So You've Never Used Bitcoin as a Payment Method?
To be fair, bitcoin is still a pretty young concept, so don't let anyone be to hard on you. In 5-10 years you'll likely *need* to use bitcoins to buy things online, but at the moment, most online retailers are still using more expensive archaic methods of negotiating transactions. Because Anonymous Publications is *hardly* profit motivated (we're primarily lulz motivated) we're taking the launch of our new title as an opportunity to introduce new consumers to the payment technology as a humanitarian effort and also to support the PayPal14 and WikiLeaks who have been abused by politically overzelous payment providers in the past. Once modern payment methods are adopted, we will nolonger be at the mercy of those in complete control of the global financial system. And there will be cake.
Convert USD into Bitcoins Electronically
By far, the easiest way to get started with bitcoins is to go to a 3rd party bank such as https://coinbase.com to setup an account. By linking your bank account with them you will be able to convienienty trade US Dollars (USD) for bitcoins (BTC).
How do I pay you with bitcoins?
Once you have bitcoins in your bitcoin wallet with them, you can purchase anything you want by transfering bitcoins from your wallet to a checkout wallet such as the one we display to you on our website after you request a purchase. A checkout wallet is a special bitcoin wallet created just for your purchase of everything you put into your electronic shopping cart (such as a copy of The Parade with the Drums). Once that checkout wallet is paid, the payment is automatically forwarded to our primary bitcion wallet, we are notified of the payment, and then we ship the book to you.
Do I need to use CoinBase.com???
No, not at all, you can buy bitcoins from any human who owns them with cash. For instance, https://BitcionsLocal.com allows you to find people in your area willing to buy or sell bitcoins for cash, completely without a bank.
Can I buy bitcions from CoinBase.com anonymously?
Sadly, the federal government outlaws the purchase or sale of bitcions anonymously if you are "in the business" of doing so. The loophole for localbitcoins is that the people who buy and sell often do not do so making their livelyhood on it, rather they are simply doing it as a hobby, altruistic, or occasional source of secondary income.
I Need to See a Flashy Video That Tells Me How it Works with Pictures
ikr! There's one on https://Bitcoin.org
What Bitcoin Represents to Global Entities
How does the US Dollar (USD) Work Exactly?
So here's the gist of the matter. Bitcoin for the most part works the same way USD work in the physical world. One system, the Federal Reserve company (in the case of US Dollars) decides that more money should be added to the money supply. This new money enters the economy...
- Primarily in the form of digital bank accounts held by banks,
- And partially in the form of physical cash being stuffed into ATM machines owned by those banks.
It's difficult to discuss the complexities of currency in an accessible way to non-economists, but the take away is "somehow it all just works out"
How do Bitcoins Work Exactly?
Ok, now if you grasp the economic concept of how currency works in general (which honestly isn't something one can explain very thoroughly in a single document) then you're ready to move on to understanding how bitcoin works. It's easiest to explain the differences between how USD works vs BTC. So what are the differences between how bitcoin and the USD works?
- Instead of new money being given to banks, additions to the money supply are granted to 'bitcoin miners' who perform work.
- The USD is inflationary (pressures investment) whereas bitcoin will eventually be static (allows for saving without loss)
- US dollars are vulnerable to misplacement, whereas bitcoins are vulnerable to HDD failure or backup file misplacement.
- Stolen US dollars are sometimes 'given back to you' by your bank, whereas stolen bitcoins are not.
- US dollars are vulnerable to counterfit whereas bitcoins are not.
- US dollars are anonymous, whereas bitcoins transactions are public (but not necisarily the transactors).
- electronic US dollar transactions require bank approval, special hardware devices, network access, and large payment fees, whereas with bitcoins you only need internet access.
- US dollars are a mature technology, whereas bitcoins are a young one.
Why Does the Media Discourage Bitcoin Usage?
If you've heard anything about bitcoins from the media, you've probably heard mostly bad things, or things which mock the crypto currency. You might be wondering why the media would tend to cover bitcoins negatively even though there is so much online support. Here's another quick bulletted list for your review:
- Bitcoins are an external threat to the entities who own shares in the media (eg all the companies in the stock market, banks who directly own interestes in teh media, the government, et. al.).
- Originally, drug merchants were heavily using bitcoin, they got a head start, but the banks hadn't adopted the new technology, which put them at a severe disadvantage (the government now controls most of the wealth in BTC that the infamous SilkRoad had posession of, so this problems was partly solved by the FBI's hacking crusade against the deep web in their war on drug users).
- Bitcoins complicate the government's ability to monitor the conduction of businesses, impose rules, and apply taxes.
- Bitcoin investment caused an unpredictable redistribution of wealth (people without wealth tended to gain wealth as speculators began investing in bitcoins creating a speculator bubble similar to the one that crashed the US and global economy in 2007).
- The US governement is a global hegomony in more areas than just military. They overpower the rest of the world in cyber might, intelegence might, and also financial might. Recently, the US government has even has the authority to look through soveregn nation's bank records to see what it can find. If the US arbitrarily decides that it's in it's best interests to attack you as an individual, they can 'freeze' all your assets in the bank, they can remove you from your house, if you're traveling overseas they can shoot a rocket at you with a drone, but they can't just take your bitcoins, it isn't possible. So media groups supportive of the Pentagon (almost all of them) naturally are incentivized to slow down the adoption of bitcoin, as that it undermines the US Government's financial Hegomony.
Is There Anything Illegal About Using Bitcoins?
No no, not at all. Unlike the Russian government which has indeed outlawed use of the technology, the US government is explicitly prohibitted from passing laws like that. Presently Washington is fighting bitcoin by applying anti-terrorism based regulations on financial insitutions to inhibit free trade of bitcoins, these laws have nothing to do with consumers using bitcoin.
