Silk Road forums
Discussion => Security => Topic started by: j3an on October 11, 2012, 11:15 pm
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TO DO:
MAC tutorial
Export Certificate problems
Write 2nd Draft
VPN/TOR (need others input)
-------------------------------------------Bitcoin-otc: A beginners guide.------------------------------------------------
tl;dr This post tells you exactly step by step how to buy BTC in the U.K. via bank wire/cash deposit. Copy and paste it into word, and follow it very carefully.
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Abstract
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This forum post details in full the process behind obtaining BTC via the bitcoin-otc marketplace.
It is intended for casual, first time users who are used to exchanges like Mtgox. Such users may have have already visited btc-otc and do not know what it is, or how to use it to get BTC. It contains a methodology for those who want to obtain BTC as quickly as possible, with minimum hassle or complexity. It is certainly not a comprehensive guide, and does not attempt to deal with the concepts behind bitcoin-otc in great, or even basic, technical detail.
This guide outlines:
* What bitcoin-otc actually is and how it works
* What differentiates bitcoin-otc from M/I (Mtgox/Intersango) and similar sites.
* Provides a full methodology for obtaining BTC via bitcoin-otc within a few short hours in your e-wallet.
It is not:
* A comprehensive, or even decent, description of the technical aspects of bitcoin-otc.
* The most anonymous means of obtaining BTC
* The way to get the most value from BTC
* The quickest way of getting BTC. (However, as you will see using this method is MUCH faster than using M/I.
It is hoped that by using this guide you will have BTC in a few short hours. It is also expected that you will use bitcoin-otc for all future BTC purchases due to the many advantages over using bitcoin-otc over M/I.
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Overview
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M/I used to be the most common means for The Silk Road (TSR) users to obtain Bitcoins via bank transfer. Due to unknown circumstances, UK TSR users are currently unable to purchase BTC via bank transfer using M/I. Thus, UK TSR must use alternate methods of obtaining BTC. One of these is through a decentralised website called “bitcoin-otc.com”.
Making the transition from centralised exchanges such as M/I, to more hands-on/bartering/non-automated exchanges such as Bitcoin-otc is not the easiest thing in the world. Using BTC-OTC requires basic knowledge of IRC, PGP and intuition to identify scammers. There is no built-in escrow: however this fact is not a huge disadvantage as we shall soon see.
One of these alternate means is via “bitcoin-otc.com”; this post will help you use this method to go from a) wanting BTC to b) receiving them in a BTC wallet ready to transfer straight to your TSR account. If you do everything that this guide tells you to, you should be fine.
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What is Bitcoin-OTC?
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It is possible that, like me, you have already been to bitcoin-otc.com, checked the wiki and main site for information, and are still scratching your head on exactly where to find the magic “Buy BTC” button. Unfortunately, this magic button does not exist.
In short, bitcoin-OTC is basically a chat room full of people who are buying and selling bitcoins. You PM a seller, you send GBP to his bank account. He sends you BTC. That is basically it in short.
To help you understand, it may be helpful to explain how a centralised bitcoin exchange, e.g. M/I actually works, and then explain the differences between such exchanges and “OTC” sites such as bitcoin-otc.
To buy BTC on Mtgox you essentially do this:
1. Make an account on Mtgox
2. Make a note of Mtgox's account name, sort code and account number.
3. Log on to your online banking website and make a deposit to the above.
4. Wait a few days for Mtgox to credit your account with the deposit you made.
5. Enter in how much you want to spend in GBP, then click the magic “buy bitcoins” button.
6. Your account is credited with the number of BTC you purchased.
Now between 5. and 6., there is a hidden step that casual users do not notice. Mtgox makes a note of how many BTC you want. Mtgox will then pair you with a seller that has the BTC you need, and automatically make the transfer from GBP to BTC from buyer to seller (and of course take a slice of the pie in the form of transaction fees).
And this hidden step is what differentiates centralised exchanges like MtGox from bitcoin-otc and similar sites. Mtgox acts as a middle-man or intermediatery between the buyer and seller.
Bitcoin-otc does not provide this middle-man service. To purchase BTC you have to contact a seller directly, make a note of his bank account details and give him a wallet address so he can send the BTC to you. So the differences are:
1. Bitcoin-otc does not have built in e-wallets, like Mtgox and TSR do. You must therefore make your own one (this will be explained).
2. Bitcoin-otc is completely decentralised. Mtgox pairs suitable sellers for you to make transactions. You must find suitable sellers yourself through the provided IRC chatroom. You must use your own intuition to make sure they are not scammers, and you must barter to ensure you're not ripped off (but only a little bit).
3. It provides an environment, or chat room, for sellers and buyers to gather and do business. It also provides a means of making sure you are dealing with reliable people, who are who their ratings say they are (more on this later).
Advantages and disadvantages
+No exchange fees/commission
+Opportunities to barter/get good rates
+Much quicker than M/I
+Decentralised, with less onus on one website.
-Easier to get scammed
-Difficult to get started
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Lets get on with it.
This guide assumes the following:
a) You are purchasing bitcoins via a bank deposit/wire transfer
b) You are using a Windows OS.
c) You have a basic understanding of PGP (this is probably not necessary).
In addition to this guide I highly recommend checking out this youtube tutorial via http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYJ-GdErX1c. The visual quality is abysmal, with much of the onscreen text unreadable, but using it along with my text notes should hopefully suffice.
---1a Install WinXP in a truecrypt container to carry out all the below anonymously (Optional)
This is up to you ultimately. If your computer is searched by LE, and all the below is found on your non-encrypted OS it may provide evidence against you.
---1b. Install GPG4Win
Go here http://www.gpg4win.org/download.html and download Gpg4win 2.1.0 or the latest version. You should grab the “Full installer” → http://files.gpg4win.org/gpg4win-2.1.0.exe
Run the installer.
Next through everything, using defaults for all the settings.
---2. Open Kleopatra.
Go to Start/All Programs/Gpg4win/Kleopatra
Go to Settings/Configure Kleopatra/GnuPG System.
In the GPG for OpenPGP tab, find “Configuration for keysevers” - “Use keyserver at” - Edit. Double click the existing entry in the “Server name” column and replace it with “pgp.mit.edu”. Click OK, Apply
---3. Create a new certificate
Ok, lets pause here: Why are we installing a PGP client anyway? Well, lets discuss why in very non-technical terms briefly:
Say we enter the bitcoin-otc chatroom. We ask the room “Looking to buy 10BTC via GBP Bank Wire”. A seller going by the name “Bob” says he can help us, and supplies us with his rates. We check his rating on the bitcoin-otc website: 100 positive, 0 negative. Ideal. But how do we really know its “Bob” we're talking to? Remember, its a chat room! Anyone can sign on as anyone – it would therefore seem that it would be difficult to establish whether “bob” is really “bob the perfect seller”.
Fortunately, there is a way: through PGP technology. You can register a btc-otc nickname through pairing it with a PGP key, much like DPR does when he posts with a PGP signature. You can get his key, and decrypt his msg to verify that its really him. OTC works pretty much the same way, but through a bot. If this sounds confusing, continue on through this guide and you will hopefully understand this principle by the time you finish.
So lets make a certificate.
Go to File/New Certificate.
Create a personal OpenPGP key pair.
Give it a Name, preferably the name you're going to use on bitcoin-otc.
Give it an e-mail address, this is not necessary so type in anything.
Give it a comment, again unnecessary
Enter and re-enter a passphrase.
Make a backup of your key pair if you like.
Click finish.
---3. Make an e-wallet.
Clearly if you're buying BTC you will need somewhere for the seller to send them to. There are a number of options
a) Use your TSR account (I would obviously advise against this)
b) Mtgox account
c) Local wallet (bitcoin client)
I would recommend blockchain.info. Go to http://www.blockchain.info
At the top, by home, charts, etc click on “Wallet”.
Click on “Create my free wallet”.
Create a password.
Optional: Create a nickname to sign into your account with, instead of an identifier of the form “XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX”. If you don't create a nickname make sure you make a note of your identifier, otherwise you will lose access to your BTC.
---4. Sign into the bitcoin-otc marketplace/ IRC chat room.
salo
Lets get right into the chatroom where buyers and sellers meet. No need to install an IRC client, just go here http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=#bitcoin-otc
Nickname: Put the same nickname as the one you gave for your PGP key.
Channels: bitcoin-otc.
Complete captcha.
Click connect.
You should (hopefully) see a pale blue window, with various tabs at the top “status” and “bitcoin-otc”. You should also see a list of other chatroom/marketplace users on your right. If so, you're in the right place! A lot of complicated stuff is going on in the main chat, which will not be covered in this basic tutorial. Use the wiki if you are interested.
----5. Link your nickname to your newly created PGP certificate.
At the very top of the right pane (i.e. the list of other chat users) you will see a user called “@gribble”. Gribble is essentially a bot which will help you link your nickname to your PGP key.
Click @gribble
Click -query
A new “gribble” tab will open.
In Kleopatra, under the “My certificates” tab, double click your newly created certificate/pgp key. In the “Technical Details” tab, make a note of your ID in the subkeys table. It will have 16 characters and be of the form:
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.
To register your chat nickname with your PGP key type the following in the gribble tab:
;;gpg eregister pgp_nickname ID.
Say my PGP and chatnickname is Jim, and my ID is 1234567891012345, I would type:
;;gpg eregister Jim 123456789102345
You will hopefully see something like this:
[0000<gribble> Request successful for user Jim, hostmask Jim!XXXXXXXX@gateway/web/freenode/ip.00.000.000.000. Get your encrypted OTP from http://bitcoin-otc.com/otps/XXXXXXXXX
Open up that URL in a new tab, and you will see a -----BEGIN PGP MESSAGE-----.....---END PGP MESSAGE-----
Ctrl+C everything in the new tab.
Right click the Kleopatra icon in the bottom rigjht hand corner of your desktop (i.e. by your volume/wifi icons)
/clipboard/decrypt
Enter in your password
Finish
When you Ctrl+P the output will look something like
freenode:#bitcoin-otc:999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
Paste it somewhere safe.
Now go back to the gribble irc tab and now type:
;;gpg everify freenode:#bitcoin-otc:99999999999999999999999999999999999999999
You should now get a message saying
[00:00] <gribble> Registration successful. You are now authenticated for user jim with key 123456789102345
---6. Re-authorise your nickname using your PGP key
This step is strictly optional, but unless you don't plan on buyiong BTC from bitcoin-otc again it is pretty much mandatory.
To show that you are who you say you are, you will need to prove to Gribble that you are who you are via your PGP key again. The way this is done is so:
First reload webchat.freenode.net and sign in again as described above.in the start of step 5.
Load up the “Gribble” chat tab again and type:
;;gpg eauth Jim
You should hopefully get something like <gribble> Request successful for user jim, hostmask jim!0000000e@gateway/web/freenode/ip.00.000.000.000. Get your encrypted OTP from http://bitcoin-otc.com/otps/00000000000000
Similarly to step 5, open up the url in a new tab, copy the new PGP message and decrypt it exactly like in step 5.
Then type something like this, but replace freenode: etc with whatever you have just decrypted
;;gpg everify freenode:#bitcoin-otc:0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Congratulations! You've just reauthorised your nickname using your PGP key again. Now you'll be able to give people ratings, check out other peoples ratings, etc etc.
Test that you're registered and authenticated by typing in the gribble tab:
;;getrating Jim
It will spit out something like:
[00:00] <gribble> This user has not yet been rated. Currently authenticated from hostmask Jim!00000000@gateway/web/freenode/ip.00.000.000.000 .
Obviously you have no ratings yet as you're new, but for the main part you've done the hard work
---7. Buy some BTC!
Click on the #bitcoin-otc tab.
Send a chat message saying what you want. e.g. “Looking for 100BTC via GBP Bank wire. PM me with offers.” Sellers will hopefully send a msg back in the main chat, or PM you. For the latter, when you get a PM a new tab will open from a seller.
Check their rating. Lets say “Jack” PM's you with:
“Hi Jim, are you still looking for 100BTC? Will sell at 8 GBP/BTC.”
To check “Jack's rating, type:
;;getrating Jack
The chat window will spit out something like:
<@gribble> Currently authenticated from hostmask Jack!~jack@unaffiliated/jack . User Jack, rated since Mon Jan 1 00:00:00 2012. Cumulative rating X, from 50 total ratings. Received ratings: X positive, X negative. Sent ratings: X positive, X negative. Details: http://bitcoin-otc.com/viewratingdetail.php?nick=Jack
First of all, check if the seller is authenticated. It says he is – great! Click the URL by details to analyse his feedback. Check if any feedback is “Good for first time users”, helpful etc etc.
Don't be afraid to barter/ask for offers off different people. Sellers WILL take advantage of new users and will give ridiculous offers. Look for something close to Mtgox rates.
Make a test purchase first.
You're pretty much on your own from here. The process will go something like:
1. You send him your blockchain.info wallet address
2. He will give you his account number, sort code and full name.
3. Make the transaction.
4. If he's legit he will (hopefully) send you your BTC to your blockchain.info address.
5. Ask him how to give him a rating, and he'll help you out. Make sure you get one too for future purchases.
---------8. Conclusion
That should be it. Congratulations you did it!!!!! You bought your very own BTC via bitcoin-otc!!!
I think that covers just about everything truly necessary to buy BTC using btc-otc. Again check out the yt video for a more graphic explanation. Read the wiki for bits I've missed out.
This is not the most secure/anonymous/etc way to do it, but is good enough for people who want BTC ASAP. Feel free to suggest amendments, I will be happy to edit them in. Hopefully this guide helps a few people who're a bit daunted. Good luck everyone. +Rep would be nice too < 3
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Thanks man < 3. If you give a bitcoin-otc a try, you won't look back. Just follow my guide along with the yt video, and you should be sorted. Its a bit chaotic I agree, but just post a msg saying what you want and let the offers roll in. Any qns post here, good luck to you.
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Very long and nice guide! Good read. I use instawallet > SR method myself, and hey, as long as everybody gets BTC, everbodies happy :). By the way, you can't make headings bolded. I wish the SR editor had more features :p. That way you can make attractive & extra readable guides. I guess that's what the wiki's for though.
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would it be pretty similar to install on a MAC ?
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would it be pretty similar to install on a MAC ?
it's an IRC channel, so your operating system won't make a difference .... it's not a program you download or anything.
what do i download instead of GPG4Win ?? since this is for windows
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Great guide!
Q: Can I or should I do all of this via Tor?
Edit: i guess not on my setup as the blockchain.info website is not compatible with epiphany! Never mind.
Edit2: ...er and the irc webchat site blocks Tor nodes.
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This is awesome, thanks for taking the time to write all of this.
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You're all welcome guys; glad to be of assistance!
Unfortunately I can't elaborate much more, as thats practically all I know!
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Good shit bro! This needs to be stickied!
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+1 lots of good info.
Appreciate your time on this.
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Excellent guide and video, thanks. Couple of questions regarding security. Some may seem obvious but just want to check/make it clear.
1. Creating a new PGP key for BTCotc is essential as using SR one would identify yourself on clearnet. Which brings me to point 2.
2. BTC otc cannot be accessed by TOR. Is using normal IP okay or should VPN/useable proxy be set up for all future access?
3. If you are making a wire transfer from your acct to person on BTC otc, once BTC are sent to your blockchain/instawallet addy, will sending straight to SR be suffice? I would be using TOR to access blockchain.
I like to take as many precautions as possible and am fully aware that purchasing BTC is legal. I would prefer if there was as little/no trace of myself acquiring BTC as possible. Cash deposits at bank are essential. Thanks
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When I try to register with gribble, I get an error message: <gribble> Error: Could not retrieve your key from keyserver. Either it isn't there, or it is invalid.
Anyone have any ideas?
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When I try to register with gribble, I get an error message: <gribble> Error: Could not retrieve your key from keyserver. Either it isn't there, or it is invalid.
Anyone have any ideas?
I can help you here. It's an excellent guide but it misses out something. Where it says:
"3. Create a new certificate
Ok, lets pause here: Why are we installing a PGP client anyway? Well, lets discuss why in very non-technical terms briefly:
Say we enter the bitcoin-otc chatroom. We ask the room “Looking to buy 10BTC via GBP Bank Wire”. A seller going by the name “Bob” says he can help us, and supplies us with his rates. We check his rating on the bitcoin-otc website: 100 positive, 0 negative. Ideal. But how do we really know its “Bob” we're talking to? Remember, its a chat room! Anyone can sign on as anyone – it would therefore seem that it would be difficult to establish whether “bob” is really “bob the perfect seller”.
Fortunately, there is a way: through PGP technology. You can register a btc-otc nickname through pairing it with a PGP key, much like DPR does when he posts with a PGP signature. You can get his key, and decrypt his msg to verify that its really him. OTC works pretty much the same way, but through a bot. If this sounds confusing, continue on through this guide and you will hopefully understand this principle by the time you finish.
So lets make a certificate.
Go to File/New Certificate.
Create a personal OpenPGP key pair.
Give it a Name, preferably the name you're going to use on bitcoin-otc.
Give it an e-mail address, this is not necessary so type in anything.
Give it a comment, again unnecessary
Enter and re-enter a passphrase.
Make a backup of your key pair if you like.
Click finish."
Somewhere in this little process you have to 'send the key to the keyserver' or something like that. I think you can also do it after you click finish - just right click the certificate you just created and I think you 'export certificates to keyserver'. I think it will work now.
On a different note, I did all this because I'm from the UK. It doesn't seem to be a very good place for buying bitcoins, at least with GBP. There's only 3 possible orders to go for and these haven't changed for the last 3 days. I'm looking at the web open order book - is this uptodate? Assuming it is up to date, before you go into the hassle of setting all this up my advice is to have a look at the open order book. I wish I'd done it first.
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I just want to give a massive THANK YOU to the OP for this thread. I successfully bought my first BTC's tonight through BitCoin-OTC. All though it did take me all day to set everything up and to make sure I was comfortable enough to make a purchase :o
I sure am glad that I invested some time into this. The advantages really are great once everything is setup. And not having to pay any exchange rate fees, or handling fees was an added bonus ;D
Anyway, thanks again OP!
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When I try to register with gribble, I get an error message: <gribble> Error: Could not retrieve your key from keyserver. Either it isn't there, or it is invalid.
Anyone have any ideas?
When I try to register with gribble, I get an error message: <gribble> Error: Could not retrieve your key from keyserver. Either it isn't there, or it is invalid.
Anyone have any ideas?
I can help you here. It's an excellent guide but it misses out something. Where it says:
"3. Create a new certificate
Ok, lets pause here: Why are we installing a PGP client anyway? Well, lets discuss why in very non-technical terms briefly:
Say we enter the bitcoin-otc chatroom. We ask the room “Looking to buy 10BTC via GBP Bank Wire”. A seller going by the name “Bob” says he can help us, and supplies us with his rates. We check his rating on the bitcoin-otc website: 100 positive, 0 negative. Ideal. But how do we really know its “Bob” we're talking to? Remember, its a chat room! Anyone can sign on as anyone – it would therefore seem that it would be difficult to establish whether “bob” is really “bob the perfect seller”.
Fortunately, there is a way: through PGP technology. You can register a btc-otc nickname through pairing it with a PGP key, much like DPR does when he posts with a PGP signature. You can get his key, and decrypt his msg to verify that its really him. OTC works pretty much the same way, but through a bot. If this sounds confusing, continue on through this guide and you will hopefully understand this principle by the time you finish.
So lets make a certificate.
Go to File/New Certificate.
Create a personal OpenPGP key pair.
Give it a Name, preferably the name you're going to use on bitcoin-otc.
Give it an e-mail address, this is not necessary so type in anything.
Give it a comment, again unnecessary
Enter and re-enter a passphrase.
Make a backup of your key pair if you like.
Click finish."
Somewhere in this little process you have to 'send the key to the keyserver' or something like that. I think you can also do it after you click finish - just right click the certificate you just created and I think you 'export certificates to keyserver'. I think it will work now.
On a different note, I did all this because I'm from the UK. It doesn't seem to be a very good place for buying bitcoins, at least with GBP. There's only 3 possible orders to go for and these haven't changed for the last 3 days. I'm looking at the web open order book - is this uptodate? Assuming it is up to date, before you go into the hassle of setting all this up my advice is to have a look at the open order book. I wish I'd done it first.
Hey guys - have spent all evening to work out this Bitcoin OTC thing. Managed to get onto chatroom but getting same message as movinweight! Thanks elemengary this bit of advice looks good and am busy following it :) . Have had to change to a MAC too as Windows PC died and yeah there are quite a few pointers missing from the advice on the forum - things change so quickly and it's important to keep things up to date for us and other newbies, especially in the UK needing to buy BC!!
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Hello all,
Glad to see you've found the guide helpful!
Funnily enough, for my first account I didn't need to export my certificate to the server, whereas for the second I didn't. I'll edit the guide sometime tomorrow, add in what I've learned and make it a bit simpler.
I think the guide will suffice without screenshots, as I more or less tell you exactly what to do; however if a lot of people are finding it difficult I am happy to do this. Remember, check out that video on youtube as you follow along. I might add in a few useful commands.
To those who've had difficulty finding reputable UK sellers, just keep posting in the main chatroom exactly what you want, don't mess around with the order list imo.
Anyway, update soon.
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Had such a good experience last night :)
All the advice on the forum was so helpful although there are some things you need to work out for yourself. I had difficulty finding a decent client (for MAC) and after trying Ircle and Adium found 'Colloquy' to be so easy and very clear to use.
First time on Bitcoin OTC - found someone almost immediately (bank transfer UK) and all went through very smooothly, with lots of help from the seller of course.
Be prepared - it's certainly a learning curve but once you've done it you're there! good luck ;)
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A good guide, and I am going to give it a try. Maybe a reference to this thread could be put in the Wiki or it could given a "sticky" status?
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This should definitely be stickied. I found a great bitcoin seller at decent rates, especially if you value anonymity.
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But since it isn't a sticky at the moment this will bump it to the top for a while where it is more likely to be seen.
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Am yet to make a purchase as I'm overly cautious but what do you think is a good offer to buy your coins at? Be itneresting to hear what deals people are getting. Have many people had success at weighted MT GOX ave? or MTGOX high plus percentage make it more enticing for BTC sellers? Obviously this depends on the number of coins being sold but I'm unsure of what is the offers I should be getting.
Other things to note: DO NOT use the same nickname on SR and bitcoin otc. I have seen it, and if you are not using a VPN you are revealing yourself. Again, I wouldn't worry if you have already but best to be careful, even when buying small amounts of coin/drugs.
MAKE SURE you ;; ident <user> and you see GPG authenticated or BTC address authd. It is possible to use someone elses name unauthorised. Scammers may try and fool you. Don't only rely on them showing you this in PM as it can be copy and pasted. You should ask gribble yourself.
Go to bank branch and deposit cash. (Optional but again not ridiculous effort for some. Better to use same branch as where you are paying in)
I understand it is mentioned in the guide but I owuld like to highlight/reiterate these points.
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Am yet to make a purchase as I'm overly cautious but what do you think is a good offer to buy your coins at? Be itneresting to hear what deals people are getting. Have many people had success at weighted MT GOX ave? or MTGOX high plus percentage make it more enticing for BTC sellers? Obviously this depends on the number of coins being sold but I'm unsure of what is the offers I should be getting.
Other things to note: DO NOT use the same nickname on SR and bitcoin otc. I have seen it, and if you are not using a VPN you are revealing yourself. Again, I wouldn't worry if you have already but best to be careful, even when buying small amounts of coin/drugs.
MAKE SURE you ;; ident <user> and you see GPG authenticated or BTC address authd. It is possible to use someone elses name unauthorised. Scammers may try and fool you. Don't only rely on them showing you this in PM as it can be copy and pasted. You should ask gribble yourself.
Go to bank branch and deposit cash. (Optional but again not ridiculous effort for some. Better to use same branch as where you are paying in)
I understand it is mentioned in the guide but I owuld like to highlight/reiterate these points.
I get rates of Mt. Gox average plus 5%, also cash in hand which is well worth the 5%.