Things I learnt today, (and some confusion)
240 sats \ 7 comments \ @NeuroNinja 23 Sep 2023 bitcoin
I am finally out of Uphold and put my stuff in self-custodial wallet (Phantom). This is my first time sending something on crypto network, and I realized this. IDK who needs to hear this since you all are masters in this field, but this is very new revelation for me.
All the BITCOIN (i'm not sure about other crypto, maybe you can help) only exists over on the network. You can have your key, which is not the BTC. Even when you spend it, it doesn’t go anywhere else. It remains still on the network. BTC can neither be created or destroyed. Only accessed. It is a bit scary though.
First of all, a big shoutout to @dieselbaby for helping me out with his long explanatory post on my yesterday's thread. SN is such a great help.
Although, replacing Shitcoins with another Shitcoin is not a great choice but this incurred least cost of transaction + exchange, so I went with SOL. Also being from a country outside US, I don't had the option to convert to USDs and then to BTC. Now I have,
  • Less shitcoins (only one i.e. SOL) instead of (BAT, RUNE etc.)
  • Self custody with keys, instead of Uphold
Next step is to convert it to self-custodial BTC wallet or LN BTC wallet. I setup my Alby already, but I'm unsure if Alby is self-custodial lightning. It feels like it is not. I am reading about Sparrow sallet/ Blue wallet/ Electrum wallet these days and will update next.
Hoping to learn more here. Please keep correcting me if I am mistaken or doing something stupid.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @connecteconomy 23 Sep 2023
Congrats on your realization and thanks for sharing! This forum may consist of mostly experienced bitcoiners, but we were all noobs once, and we all started stacking these kind of realizations over time. This is part of the rabbit hole :)
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0 sats \ 1 reply \ @Ksjznxnxkxksn 23 Sep 2023
Hey, you can easily swap your SOL with sats on LN using fixedfloat.com. Unfortunately the SOL - LNBTC pair is now suspended. Maybe later on huh ?
Good choice not to use onchain with small tx ( fees are high these days ). Better to store adequate amount of sats to spend it later ( in case you would need it )
Anyway, you need inbound liquidity on LN. Think of it as a " can receive " amount. If you have no more inbound liq you can't accept more payment.
You can go to the Phoenix path and once you no longer have inbound liq, you can spend your sats slowly or looping out
Or harder, wilder & better approach would be using Blixt wallet ( or Bitkit? ) and buy inbound liq from LSPs such as Blocktank, Deezy, LNBIG or Thor.
Self custodial is a damn complex task to do, you can ask for someone's help here & be careful not losing your backup!
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @NeuroNinja OP 23 Sep 2023
I'm hearing many new terms now, i'll read them up this weekend. Thanks.
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0 sats \ 3 replies \ @DarthCoin 23 Sep 2023
So all your hassle was just for meaningless $8.20 in shitcoins? LOL
Next step is to convert it to self-custodial BTC wallet or LN BTC wallet. I setup my Alby already, but I'm unsure if Alby is self-custodial lightning
Man, I sent you a lot of guides. Did you read them? When you would learn the lesson?
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121 sats \ 1 reply \ @NeuroNinja OP 24 Sep 2023
Hi @DarthCoin, I finally managed to swap shitcoin SOL to BTC.
I started with 10 USD, and ended up with around 7 USD. Also, this is my first ever transaction on Electrum wallet. I learnt about these wallets from your guides and made a wallet in my PC, backed up my keys and did my first transaction. I was literally fearing a lot if I am doing it right, from Uphold to > Phantom to > SOL to > SimpleSwap and finally to > Electrum BTC.
Next thing I will try is to purchase BTC with https://hodlhodl.com/ as suggested in your guide. I will SignUp when I have saved some 100 USD for my first P2P purchase of BTC ever. Hope it all goes well, and Thanks a lot for bearing with me. It took me almost a week to learn and do all of the above steps one at a time. I was reading along the way.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @DarthCoin 24 Sep 2023
  1. When you use Electrum:
  • if you use it for onchain, set to display BTC not mBTC. That is more clear in your mind. mBTC is confusing and you will make mistakes. Guaranteed!
  • if you use it with LN activated, set to display in sats. That is the unit for LN, so again you will not get confused when you will make transactions.
  1. Stop saying "saved some 100USD" when you talk about Bitcoin. It is BTC or sats. Nothing else! Everything on Bitcoin network is bitcoin or sats, remember that. You are niot saving USD, you are saving BTC. Stop using the fiat/shitcoin mindset. Now you are in the Bitcoin world.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @NeuroNinja OP 23 Sep 2023
Yes, I read guides of converting to USD and then transfer over to BTC, but being from a non-US country with no KYC, it was not possible to switch to USD without adding bank account. And converting to BTC directly from shitcoins was too expensive, considering its small amount. (1 USD transaction fee + 3 USD BTC on-chain fee), and then sending BTC to own Bluewallet (3 USD fee). I would have paid 7 USD in all fee and left with next to nothing.
Since I am just learning to use online transaction addresses, I chose the one with lowest fee, which I am planning to switch to LN wallet like Alby or BTC, which would incur some 3 USD more, and I can get around 5 USD in BTC.
I did not wanted to go this route, but this is the cheapest path possible. Now, I'll be out of shitcoins. Thanks for your comprehensive guides though, specially on wallets, P2P buying and keeping keys safe. I loved and bookmarked your this guide on P2P exchanges: https://darthcoin.substack.com/p/from-where-can-i-get-some-bitcoins
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