Hello my fellow friends of the Bitcoin community,

My name is Anthony and I am the CEO of the fast-paced Canadian startup Instacoins.

Our ethos is to make Bitcoin and alternative cryptocurrencies as accessible as possible to the non-technical end-user through a combination of innovative purchase and verification platforms, solid educational material and top-notch customer service.

I’d like to offer you the opportunity to try our platform right now with zero verification needs for the first $50 in purchases. Our platform sells currently four different cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin, Litecoin, Dogecoin and Peercoin, with all coins being sent directly, and instantly, to your supplied wallet address.

Since our job is to make you as happy as possible, feel free to let us know what you like and don’t like about the platform, and we will endeavour to work these considerations into our upcoming feature releases and platform adjustments.

We have a 100% positive feedback on LocalBitcoins, having sold cryptocurrency for over a year to over 114 unique customers, and we are looking to build on this early success and customer satisfaction. We are based out of Edmonton, Alberta and work closely with Startup Edmonton, who has made a $15,000 seed capital investment in our vision of making cryptocurrencies of all kinds easily accessible to the nontechnical community.

Thank you for allowing us to make this introduction and we hope you join us in this journey!

Kind Regards,
Anthony of Instacoins
anthony@instacoins.ca
http://www.instacoins.ca

Let us know what rates you would like to see as a prospective user and we will definitely factor that into our decision making process!

Kind Regards,
Anthony of Instacoins


Our two main priorities right now are finding the pricing schedule that customers find most acceptable and allowing Canadians to sell their digital cryptocurrency and receive Canadian dollars. I hope that answers your question, let me know if you have any other questions or concerns.

Kind Regards,
Anthony of Instacoins

Hello my fellow friends of the Bitcoin community,

My name is Anthony and I am the CEO of the fast-paced Canadian startup Instacoins.

Our ethos is to make Bitcoin and alternative cryptocurrencies as accessible as possible to the non-technical end-user through a combination of innovative purchase and verification platforms, solid educational material and top-notch customer service.

I’d like to offer you the opportunity to try our platform right now with zero verification needs for the first $50 in purchases. Our platform sells currently four different cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin, Litecoin, Dogecoin and Peercoin, with all coins being sent directly, and instantly, to your supplied wallet address.

Since our job is to make you as happy as possible, feel free to let us know what you like and don’t like about the platform, and we will endeavour to work these considerations into our upcoming feature releases and platform adjustments.

We have a 100% positive feedback on LocalBitcoins, having sold cryptocurrency for over a year to over 114 unique customers, and we are looking to build on this early success and customer satisfaction. We are based out of Edmonton, Alberta and work closely with Startup Edmonton, who has made a $15,000 seed capital investment in our vision of making cryptocurrencies of all kinds easily accessible to the nontechnical community.

Thank you for allowing us to make this introduction and we hope you join us in this journey!

Kind Regards,
Anthony of Instacoins
anthony@instacoins.ca
http://www.instacoins.ca

“When I met with him, I told him I’m here to talk to you about Bitcoin. At the time there were two police officers there. In fact, I think that initially their intention was to just escort me away, but when I said ‘Bitcoin,’ one of them was interested and let me continue talking. And I said, ‘You know, people think you were the founder of Bitcoin.’ And I asked him a few questions about, whether or not it was true, and he said, ‘I cannot talk about that. I’m not connected with it anymore.’ The exact quote is in the story. And I reasserted, ‘We are talking about Bitcoin here, correct?’ And he said, ‘Yes,’ but he went on the say that he would not elaborate at all or answer questions. And, in addition, my last question to him was, ‘If you are in anyway not connected, you need to tell me now,’ and he said, ‘I cannot do that.’”

Source: http://hereandnow.wbur.org/2014/03/07/nakamoto-bitcoin-newsweek

At first I did not believe Dorian S Nakamoto could be the true Satoshi, but I am beginning to find more plausability in the idea. I guess if anyone could find the two officers and either of them could verify Goodman's account of the story that may offer more concrete evidence beyond the very circumstantial proof that's been given thus far.

User has been messaged.

I am selling Bitcoin/Litecoin to members of the Bitcoin community and am accepting multiple forms of payment.

I have a 20+ transaction, 100% positive feedback score on LocalBitcoins: https://localbitcoins.com/accounts/profile/instacoins/

I am based in Canada and will accept the following as payment:
- PayPal dollars (USD & CAD)
- Interac E-transfer (Only available to Canadians)
- Cash deposit at CIBC & TD Bank in Canada (USD & CAD)
- OKPay dollars (USD & CAD)

These payment methods are accepted because they are instant, so neither party has to worry about market fluctuations while funds are in transit.

As PayPal and Interac E-transfers are susceptible to fraud, an environment of trust will necessarily need to be established before the transaction can occur. This trust can be built in the form of (in order from best to worst):
- Scanned/high resolution photo of government ID
- Positive reputation on LocalBitcoins/BitcoinTalk/OTC Exchange
- Face-to-face Skype conversation
- Scanned/high resolution photo of non-government ID
- Facebook/eBay account

I am also willing to sell more obscure cryptocurrencies such as Namecoin, Novacoin, P2PCoin etc. PM me and I will let you know the availability of the smaller market cryptocurrencies.

The price will be determined based on payment form and amount of trust established. OKPAY and Cash deposits are cheaper whereas E-transfer and PayPal exchanges are more expensive. Likewise, in the absence of a solid reputation, the premium will be higher and the transaction volume lower, whereas a solid reputation will lower your premium and raise your transaction limit. Escrow will always be used to limit the amount of risk taken on by the customer.

For transaction requests or further information, feel free to contact myself or someone else on the team at purchase@instacoins.ca or here on BitcoinTalk, and we will make sure your messages are responded to in a timely manner.

Cheers,
Anthony of Instacoins

Yes, I agree , it is a shame.
Hopefully Paul will get the exchange back up and running!

rHg6wZiq7qXYbk1CP8c5KKkMAdKhVK64Hw

The age preference put up of 18-24 was to find any overlooked talent out there that isn't getting a fair shake because of their age. I think age and skill are related to a degree, but I don't think it's by any means a nice linear relationship.

That being said, if you're older, or even younger really, and may be interested feel free to contact me. Putting together a team that is driven and talented is more important to me than putting together a team with a certain age group or even a certain skill-set.

It can never hurt to show some initiative and send me a PM even if you're outside of the listed age.

Take care everybody, hope your search on this subforum is going well,
Anthony

Sure, what I'll do is upload a good lecture of it onto YouTube and send you the unlisted link. There used to be a good account 'FooledByRandomness' up on YouTube, but it was removed! Thankfully I downloaded the most pertinent lecture that has helped me personally the most. I'll send it your way today and you can tell me what you think.

Hello, my friends!

If you're between the ages of 18-24, and are an ambitious and talented Canadian, then I may just have a project for you!

We are launching a Bitcoin Startup here in Canada. If you want to hear some details, feel free to send me a PM. Specifically we're looking for someone with a programming background, and additionally someone with a graphic design/web design background. That being said, more important to us is to create a team with talent, drive and ambition. If you want to be part of something which could change the face of Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency in Canada, contact me and we'll go from there.

Take care, and I wish good luck to all who are in this forum right now!
Until next time,
Anthony

Ice, you ever heard of Turtle Trading?  That's my personal fav strategy at this moment

Sure, I am naive. But I am also optimistic about finding a solution. Thank you for sharing your experience though.

However, the research I have been doing has been very enlightening. For example, Verified By Visa and Master SecureCode, both buried in the fine print, say that if these services are used the merchant has chargeback protection from 'unauthorized payments'. I have also found businesses that specialize in protecting against chargeback.

Definitely Card-Not-Present transactions have a high risk of fraud, and those trying to rip off merchants with Bitcoin transactions are a bit sharper than your average scamster. But I still think that, especially as a Canadian, a system can be created where it is either a) completely secure, or b) chargeback fraud is significantly reduced, and that which cannot be reduced is priced into the system.

(And I will definitely claim naivety in dealing with CC companies, Interac & Paypal for this, I do not have an illustrious career as a merchant to call back on as experience but I am a damn good researcher and moving in a good direction towards a solution everyday).

Nonetheless, here in Canada the regulators have taken less of an aggressive stance towards Bitcoin. Of course, I will still have to conduct due dilligence on figuring out the legal framework exactly, and covering my ass, but here in Canada there should be no reason why a Bitcoin sale cannot be approached as would be the sale of any other digital, nontangible good (downloads etc). I think the blockchain offers an even better legal case than would a digital download, because you can verify exact transactions. But if regulators plan on taxing Bitcoin like a regular good (which they do), and I plan on paying the taxes on Bitcoin like a regular good (which I do), there is no reason why I cannot have the extent of the law behind me to rally my case, especially if legal procedures are followed properly.

I am still going to bury myself into phone calls, fine print and legalese 'terms of service' today, and for a many a days to come, but the way I see things shaping up there is are two kinds of anti-fraud protection, protecting you from chargebacks (which can be served for far more than just an 'unauthorized payment'.) But specifically, to battle unauthorized payment I see:

1) The Mastercard/Visa/Interac terms and procedures: following their terms by the books, this includes utilizing Secure Code/Verified By Visa, which is in effect their solution against non-card-present transaction fraud. A business such as chargeback.com will help in this regard, (if you google chargeback protection, which I did before I went to sleep last night, you find a lot of businesses offering such a service).

2) Your personal comfort level. A phone call & all the lengthy procedures you went through is one way to deliver yourself comfort, even if, for example, a phone call could do nothing in the legal framework of Visa/Mastercard (I'm speculating, I don't know that for sure.) However, there are far more options to make you feel happy, and that you could potentially use to protect yourself. Off the top of my head, I think one is a video chat after seeing pieces of government ID and thus being able to tell you are speaking to the same person. Secondly, having a personal relationship, even on the way to friendship, with your clients I'm sure would go a long way in giving you personal comfort that you weren't susceptible to chargeback fraud (as opposed to legally knowing you are not susceptible to chargeback fraud).

Either way, non-card-present chargeback fraud is an issue that all busineses face and have to deal with. Big corporations have entire teams of people, who all they do is monitor chargeback fraud. It's not like this an issue secluded to only Bitcoin transactions. What I have in mind is an actual legitimate, registered company with clean books and taxes payed, transmitting an online good to customers. I want to play it as clean and by the books as humanly possible. Included with that is a strategy to minimize and price in possible chargeback fraud, but it is only a fraction of the overall things that must be dealt with. I certainly do not believe it is some 'Achilles heel' that can never be worked around. The fact is, if Canadians at large want to purchase cryptocoins, and we want laypeople possessing them, we are going to have to find something more user friendly than trade exchanges. People will need alternative, and easier payment methods, to pay directly for their Bitcoin, and I think that can be achieved legally and securely with a legitimate business.

Cheers, thanks for the healthy debate,
Anthony

Well even with Interac E-transfers, which are a debit of one account and a funding of another (of already existing funds, i.e. no credit is involved), they still have the stipulation that the vendor, not the customer must bear the cost of 'unauthorized payments'. But even if Visa/other CCs/Paypal are stacking the system heavily against the merchant, there is no reason that a law-abiding citizen couldn't prove their identity securely beyond a shadow of a doubt to a law-abiding business. And there is no reason why PayPal et al. would rule against a merchant if they could openly and easily prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the transaction was in fact authorized.

This is what I am trying to open a dialogue on: How can we create a security system that proves identity beyond a shadow of a doubt, so that we can win any disputes we have, thereby allowing for the processing of certain e-payments and opening up the spigots of cryptos to the laypeople! That's what I think is at stake and completely able to be accomplished here.

I have been conducting due dilligence lately on the prospect of creating an e-currency exchange in Canada, taking in Canadian dollars and distributing BTC and other cryptocurrencies. However, I have found one detail which seems to bother the BTC community, and I see a lot of heated discussion about it, but no solutions, which is the problem of chargeback liability.

As I understand it, the process works like this: VISA/Paypal/Interac E-Transfers all have a basic feature which is that the customer cannot be held liable for 'unauthorized transactions'. These unauthorized transactions are the result of alleged phising or otherwise malicious use of the customer's payment system, resulting in a financial burden that, contractually, the customer has no liability for (and thus the vendor must accept).

I see a lot of people angry with Paypal here, but Interac E-transfers and Credit Cards have the exact same feature. However, I certainly do not believe that this is an issue that cannot be resolved.




As I understand it, when a customer wishes to make a claim that the transfer was unauthorized, i.e. was conducted by a party other than themselves and operated without their permission, (called a dispute in Paypal's terminology), an investigation is then launched by the payment service to understand whether or not this is a case of fraud (which is what is trying to prevented here of course).

Another phrase buried in PayPal's Terms Of Service is the phrase 'a purchase that did not benefit the customer' (I'm paraphrasing). I bring this up because I think it may be helpful evidence in creating a solution.



As I see it, a simple solution to our fear of facing an unrightful 'chargeback' (or at least being subjected to bear the pain of the fraud), is to cover our ass in terms of the 'unauthorized' in 'unauthorized payment'. I think certainly it would not be impossible to create a system, working with employees of Paypal/VISA/Interac, that proves identification and thus authorization of a payment. I do believe that if you could mount a strong case, built with verifiable evidence, that in fact the person who made the transaction was making it themselves and in a manner that benefitted them, that you could eliminate the fear of chargebacks.

For example, if you had someone designate a long-term Bitcoin address, that would serve as their only destination point for funds, and you as a vendor would accept transferring their funds to that address, I believe you could begin to find the outline of a secure payment system. Furthermore, if you used some type of video communication software to verify identity, perhaps coupled with a type of password/reference verification, that you could really start to lock up security. Even if you had a secure transfer of only $15 of CAD, and could verify the I.P. address, I think you could build a very strong case that it is in fact the person who they are claiming to be when they make larger requests in the future.


The point I am trying to make is that justice is in the eye of the beholder, and in this instance it is the payment processing companise. They want to eliminate fraud, but they also want to incentivize customers using Visa et al., and are therefore more than happy to reapropriate your funds to cover their customer's liabilities. However, if presented with a strong case, built on evidence and a system that was tailored to their needs/wishes, I feel that a solution can certainly be borne out of this present-moment issue of chargeback exposure. If we work together I am sure we can create a foolproof secure system that can cover us from the liability in these transactions.

Cheers,
Anthony

And I still can't post on the alternative subforums? Forgive me for making a thread but I thought I was over all my limitations at this point.

Thanks,
Anthony

Also, I have found someone on LocalBitcoins who accepts PayPal for payment, and these are his stipulations:



I accept PayPal, but under the following conditions:

1 - Buyer needs to prove that the PayPal account is funded by a debit account (not a credit ard) that belongs to them. This is to prevent chargebacks.
2 - Buyer must provide ID from their PayPal email address to prevent fraud
OR
Buyer must be willing to have a Skype conversation to verify identity and address.
3 - Buyer must send funds as GIFT.
4 - Buyer must be willing to wait up to three days for the funds to be withdrawn to my bank account.

Yes I am still researching it, making some headway too.

This seems to be my working plan:

1) Make the stipulation that I am not trading a currency, that I am instead providing a service.

So, trading a currency would look like: Someone funds me Paypal and I fund them BTC.

But in essence what I am doing is being paid to go and purchase BTC on the market and return them to that person, at a cost.

2) Make sure that person sends me a high quality photo/scan of their ID with their long-term Bitcoin address attached in the email. Each time they send me Paypal I can only fund their BTC to the address that has been provided with the ID. This address must also be sent as a message in the Paypal money transfer.

It's worth a shot, I still have some tinkering today before I feel completely safe. But my understanding is this:

If someone is purchasing an intangible good, neither the buyer nor the seller receive protection from PayPal.

Therefore, the only way a buyer can attempt to receive their funds back is through filing a dispute, claiming they had an 'unauthorized transaction' that 'didn't benefit them'. But, if it was a very kosher, and systematic (normal) payment, looking to be funded to the same bank account, I doubt you could claim they hadn't benefited from it.

Another idea I have is to have them securely send me a photo of their photo-ID, and then to send a number from their ID as proof of identification. For example, I would say: send me your payment with your Bitcoin address and the 8th digit of your Drivers License number.

If they ever brought up a dispute against me, and PayPal went to investigate it, I'm certain I could win that case if those security measures were taken (of course I'm going to want to have someone from PayPal verify that this a working system or give suggestions on how to create a better system)

Also, I'm thinking about having an account that has not been verified in a bank and keeping a low Pay-Pal balance, taking my funds out to purchase items on Ebay whenever possible.

I see two reasons for this, if, the worst case scenario occurs and someone I trusted turns out to be a scammer looking to have 100% of their funds returned (remember this is worst case) I will a) possibly only lose a small amount of capital if PayPal doesn't put my balance to negative, or b) if they do give me a negative balance, of a substantial amount, there may be a hope in hell that I can walk away from the account. (I know someone is going to flame me because technically that's against some regulation but I am just thinking out loud here).

Thoughts, anybody?

Since I'm still in purgatory anyways. So if you're stuck in noobzone, but are a trader like me and run two monitors, have one monitor idle on the forum and it will count towards your time.

Since it just crossed my mind, if I just saved you time : 17nvJeFsoJ75KemrkHvxBwfLhDLZf9GMD3   

Yeah I am continuing to do research, just finished my second call to Paypal today. It seems like they run a pretty fair investigation when a dispute is claimed, to try and determine the validity of each party's statements. I am basically going to implement certain identity verification standards that will be able to stand up against any disputes claimed, and stay rather discriminating with who I offer the service to (who as of now only extends to a single party).

I am cautiously optimistic at this moment