Getting Started with Bitcoin - We Use Coins

Step 1 ---> Get a Bitcoin wallet

There are many Bitcoin wallets to choose from with various levels of security, convenience and complexity.

A great path would be (1) a mobile wallet like Airbitz (iPhone, Android), Breadwallet (iPhone) or Andreas Bitcoin Wallet (Android), (2) acquire bitcoins from a friend, as payment for a good or service or buy bitcoins from Circle and then (3) if you decide to store large amounts of bitcoins and want to know they are absolutely safe then use Armory.

Mobile Phone Bitcoin Wallets

There are iPhone and Android apps available. Two popular choices are:

Bitcoin Software Wallets

Software wallets are downloaded and run from your computer. They are considered more secure because the user has more control and does not depend on a 3rd party service. Most software wallets require nearly a full day or longer constructing a local copy of the blockchain before use.

Bitcoin Web Wallets

Web wallets are the easiest and most convenient to use but are potentially less secure than wallet software run on your own computer.

Bitcoin Hardware Wallets

Hardware wallets are the most secure because they don't expose your private keys to the network.

Step 2 ---> Get Bitcoins

Buy Bitcoins

With the Bitcoin price so volatile many people seem curious about getting some. Buying bitcoins is getting simpler every day. Here are our recommendations:

Earn Bitcoins

Many people find that the best way to get bitcoins is to accept them as payment for the products or services they already sell. Just give your customers the option to pay in bitcoin.

To make it easy, you may want to sign up for a bitcoin merchant account which allows you to send invoices and integrate bitcoin payments into your online order pages for most of the popular shopping cart systems.

Mining Bitcoins

Mining bitcoins requires an investment in specialized bitcoin mining hardware designed to process double round sha256 hash verifications at high speed. Many excellent systems are available.

It's important to point out that bitcoin mining is highly competitive and risky for would be participants. Please see our bitcoin mining page for more detail.

Step 3 ---> What can I do with my bitcoins?

Bitcoins can be used to purchase just about anything you want. Dental services, a brand new car, travel and even luxury real estate.

We recommend searching the merchant directories below to locate the merchants you're interested in. You can buy gift cards with bitcoin and spend them in most of the stores you already use.

Bitcoin Merchant Directories

Gift Cards

Available from Gyft and spendable at:

Charity

Step 4 ---> Keeping up to date with Bitcoin news

Here are some good places to keep up with bitcoin news and discussion: