. And some of it has to be mailed, depending on the option I choose.
So I go through the process of applying for my account. That part is pretty quick and easy. Verfying my account, however, requires that I ALREADY HAVE an account at another bank. Otherwise, I have to go into a branch in person. So much for getting all set up strictly from the comfort of my living room.

 

Scenario 2: Set up a PayPal account:

Some of us at the meet-up talked about the ease of using our existing PayPal accounts to make and accept payments. Again, philosophical arguments aside, I decide to investigate how easy it is to work with PayPal, starting from the account sign-up stage.

Signing up with PayPal is also pretty easy. I just use my email address for verification, and it takes about 5 minutes.

So I now have my new bank account and new PayPal account.

 

Scenario 3: Set up an account at a bitcoin exchange

First, I open a new account on the QuadrigaCX exchange and it takes about 5 minutes. Now, if I want to buy bitcoins, I need to fund my account; that is, I need to put money into my Quadriga account so that I can use the money to buy bitcoins. Quadriga offers a few ways to do this:

If I want to get my bitcoins, I’ll need to transfer money from my bank. Getting my money transferred right away using INTERAC Online will cost me at least $5 and I’ll need to get verified. These are the documents Quadriga asks for in order to get verified.

• My phone number
• Scan of a Passport or Drivers license (Must be in colour)
• Scan of a bank statement or utility bill showing my name and full address
• Photo of me holding the ID that I have provided

Once I email or upload these documents to the site’s secure server, it can take up to 48 hours for them to get verified. That is a bit of a set-back if I want to buy bitcoins today.

 

Scenario 4: Set up an account at a digital currency retailer

Undeterred, I also open an account with Harbor.ly. The verification process at this digital currency retailer is pretty simple as well, but if you aren’t comfortable using social media as third-party authenticators, this site might not be for you.

Next, I have to hook my Harborly account up to my bank account. Once again, like QuadrigaCX, it’s going to take up to 48 hours to get a new account verified.

So, yes, getting set up online to buy bitcoins can have a bit of a delay while your account is verified. Keep in mind that most of these processes are part of KYC compliance requirements.
On the other hand, the amount of personal information that I handed over to the exchange and retailer is comparable to setting up a bank account and a PayPal account.
It’s also going to take about a week for me to get my new bank card in the mail. There are plenty of delays no matter what you’re trying to do.

 

All set up and ready to get me some BTC

Now, let’s look at costs:

• Harborly charges 1% on transactions
• QuadrigaCX charges 0.05% on all completed trades.

With QuadrigaCX, once I have my account verified and funded, it only takes me a few seconds to buy my bitcoins. And if I want to sell my coins and transfer the money to my bank account, it usually takes a few hours for an e-transfer to go through.

Let’s look at what it costs to move money around with PayPal. It has a pretty complicated fee schedule. Here is what it would cost me to receive $500 from somewhere within Canada:

Whoa. In my case, I have several US clients. That costs even MORE to get paid by them.

But now, let’s look at how long it takes to actually GET funds. Some banks will hold deposits on new accounts for up to 5 business days. When I get paid by clients using PayPal, it takes 3-5 business days for funds in my PayPal account to show up in my bank account. So there is still a significant waiting period involved there.

 

UPDATE: Another way to get BTC online right away

I also tried buying some bitcoins on QuickBT. If you really want to get your hands on a small amount of bitcoin ASAP, you can buy up to 0.2BTC almost instantly. All you need is a wallet address (if you don’t have one, they provide a links to Blockchain.info and Coinkite), a phone number, and an email address.
I entered my wallet address and got an instant quote:

Then I entered my phone number, received a PIN code, and paid online from my bank account via INTERAC. (Note: I couldn’t use my new bank account yet since I still had to wait another week or so for my new bank card.)

Moments later, I had my bitcoins and a confirmation was emailed to me.

By far, this was the quickest and most convenient way to get started with bitcoins. The only drawbacks are that (a) you can only buy a small amount in any given day, and (b) it will cost you more (about 10.5% in fees) than waiting a few days and buying through sites like QuadrigaCX or Harborly.

 

My conclusion:
I will grant that since most of us have bank accounts and some of us are already hooked up with PayPal, the pressing need to set up an account at a bitcoin exchange isn’t really there unless we really want to get our hands on some bitcoins. Of course it is easier to stick with what you know. But if you are willing to wait a day or two to get verified on an exchange like QuadrigaCX or Harborly – or get started in minutes on QuickBT if you are willing to pay a bit more – there are definite benefits. It’s not really as onerous a task as you might have thought.

 

When you compare the effort involved in setting up an online bank account to setting up an account on a bitcoin exchange, it’s not all that different. The main difference, of course, is that you probably already have a bank account. In the end, however, I’ve found it has saved me both time and money to move funds around in bitcoin, so it seems to have been well worth the small initial effort.

 

For another interesting discussion on this topic that has more of an international/American bent to it, check out this Reddit thread that, coincidentally, popped up over the weekend:
http://redd.it/2ss6ee

So – how do you buy your bitcoins?

Wednesday, Jan. 21st. 7pm

Wednesday, Jan 14th. 7pm

Things have been getting all festive here at 64 Spadina. If you’ve walked by Decentral lately, you’ll have probably noticed a sparkly wreath festooning our neon bitcoin logo, flanked by prancing reindeer in the window.

There’s another wreath hanging above the newly wrapped Bitcoin ATM in the lobby.

And everyone is just downright cheery in the office. But that’s not uncommon.

At the front desk, beside our bowl of candy canes, you’ll find Nancy, our super-helpful office angel, ready to answer your questions, help you with the BTM, or sell you some bitcoin swag. She also has a stack of Simple Coin Cards for sale – perfect for stocking stuffers!

At last week’s meet-up, we held a year-end party with refreshments and decorations and lots of bitcoin conversation. There was a great turnout and the second floor party room was packed with friends and family.

The next two Wednesdays fall on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, so there won’t be meet-ups held on those days. But we all look forward to seeing you again on January 7th at 7 pm for the first meet-up of 2015. As always, we encourage you to register for free in advance for our meet-ups.

If you are planning on stopping by Decentral, please take note of our holiday hours:

• Closed on December 24th, 25th, 26th, and 28th and January 1st
• Open on Dec. 27th from 10:00 -3:00
• Regular hours on Dec. 29th and 30th (9:30 – 5:00)
• Closed Dec. 31st
• Closed on January 1st.

From all of us here at Toronto Decentral – Happy Holidays!!

My son goes to university up north. Every time we want to bring him home for breaks, I look into a few travel options: flights (convenient but pricey), coach bus (cheaper but less pleasant for him), or driving the eight hours each way (ugh). This week, I decided to look into buying a return flight for him using bitcoins.

 

Using BTCTrip.com was pretty simple. I’ve bought tickets on Expedia and CheapOair many times in the past so I’m used to buying airline tickets online. The user experience on BTCTrip is similar to these sites so the whole experience felt very familiar. For someone like myself, who is just starting to get into buying things with bitcoins, this familiarity made me feel comfortable with the process.

 

When I landed on the colourful BTCTrip.com site, there were the familiar info fields: to, from, dates of travel, number of passengers etc. When I compared the price of the plane ticket to the ones being offered on CheapOair, I was pleased to see that the prices were indeed cheaper. Bonus: My teenaged son can sleep in – there was a flight available for the middle of the day! (He’d have had to roll out of bed and trek out to the airport by 7:00am with CheapOair for the same price!)

 

I also looked into the price of a hotel stay on New Year’s Eve in Montreal so he and his brother could go catch a IIHF World Junior hockey game. Like other online hotel booking services, I could sort by hotel amenities and locations. There were plenty of options and I was able to find a room in our price range. So far, so good!

 

Once I purchased my flight, there was a brief, disconcerting moment as I got an email saying that they hadn’t been able to process my payment yet. I eventually realized that the delay was due to the confirmation process – of course – but it would have been helpful if that bit of explanation had been included in the alert, especially for those of us who are still learning the ins and out of bitcoin. The good thing was that customer service sent me a prompt and friendly reply.

 

Shortly thereafter, my e-ticket arrived and I forwarded it to my son. Excellent! It’s easy to see why BTCTrip has so many endorsements on their site.

 

Later that same evening, Martin Fernandez, founder and CEO of BTCTrip, was the guest speaker at the Decentral Meet-up in Toronto. He was very enthusiastic about the future for the online travel industry. He sees a day when the blockchain and smart contracts will play a major role in booking flights and hotels, where consumers can use online services like BTCTrip to cut out layers of middlemen and make bookings themselves. When these sorts of transactions are possible, he predicts that the costs of travel will decrease significantly for consumers.

 

Now that I’ve had my first pleasant experience buying airfare with BTCTrip.com, I only hope that these exciting new advancements will happen before my daughter starts university as well, in a couple of years!

Wednesday Jan. 7th, 7pm.

Wednesday, Dec. 17th. 7pm to 10pm.

This Wednesday, our meet-up will be full of festive cheer and fun with refreshments, decorations, and – of course – lots of bitcoin conversation.

While you’re here, check out some of our cool BTC merch – like coins, pins, t-shirts and Simple Coin Cards. (Great for gift-giving!)

Sign up for free on the Decentral Meet-up site.

As part of its bid to become the premier news and information site with video content related to cryptocurrencies and decentralized tech, decentral.tv is launching Decentral Talk Live, a daily show about bitcoin, blockchain technologies, and all things decentralized. Interviews with prominent personalities, innovators, and entrepreneurs will be the key focus, along with product reviews and general news and discussion of current events in the cryptocurrency and decentralized tech space.

 

Hosted by Anthony Di Iorio and Ethan Wilding, Decentral Talk Live will also feature an assortment of guest hosts including specialists in legal, accounting, security, and tech development from the Decentral space. The first installment will feature Patrick Murck, the executive director of the Bitcoin Foundation as he answers questions from Anthony and Ethan, as well as guest host, Michael Perklin. Next on the schedule is a series of interviews focusing on various bitcoin ATMs, including BitAccess, Lamassu, and BitX. Look for more episodes when Decentral Talk Live talks with Jordan Kelly of Robocoin, Dmitry Murashchik of Mycelium, Matt Schlich of ZapChain, and many other well-known names in the bitcoin community.

 

New episodes will air weekdays at 3:00 pm EST on decentral.tv.

 

Decentral.tv is a 24-hour interactive internet dashboard that’s packed with video segments, curated news and information, a Twitter feed, interviews, feature programs, charts, and customizable exchange tickers. It delivers globally relevant content with news about decentralized and disruptive technologies around the world. Its most prominent feature provides a playlist of quality videos, including live broadcasts of the weekly Decentral Toronto meet-up events, as well as other unique and curated programs.

Located in the heart of downtown Toronto, Decentral is a home to disruptive and decentralized technologies. It offers co-working space and a bitcoin teller machine, and numerous tech companies are headquartered here.

For media and partnership inquiries or to suggest news and story ideas, please contact Christie Harkin or Anthony Di Iorio at info@decentral.ca or call +1-416-831-9593.

Note: Shu Wang, the founder of Simple Coin Card, will be at the Decentral meet-up tonight (December 10) to answer your questions.

 

Gift cards are a convenient and simple way to give people what they want while also allowing them to make choices in their purchases. Now, Simple Coin Cards make it easy to give the gift of bitcoin.

 

Simple Coin Cards look like regular plastic gift cards and come in a variety of pre-set amounts that match Canadian currency denominations: $5, $10, $20, $50 and $100. They have a one-time key on the back that is activated on purchase. All you do is scratch and reveal the key, visit simplecoincard.com, enter the key, and deposit your coins to the wallet of your choice. Don’t have a wallet? You can easily click on the link provided to create your own Rushwallet in seconds.

 

After the recipient has deposited their gift in their wallet, they can start spending their coins.
The website also has a list of links to places where you can spend your bitcoins.

 

Because Simple Coin Cards come in a variety of denominations, they are a fantastic way to introduce your family and friends to bitcoin. Anyone who has ever used a gift card or a phone card will find the card platform familiar and safe.

 

While Simple Coin Cards make excellent gifts, they are also a year-round alternative to using a bitcoin ATM to purchase bitcoin in person. The fees are comparable at 10% (deducted at the time of redemption) and the rate of exchange is derived at the time of purchase from the best available price among the Canadian exchanges. Cards are portable and don’t require a prolonged Internet connection to get your coins.

 

Security

All funds that support any activated Simple Coin Cards are stored in a secure hot wallet, while funds for unactivated cards are kept in cold storage. Each card has a unique, one-time use key on the back. Once the key has been entered into simplecoincard.com and the bitcoins have been transferred into the user’s wallet, the card is no longer active and can be discarded. Cards are not refillable or reusable.

 

Where to purchase Simple Coin Cards

Right now, Simple Coin Cards are available to purchase in person exclusively at Decentral Toronto, 64 Spadina Ave. Simply come in during our regular office hours and ask for Simple Coin Cards at the front desk.

After the frantic spending hype of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Giving Tuesday is a welcome palate-cleanser. And just as we did on those first two days, the Bitcoin community is holding its own event: Bitcoin Giving Tuesday — a project organized by Bitcoin Black Friday, the BitGive Foundation and the Bitcoin Foundation.

 

The number of charities accepting bitcoin donations is on the rise. It’s one more way that they are able to engage with a set of committed donors while reducing their overhead costs. Donated bitcoin can be recorded as a non-cash gift and then exchanged for fiat, without the high transaction costs normally associated with credit card payments.

 

Bitcoin donations also have the capacity to reach farther around the world. Many remote territories, especially in the developing world, do not have access to the infrastructure needed to run credit card or PayPay systems. But they can accept bitcoin.

 

Now that the start of holiday gift shopping has officially begun, this is the day that we’re encouraged to think about giving a gift to a worthy cause. The bitcoin community has often expressed the desire to change the world for the better. Bitcoin Giving Tuesday is another way that we can do this.

 

For a list of organizations that accept bitcoin, visit bitcoingivingtuesday.org. You can also donate directly through the website: 100% of all donations will go to the non-profit of your choosing.

 

You’ll also find more inspiration at the Twitter hashtag #BitcoinGivingTuesday and on the main thread at /r/Bitcoin.