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2768 sats \ 38 comments \ @siggy47 27 Jan bitcoin_beginners

Robosats is my new obsession. I have only been using it a month or two with any regularity, but I feel like once you get some experience it really is fantastic. I still don't understand many things, though. Maybe stackers can help:

How can coordinators steal your bitcoin or fiat?
What degree of trust are you placing in these coordinators?
How do you verify or check the reputation of the coordinator?
What incentives do the coordinators have to take on what seems like a lot of work? How are they compensated?
How private are the chats? Some people I'm transacting with have suggested we move to another platform or transact through email. I haven't done this, and I am weighing the different op sec of different methods.

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342 sats \ 0 replies \ @ama 27 Jan

What incentives do the coordinators have to take on what seems like a lot of work? How are they compensated?

They take a small fee from both parties on each transaction. Most of the time they don't need to do anything other than maintaining the service up and running. In the rare cases were ther is a dispute, they might need to intervene, but it's usually (in my experience) not a lot of work (time) either.

How private are the chats? Some people I'm transacting with have suggested we move to another platform or transact through email. I haven't done this, and I am weighing the different op sec of different methods.

They are always encrypted. A little more info here.

I think you've already got the rest of your questions answered by others. :-)

436 sats \ 3 replies \ @Wumbo 27 Jan

What degree of trust are you placing in these coordinators?

A: I don't know technically but I try not to do any transaction I could not afford to lose or walk away from. AKA: many small transactions vs one big one.

How do you verify or check the reputation of the coordinator?

A: On the Offer tab/page you can click on the icon of the coordinator for some current/historical data. This will give one some data on if they are a fly by night operation. I often will use coordinators I have a good track record with. Side note: I have not found any bad coordinators let.

How private are the chats? Some people I'm transacting with have suggested we move to another platform or transact through email. I haven't done this, and I am weighing the different op sec of different methods.

A: You can always screen grab or export the chat log, so of course there is nothing that keeps other party from publishing chat. In the one dispute I had to open with coordinator they did request the chat log (the chat log was relevant to the issue at hand). In regards to users wanting to use email I found that this is because robosats has in the documentation to use email for some types of transactions. I often can talk them out of it for privacy reason because the chat is usually fine for the purpose.

I have had nothing but good experiences with RoboSats. The only "Issue" I have is I find myself spending a lot of time on it waiting for a party to find and accept the offer. This is just an "we are early" issue, as more users will make this better over time.

21 sats \ 2 replies \ @siggy47 OP 27 Jan

Thanks for this great reply. I thought of more questions. Do you do the whole garage thing and keep a few robots that you use more than once? I am only using one robot at a time. The only advantage I can think of to re-use robots is to develop a track record, like if you want to become a recognized seller or something?

67 sats \ 1 reply \ @Wumbo 27 Jan

I personally generate a new seed/token for every order.

So, no I don't do the garage thing

I don't think robosats does the track record thing for users. By design it is meant to encourage privacy. I do see people reusing their robot name but one would have to make offline notes as to who they had used in the past. I think people who reuse robot names are just being lazy.

41 sats \ 0 replies \ @DarthCoin 27 Jan

I think people who reuse robot names are just being lazy.

This and they came from bullshit CEX

261 sats \ 1 reply \ @Signal312 27 Jan

The coordinators get the fee. It's not easy to find, but in robosats (desktop on Tor):

go to settings
scroll to bottom, to list of coordinators
click on coordinator name
click on Summary
you'll see the fees they take (can be different per coordinator), how much the give to the developers, and other stats. This one is for the coordinator Over the Moon.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @siggy47 OP 27 Jan

Thanks for this. That's what I was looking for.

80 sats \ 2 replies \ @Signal312 27 Jan

FYI there's a good telegram group for Robosats - t.me/robosats. The website says they're switched to SimpleX, but it seems most people are still using Telegram. There's some activity on SimpleX as well though.

I haven't seen anything from Reckless Satoshi, the developer of Robosats, in a long time. I wonder if he's "retired".

I've never had anyone suggest moving to another platform. Email is famously insecure. What kind of fiat payments were they using, to not want to use the secure chat?

41 sats \ 0 replies \ @DarthCoin 27 Jan

@Reckless_Satoshi is on SN also

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @siggy47 OP 27 Jan

It was a gift card. The guy didn't push. He said something like we can do it right here or move to another platform.

66 sats \ 1 reply \ @DarthCoin 27 Jan

Robosats is my new obsession.

I will let others to answer all these good questions and just zap the good ones. I suppose you already read Robosats documentation.

30 sats \ 0 replies \ @siggy47 OP 27 Jan

Yes I did. The federation git hub mentions coordinator duties and responsibilities. I know there are risks and trust issues, but I don't understand them.

46 sats \ 2 replies \ @siggy47 OP 27 Jan

FYI- I just found this on one of the learn pages:

Amazon eGift CardsPermalink Amazon eGift Cards are one of the more private payment methods on RoboSats. They tend to be quick and convenient, but funds must be spent on Amazon.

It is important to not share a giftcard code directly on the chat, as this might lead to difficult to solve disputes in case of fraud. As a seller, do not accept a giftcard code on the chat. Instead, the seller should provide an email in chat. The buyer should buy a new giftcard explicitly for the trade and have it sent to the email address of the seller. This way the seller knows he is the only one to have access to the redemeable code. This apprach also generates verifiable evidence that the giftcard was bought for the RoboSats trade in case of dispute.

41 sats \ 1 reply \ @Wumbo 27 Jan

@siggy47 , When you have a minute check your nostr DM

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @siggy47 OP 27 Jan

I did

116 sats \ 3 replies \ @itsMoro 27 Jan

the robosats experience in comparison to bisq...its not even close how much better robosats is

and i respect bisq, and have used it.

12 sats \ 1 reply \ @af1f6f3e17 28 Jan

Bisq2 is coming with lightning, swaps and much more. Also robosats will have a desktop client, so they will be quite similar in the near future.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @itsMoro 28 Jan

nice, ill definitely try it out 🤙

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Batcoin 28 Jan

Use bisq for on chain and robosats if you need lightning. Then you can avoid unnecessary swaps

41 sats \ 5 replies \ @grayruby 27 Jan

I don’t know much about robosats but your posts are peaking my curiosity. I will have to check it out.

0 sats \ 4 replies \ @siggy47 OP 27 Jan

It is very cool. I am still learning, obviously.

81 sats \ 1 reply \ @Artilektt 27 Jan

It looks like BTC Sessions and others have done tutorials about it on Youtube but not sure if they're significantly outdated

40 sats \ 0 replies \ @siggy47 OP 27 Jan

Yes. I watched them. They are good. They just didn't answer all of my questions.

41 sats \ 1 reply \ @grayruby 27 Jan

I am going to have a look today.

81 sats \ 0 replies \ @Signal312 27 Jan

Robosats is awesome. Best of the P2P tools in my experience.

It's definitely a learning process though. Don't hesitate to ask here (or on the telegram, or simplex chat), there's lots of help.

50 sats \ 1 reply \ @Satosora 27 Jan

Siggy, try not to fall down too far before it burns you. I have never heard of good stories of people borrowing money.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @siggy47 OP 27 Jan

I won't go crazy enough to do a Saylor like speculative attack to get more sats on robosats! At least I don't think I will. 😀

46 sats \ 0 replies \ @Scroogey 27 Jan

What incentives do the coordinators have to take on what seems like a lot of work? How are they compensated?

They get 0.2% of the deal, split between 0.025% from the maker (who posted the offer) and 0.175% from the taker (who took the offer). Check your coordinator fees:

You pay less fees if you post your own offer!

46 sats \ 1 reply \ @DarthCoin 27 Jan

I'm transacting with have suggested we move to another platform or transact through email.

I would not do that. Smell like scam.

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @siggy47 OP 27 Jan

That's what I thought.

51 sats \ 7 replies \ @Aardvark 27 Jan

Got the apk, thanks for the tip.

83 sats \ 3 replies \ @DarthCoin 27 Jan

LOL you noob guys are so lucky nowadays with Robosats... I remember back in the early years was damn difficult to buy safely some BTC...

41 sats \ 0 replies \ @Artilektt 27 Jan

It was LocalBitcoins here

51 sats \ 0 replies \ @Aardvark 27 Jan

My entire life is just one lucky mistake after another. I don't question it, I just stumble through life blissfully and stay thankful for all of my gifts.