EGG SECURITY
As the old saying goes, "Don't put all your eggs in one basket!" And I have tried to abide by that idiom. I have diversified my investments. I own real estate, have some cash saved both at the bank and at home, I have several credit cards available for any emergency, I own several firearms wth plenty of ammo, have some stocks, some metals, some collectibles, and 2 types of crypto-currencies; Bitcoin and STEEM ( I am including SBD, SP and STEEM itself all under the STEEM umbrella). I have both Bitcoin that is stored away and a smaller amount of Bitcoin for emergency use or personal use when needed. I have that small amount on my Iphone Bitcoin Wallet. As for the STEEM, I have my STEEM on steemit.com of course, and I have some on Poloniex for some small time trading (more experiment than anything). This has been many years in the works and provides a sense of security should another 2008 economic fiasco arise again.
BE YOUR OWN BANKER
When I first heard about Bitcoin back in 2013, one of the key points that truly caught my attention was the idea of "being your own banker." While growing up, I remember my parents avoiding banks and paying for everything in cash. My father had a great dislike for banks due to a loss of money he had experienced while saving money in a Mexican Bank. He had his money there because at the time it paid a high interest rate on savings, but when the Mexican Peso Devalued he lost 50% or more of his money. The lesson that Banks were never to be trusted was carried into adulthood. My bank accounts only have enough to cover my monthly expenses and some emergency money. I only maintain enough money in these accounts to avoid monthly banking fees.
Bitcoin and a Bitcoin Wallet allows me to become my own banker. Just like having cash under the mattress, bitcoin is stored on your computer. Bitcoin can also be stored offline for further protection. There are no fees to pay, no forms to fill out, and no one to instill "Capital Controls" like what happened in Cyprus in 2013. For me, this was and still is one of Bitcoin's greatest selling points.
Block Erupters
In 2013 I became a serious Bitcoin enthusiasts. I decided that I would become a Bitcoin Miner. I first started mining with GPU's but knew that my run was going to be very short with them, so I was fortunate enough to acquire some early AsicMiner USB Block Erupters, and then some KNC Bitcoin Miner's. And I continued to acquire hardware from other manufacturers such as Bitmain. This allowed to me to accumulate some Bitcoin. Now my challenge was how to properly store them. I needed to have some Bitcoin on hand in order to purchase hardware since most Bitcoin Hardware Manufacturers would only take Bitcoin as payment. And I also needed to store the Bitcoin that I had as my reserves.
ALL YOUR 'COINBASE' ARE BELONG TO US
Along comes Marc Andreessen of NETSCAPE fame (for those not old enough to remember Netscape, Wiki link provided), and Coinbase to Bitcoin's rescue. Marc is a Multi-Millionaire if not Billioinaire, and is a partner in Andreessen Horowitz, which is a Venture Capital Investment company. In 2013, Andreessen Horowitz invested $25 Million Dollars in Coinbase, a San Francisco based Bitcoin Exchange.
There have been so many people who have lost Bitcoins due to fraud or simply poor management. Coinbase had too much money invested in it to become one of these tragic stories of mismanagement or a disappearing act. The Andreessen Horowitz investment in Coinbase was not only a major investment, but it was a huge boost to the credibility of this new Bitcoin company. This gave me great confidence in Coinbase, so in 2014 I created an account there and have since stored about 33% of my Bitcoin holdings there with Coinbase.
Everything has been great with Coinbase. I have no complaints. The website interface is easy to use. They have created updates to the site to make it easier on the eyes. They have added support for other crypto-currencies. They offer referral bonuses. Their transactions fees are comparable to other exchanges. But there are winds of change at Coinbase. Lately, I have been hearing of many complaints from users of Coinbase. I have tried to remain impartial and if anything supportive of Coinbase.
I Caught A Case
Unfortunately, I can no longer maintain my Bitcoin with Coinbase. I have recently received an email from them requesting information from me in regards to my account with Coinbase. In the email they state that this is part of their compliance program. They ask in the email what the primary use is of the Coinbase account? They want to know what my source of income is for my Bitcoin purchases with documentation and the nature of my Bitcoin transfers. I do not intend to answer these questions, and since Coinbase has a new recently updated User Agreement which states that they can lock an account, I plan to avoid that situation. Especially since this Coinbase email even came with a Case number, as if I have done something wrong. All my Coinbase Bitcoin was sent to my personal wallet, and from there turned into a Paper Wallet. So long Coinbase.
09-08-16
Full $teem Ahead!
My Top Blogs
- This Guy Caught Fire!
- Behind the Scenes - Photo Shoot
sources:
google.com
coinbase.com
wikipedia.com
bitcoin.it
Pictures from:
Pixabay.com
or my own