Silk Road forums

Discussion => Security => Topic started by: pulpfictionbro on September 01, 2011, 11:32 pm

Title: How safe is Exchangebitcoins.com and Instawallet?
Post by: pulpfictionbro on September 01, 2011, 11:32 pm
How safe are these sites? Ever since mybitcoin shutdown i have been looking for a safe and untraceable (or at least somewhat untraceable) alternative of sending my Bitcoins to SilkRoad. Also i am fed up with Dwolla and their 3-5 day transfer time.

So has anyone used these services? I read in a post that you can walk into a bank and deposit cash to Exchangebitcoins.com, is that safe? Do banks ask for your id if you transfer cash?

How does Instawallet work? What makes the bitcoins transfered to Installwallet untraceable? Also it says on their website that they only offer a "medium" level of security so i dont want to trust them with my bitcoins.

So what are my options?
Title: Re: How safe is Exchangebitcoins.com and Instawallet?
Post by: jackstraw on September 02, 2011, 12:10 am
I made a cash deposit into their account at a local bank and just gave the teller the deposit slip and was on my way.  No ID...No questions asked....wait no that's not true.   She asked if there was anything else she could help me with.

Yes I guess I am on bank camera  but SO WHAT?   

After I sent them an email with a copy of the deposit receipt...my cash was in there NO PROBLEM.   Now just waiting to see how low I can get me some coins. :P
Title: Re: How safe is Exchangebitcoins.com and Instawallet?
Post by: MrDdroMcGillacutty on September 02, 2011, 02:20 am
ExchangeBitcoins.com Is great. Easy deposits and withdraws. Fuck TradeHill! Mt.SuxCoxGox uses Dwolla. Fuck BOTH them too!
Title: Re: How safe is Exchangebitcoins.com and Instawallet?
Post by: CaptainSensible on September 02, 2011, 04:37 am
I don't think the Bitcoins transfered to Installwallet are untraceable.  But since the ownership of the wallet at Installwallet is unknown and not connected to any site that sells a product, you could theoretically send Bitcoins to Instawallet for payment of any kind of legitimate service or product. 

My experience with Instawallet is that it receives Bitcoins pretty quickly, but it can take hours for Bitcoins to be sent out of Instawallet.
Title: Re: How safe is Exchangebitcoins.com and Instawallet?
Post by: pulpfictionbro on September 05, 2011, 03:45 pm
Hmm..so right now i send all my BTC's to an instawallet, then to another instawallet and then another and finally to SR. So if need like 5 BTC's in SR account i go,

Exchanger (5 BTC) -> Instawallet Prim
Instawallet Prim (2 BTC) -> Instawallet 1..3 -> SR
Instawallet Prim (3 BTC) -> Instawaleet 1..3 -> SR

This coupled with cash deposit @ Exchangebitcoins.com should make me pretty untraceable?
Title: Re: How safe is Exchangebitcoins.com and Instawallet?
Post by: CaptainSensible on September 05, 2011, 07:42 pm
Hmm..so right now i send all my BTC's to an instawallet, then to another instawallet and then another and finally to SR. So if need like 5 BTC's in SR account i go,

Exchanger (5 BTC) -> Instawallet Prim
Instawallet Prim (2 BTC) -> Instawallet 1..3 -> SR
Instawallet Prim (3 BTC) -> Instawaleet 1..3 -> SR

This coupled with cash deposit @ Exchangebitcoins.com should make me pretty untraceable?

You've got a pretty good plan there.  Bitcoins are traceable, but as long as you accessed Exchangebitcoins.com over Tor there's no record of your actual IP.  And the Instawallet you sent the coins to belong to anybody who has the address of that Instawallet. .
Title: Re: How safe is Exchangebitcoins.com and Instawallet?
Post by: pulpfictionbro on September 06, 2011, 07:01 pm
@Capn - thanks for the help and yes i will always use Exchangebitcoins over Tor.
Title: Re: How safe is Exchangebitcoins.com and Instawallet?
Post by: lightstruck on September 07, 2011, 11:33 pm
newbie here...

i've never used bitcoins before so this is all a little confusing to me, but i've been reading up on it all day. exchangebitcoins.com seems like a good solution but unfortunately there are no BoA or wells fargo branches in my city. it says you can mail them a money order (which i could pay for in cash) but that just seems like an extra step where things could get screwed up-- it could get lost, etc. but my question is this... is it really necessary to BUY the bitcoins anonymously? if i'm going to send them through several wallets anyway to anonymize them before i send them to SR then does it really matter? it's not illegal to buy bitcoins, and i plan on making small sporadic purchases for personal use only, just to supplement what i can't get face to face... also, having buy a money order and mail the money order to this company and hope they get it seems like a huge pain in the ass as opposed to depositing cash at a branch which unfortunately i can't do. is there another service like this which uses different banks and doesn't charge some insane transfer fee?

thanks for any advice :)
Title: Re: How safe is Exchangebitcoins.com and Instawallet?
Post by: DigitalAlch on September 08, 2011, 04:43 am
Interesting, I hadn't heard of exchangebtc.

peace,
DigitalAlch
Title: Re: How safe is Exchangebitcoins.com and Instawallet?
Post by: jackstraw on September 08, 2011, 04:48 am
I've made 2 deposits with them so far and it was easy peazy.   Bought some coins at 6.6 and hoping they go up so that I may increase my buying power.  No guarantees about that though.   
Title: Re: How safe is Exchangebitcoins.com and Instawallet?
Post by: pulpfictionbro on September 08, 2011, 05:09 pm
@Soft - I am not sure if there is a point to it or not but its better to not start the chain of money transfer from something that can be directly linked to you. So buying btc thru cash seems like an almost fool proof way to guarantee safety (the only record in this case is your photo on the cameras but that's pretty light evidence).

One question that i do have for others, is there any point of transferring money thru various instawallets, cant LE still track down that the BTC's were finally sent to my acct even if they came from different wallets? I do change my receiving payment address after i receive bitcoins from one of the wallets, dunno if that helps.