Quote:
Originally Posted by Recon604
so... i dont know how to buy stocks or anything. I believe to buy bitcoins is the same as buying stocks, besides going to that atm.. You have to open a Trades account with the bank inorder to do exchanges right?
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Bitcoin is a currency, not a stock. You can go to the bank and buy RMB or JPY or whatever. You can either open an account, or they will give you stacks of paper with old people printed on them to represent the amount you own.
For Bitcoin, it's 100% digital. You can't buy it at a bank, but you can buy it on an online exchange or the ATM. At the exchange, you will get a code that stores the amount you own. This code must be stored in a wallet. This wallet is like holding that paper with the old people on it, so you don't want to lose it, even if it is digital. You can keep it encrypted on your PC, or use an online wallet like Blockchain.
At the ATM your code will probably be printed on a piece of paper, not sure. This will be encrypted as well, and can be decrypted when you spend it (either sending it to your own digital wallet, or giving it to someone in exchange for something)
Software is getting better, and will eventually be to the point where spending your bitcoin money is as easy as scanning a credit card or octopus card.