Buy bitcoins with moneypak

Bitcoin Money

American Express Prepaid: Reloadable w/MoneyPak

American Express introduced a prepaid debit card  that has nearly no fees and is  reloadable using MoneyPak .

A Green Dot MoneyPak is a payment method  in the U.S. that uses cash . clears instantly and is irrevocable .  These properties make it one of the payment methods preferred among those selling bitcoins through the #bitcoin-otc marketplace .

Those who wish to buy bitcoins but don’t have a Dwolla account have been frustrated as the few remaining options to purchase bitcoins with PayPal have all but disappeared due to chargeback risk.  With the ability to accept MoneyPak and load that cash into a prepaid debit card, sellers will likely see this option as a suitable alternative to accepting PayPal.  The prepaid cards can be used not just for spending but also for cash withdrawal at an ATM .

Loading Funds

To load or reload the prepaid debit card with cash, a MoneyPak can be purchased at a retailer  such as at a Wal-Mart (including their new automated MoneyCenters ) or at a 7-Eleven.  Purchasing MoneyPak usually costs $4.95, paid at the time of purchase.

Those selling bitcoins are able to treat the MoneyPak as digital cash because the MoneyPak number from the buyer is all that is needed for the seller to be able to load funds to the American Express reloadable prepaid debit card.

The prepaid debit card can also be funded using a linked bank account, similar to how bank funds are transferred to a PayPal or Dwolla account.

Fees

The card has no activation or maintenance fees, nor are there any fees to make purchases, balance inquiries, or to replace a card.

The funds on the card do not expire, and a balance of up to $2,500 can be loaded to the card.  Using the card at an ATM does incur a $2 charge though the fee is waived for the first ATM withdrawal each month.

Obtaining A Card

To obtain a card, the signup process requires the following information: Name, Address, Date of Birth . Social Security Number . a Mobile Phone Number and an email address.  Also available is the American Express PASS prepaid debit card  which is also reloadable.  PASS was created for parents to be able to provide and monitor a card provided to their teen.

Risks

The MoneyPak number should only be transmitted through a secure channel.  Because email is sent in “clear text” over the Internet, sending the MoneyPak number through  e-mail is not recommended .

The MoneyPak is irrevocable so there is no risk to the seller that the buyer will be able to issue a chargeback following the sale.

While sending a MoneyPak number directly to a seller is not against Green Dot’s terms of service. their fraud-prevention recommendation  warns against doing so.  To help ensure a safer over the counter (OTC) transaction, the buyer will likely only want to only send a MoneyPak number to a seller who uses ClearCoin  escrow should the seller’s OTC trust rating be not well established yet.

At the same time, the seller has no way to know that the buyer will provide a valid MoneyPak number, so sellers may be wary of committing bitcoins to even a 30-day escrow if the buyer has no history.

Those sellers preferring to not trade on OTC can get a reloadable prepaid debit card directly from Bitcoin Morpheus.  On a related note, coming soon will be the Bitcoin branded prepaid Mastercard  though whether or not that is a reloadable cad has not yet been established.

Competition

This option from American Express sellers does increase the ability for sellers to offer bitcoins to buyers who are new to Bitcoin or to those who are repeat customers who don’t use a bank (referred to in the financial industry as the unbanked).

American Express’ entry is not the first with a reloadable debit card though.  The UPside Prepaid VISA card is similar in that it too can be reloaded with MoneyPak but UPside incurs a $3 monthly fee.  Green Dot itself offers a reloadable card though their monthly fee is even higher.

There will likely be more options coming in the future as well.  According to an article in TIME  more major financial institutions are expected to launch prepaid debit cards of their own.

If the financial industry wishes to refer to those who reject their system as “ the unbanked ”, perhaps we refer to those who do participate in their scam as “ the overbanked ”.  Ughh.  Who wants to be one of them?

What's a Bitcoin?

It's the state-of-the-art in money. It's a new form of electronic money . It's already become "the gold standard" of digital currency.

Ya know how email changed old-fashioned mail forever? Well, Bitcoin is changing money forever.

Based on some old technologies, and some new technologies. Bitcoin is the result of combining. the very state of the art in cryptographic security + the idea of a limited quantity commodity similar to gold and silver (where there's only so much of it) and using it as money + the idea of massive numbers of computers connected by the internet. forming a strong, resilient, indestructible peer-to-peer network. It's called a cryptocurrency.

Since the invention of Bitcoin. Money will never be the same.

Why would I use Bitcoin?

Bitcoin is the world's first completely decentralized currency . This means it has no issuing entity . therefore, no single point of failure . In many ways Bitcoin is more secure than your bank. If your bank were to fail, your money could be gone forever. The Bitcoin network is made up of millions of computers all over the world, connected via the internet. The entire Internet would have to go away, in order for the Bitcoin network to fail.

As easy as sending an email . Just one click. Bitcoin payments are sent with one click - just like email. And transactions are always as free and as fast as email.

Zero transaction fees . In the United States, merchants pay 45 billion dollars per year in credit card transaction fees. And for what? So that the transactions can be reversed as "chargebacks" up to six months later? That doesn't seem fair at all. Bitcoin transactions are free. Whereas credit cards and other online payment systems typically cost 3-5% or more per transaction, plus various other exorbitant fees. Bitcoin usage and transactions are always free. It doesn't matter if you send $0.01. or $1,000,000.00. the transaction cost is always the same: free *

No such thing as a chargeback . Payments are irreversable. No matter whether you accept Bitcoin payments for your business or otherwise, payments can not be reversed. There's no such thing as a "chargeback". No way to get a "bounced check". No "reversed transactions". Not with Bitcoin. Payments can only be "refunded" if and when the recipient, voluntarily, as a separate new transaction, decides to send the money back. This protects merchants from fraud. Credit cards and PayPal can, and often do, reverse transactions up to six months later.

As anonymous as you want it to be . Just like with cash, transactions can be totally anonymous. Transactions are only identified by your Bitcoin address, and you can have as many Bitcoin addresses as you want. You create another new Bitcoin address with one click any time you want to. Bitcoin transactions can be made to be: anonymous ***

Financial privacy . Gone are the days of "Identity theft". In the old days, credit cards required merchants to have proof positive of your identity in order to shop there. Because a Bitcoin address can only be used to receive money, and it cannot be used to extract money. with Bitcoin, the merchant only needs to know two things: Did you pay? and, Where do you want your stuff sent to? Isn't that the way it should be? Does your banker really need to know what you buy online?

Your account cannot be frozen . No one can freeze your account and keep your money. (as long as you keep control of your bitcoins yourself and don't keep your bitcoins in an online bank or wallet service. See the Security tab for recommendations)

No big brother . Third parties can’t prevent or control your transactions. Transfer money easily through the internet, without having to trust middlemen; no central bank, nor central authority.

No censorship of who you're allowed to send money to . No more blocking who you can make payments or donations to. just because someone doesn't agree.

It's not a bank. It's not a paypal . What may be the best feature of all? "Bye bye, PayPal." "Bye bye, Bank."

More secure than online banking existing in the world today. Traditional banks use encryption when you log on to your online banking. The cryptography technology used in Bitcoin is even more secure. In other words, if it were to ever become possible to hack in to it. Then ALL the world's banking would be compromised. With today's known technology, experts all agree. It is absolutely un-hackable and un-breakable: secure Ŧ

Funding Union | What is Funding Union? & Bitcoin | What is Bitcoin?

Bitcoin is transparent and verified . Bitcoin is a free open source software (FOSS) project, which means it has total transparency. Millions of programmers all over the world see every bit of the program's source code. They constantly monitor it, study it, and report on it. to verify that there are no flaws or irregularities.

Send payments to anyone worldwide . Bitcoin has no artificial national boudaries or limitations on where money can be sent, or on how much, or how little, can be sent. You can now use Bitcoin to shop online for millions of items, or make a donation to a charity or organization, and you can even make purchases at physical stores. shops, and restaurants that now accept Bitcoin. using a free app or any device with a web browser.

No central bank . No privately-owned Federal Reserve central bank can print more money for themselves. not Bitcoin anyway. The value of each Bitcoin does not go down when the privately owned corporation known as "The Fed" decides to print more dollars. In fact, it might even go up in value. as it triggers more people to seek out alternatives to storing their money in the world's fiat currencies.

There will never be more than 21 million Bitcoins . The number of Bitcoins is limited by the design of the network. This number can never be increased. Also.

Bitcoins are virtually infinitely divisible . Currently, Bitcoins are divisible up to 8 decimal places. For example, you can send someone 0.00000001 of a Bitcoin. In the future, as the value of Bitcoin goes up, you might be sending your favorite coffee shop 0.00000003 Bitcoin for that cafe latte. Also, in the future, Bitcoin could become even more divisible, if needed. as the value of one Bitcoin becomes larger and larger.

How much is a Bitcoin worth?

The value of a Bitcoin (as measured in US Dollars or any other currency) is determined by the automated online markets. These markets operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. They match buyers and their "bid prices". with sellers and their "asking prices". automatically.

Normally, what we call the "value of a Bitcoin" is simply the last amount a Bitcoin sold for on one of the major markets (or an average of several).

See the Value tab for links to web sites that give real-time value information.