Adventures in Bitcoin Buying

If you’re in New York, the next best thing is to try BTCnearme.com, which will show you who in your area is buying and selling BTC at the moment, and how far away from your zip code they are–although it doesn’t include how many BTC you’re trying to trade. There were three people selling in the vicinity of the Betabeat office; I emailed one of them and got no response.

Luckily, I knew a guy. I signed up for an account at MyBitcoin.com, a site built specifically for Bitcoin lightweights in my situation. “MyBitcoin sports an easy to use interface with large navigation buttons. It is suitable for those who are just trying Bitcoin out, or for those who want to use Bitcoin for commerce now, and without delay,” the site says. My Bitcoin dealer warned me to make a 16 character random password and never lose it, because MyBitcoin.com is famous for having no password recovery. I emailed him my Bitcoin address and he promised to send the coins over this afternoon.

If everything works out, I’ll soon have two Bitcoins of my very own, which I plan to hold on to long-term as a souvenir of the Bitcoin phenomenon. Considering legislative pressures that threaten Bitcoin and the gap between investor adoption and vendor adoption, I do feel like I’m flushing money down the internet’s tubes. I’m comforting myself with the knowledge that I can at least buy a crepe in Dumbo.