Bitcoin support guide, recent downtimes, upcoming server upgrades

[Holo]

tl;dr:
- MangaDex traffic is at an all-time high. Our monthly costs are upwards of 700 USD.
- We must currently pay for these costs using cryptocurrency, so as to avoid having to rely on ads, we're now asking for Bitcoin donations.
- Support via PayPal, Patreon etc. is unfortunately not an option.
- In this post we provide general information about Bitcoin as well as suggest ways to acquire some, either online or offline, and how to donate it.
- Donations in cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin are not yet supported, but may be added depending on the demand.

The full post below:

Just a quick update from us regarding the recent intermittent access - as you might have guessed, with the world in quarantine due to COVID-19, this has increased traffic to the site to unprecedented levels. To give you an idea, we are seeing peak numbers of users during off-peak times. And at peak times, the volume of users inevitably crash the servers.

We are addressing this issue very shortly, by upgrading servers to cope with the increased demand for the coming months ahead. However, in order to do that, we need to resume accepting donations. We have been surviving off our contingency funds left over from last year, before we had to close support due to some unfortunate events occurring.

Paypal, Patreon, etc are not available options for us, so we switched server hosts at the start of the year and now we pay all our bills using cryptocurrency.

We had a vote on the most preferred way of supporting the site, and even though "using non-intrusive ads" won the poll, it will remain a last resort (as we promised a long time ago). If the number of people who voted to support us with cryptocurrency actually go through with it, we will do fine.

As promised, here is a guide on cryptocurrency, focusing on Bitcoin, including what it is, how you acquire it, and how you would send it to us. The spoilered paragraphs are non-essential, but you can read those if you're interested in the finer detail of the workings of Bitcoin.

For now, we intend to accept Bitcoin only, but if there is demand, we will also expand to accepting other cryptocurrencies.

Bitcoin - General information​

What is it?
Bitcoin is a digital currency created in 2009 by a mysterious figure using the alias Satoshi Nakamoto. Like traditional currencies, it can be used to pay for services and products from people and companies that accept Bitcoin as payment. However, there are 3 main differences.

[ol][li]It doesn't physically exist - there are no notes or coins. It exists only online.[/li]
[li]It has no central bank, isn't linked to or regulated by any country. [/li]
[li]The value of a single Bitcoin is several thousand dollars, but because it's a virtual currency, you can purchase however small of a fraction (up to 8 decimal places!) of a bitcoin that you'd like.[/li][/ol]

How does it work?

"Real world" currencies, like USD/EUR/GBP, are managed by a central bank (US Federal Reserve/European Central Bank/Bank of England). This means that they can manipulate the volume of currency in circulation and/or its value (by printing more notes, for example).

The supply of Bitcoin is decentralised - it can only be increased by a process known as “mining”. For each bitcoin transaction, a computer owned by a bitcoin “miner” must solve a difficult mathematical problem. The miner then receives a fraction of a bitcoin as a reward.

A record of each transaction, using anonymised strings of numbers to identify it, is stored on a huge public ledger known as a "blockchain". This acts to ensure the integrity of the currency.

The system can act as a payment network that has no down time, it’s operating 24/7, it doesn’t care where and to whom you send money, which makes it suitable for use as an anonymous method of transferring "money" to each other.

Spoiler

As said above, more Bitcoins enter circulation as the result of "mining". However, the bitcoin protocol specifies that the more coins in existence, the more difficult it becomes to mine more coins, up to a limit of 21 million Bitcoins. The difficulty halves approximately once every 4 years, and at the current rate of mining, the next "halving" is predicted to occur at some point this year. As there is a finite amount of Bitcoins to be mined, this is another reason why people attribute value to it.

For further information, please read Bitcoin’s official “you need to know” page here: https://bitcoin.org/en/you-need-to-know

Do I need to worry about taxes?

If you are simply acquiring Bitcoin and gifting it to someone else, then no taxes are due.

Spoiler

However, if you are acquiring Bitcoin for investment purposes, and the value rises, then taxes could be due when you dispose of them, similar to investing in other assets. Bitcoin's value is extremely volatile, and has been known to rise by thousands of USD in a day, but also fall by thousands of USD in a day.

How do I buy and store Bitcoins?​

In general, there are 2 ways of acquiring Bitcoin: you can buy them online at an exchange, or you can buy them offline at a Bitcoin ATM. I will go through both methods in detail, as well as listing the advantages of each method.

They can also be stored using an online wallet, or an offline wallet. If buying Bitcoins online, it's more convenient to store them on an online wallet, but they can also be sent offline. The guide below assumes that Bitcoins bought online will be stored using an online wallet, and Bitcoins bought offline are stored offline.

Spoiler

(Of course, you can also mine them, but this isn't feasible unless you happen to have a server farm or supercomputers and a perpetual supply of cheap electricity)

Buying Bitcoins online

We recommend https://www.coinbase.com/ for buying Bitcoins online. This is one of the largest cryptocurrency platforms in existence. They also provide an online wallet to store your Bitcoins securely, are insured, and also support other cryptocurrencies besides Bitcoin.

Spoiler

Other sites also exist, such as https://bitstamp.net/, https://kraken.com and local tradesites like https://bitcoin.de

Advantages - No need to worry about maintaining a separate app wallet or needing to travel physically to visit a Bitcoin ATM.
[ol]
[li]Register an account for yourself, and log in.[/li]
[li]Verify your account.[/li]
[li]Add a payment method. You can simply link a mastercard or a visa card for small purchases.[/li]
[li]Buy Bitcoins (or rather, fractions of a bitcoin). [/li]
[li]Once you have been credited with your Bitcoins, you are ready to send them to us.[/li]
[/ol]

Spoiler

Buying Bitcoins offline

This requires you to use an offline app wallet. We recommend https://wallet.bitcoin.com/ - It supports both Android and Apple. Also, you need to physically go to a Bitcoin ATM.

Spoiler

Another good app is https://electrum.org Other wallet apps also exist: https://bitcoin.org/en/choose-your-wallet

Advantages: Not relying on a third party to store your crypto is generally more secure. You have probably heard stories of how large crypto exchanges got hacked and had all their crypto stolen - storing your crypto offline would prevent loss in that situation. However, this won't be a concern as you aren't storing crypto for a long time, as you would be sending it to us. (This is only a concern if you acquire Bitcoins to keep for a while). Buying Bitcoins from an ATM offers total anonymity as well, as the ATMs do not require identification, etc.
[ol]
[li]Install app.[/li]
[li]Tap "+ Add"[/li]
[li]Tap "+ CREATE NEW WALLET"[/li]
[li]For ASSET TYPE, select "BTC" and give your wallet a name[/li]
[li]Open the wallet and tap "RECEIVE" to bring up the QR code of your wallet[/li]
[li]Now you are ready to find a Bitcoin ATM nearby, and buy (fractions of) Bitcoins. This is a useful site to search for one: https://coinatmradar.com/bitcoin-atm-near-me/ [/li]
[li]There are several types of ATMs, but in general, they are self explanatory. They will ask you whether you want to buy or sell (you want to buy), you insert cash, and scan your app wallet QR code in order to receive the Bitcoins.[/li]
[li]Once you have been credited with your Bitcoins, you are ready to send them to us.[/li]
[/ol]
This is an example of what a Bitcoin ATM looks like:

Spoiler

I have Bitcoins now, how can I send them?​

You can send them to us by sending to our wallet code, which can be found on the support page.

How much should I send?​

The more you send, the more economical it is, because there are always fees involved. The fees are slightly higher than Paypal for an equivalent transaction, but sadly, that is the price of anonymity and security. We'd recommend a minimum of $10, perhaps, but it's up to you.

Note that our current monthly costs are upwards of 700 USD, which will only increase once we upgrade servers. However, based on the poll we held, there were 1000's of users who said they were willing to learn how to use crypto. Even if a fraction of you sent $10 worth of crypto on a regular basis, we should be fine.

What about other cryptocurrencies besides Bitcoin?​

If there is demand from users to donate other types of crypto, like Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Ethereum, Monero, etc, then we will also add support for them in due course. Let's see how we get on with Bitcoin first!

Edit: Ethereum has now been added.

I need more help!​

If you have any questions, feel free to ask below, or alternatively, join our Discord and ask us there.

Stay safe and thanks for your continued support!

 

[Rya]

😳

 

[Hobnobs]

Subscribestar isn't an option? Does your serverhost accept crypto or something? Because I don't see how you're going to "anonymously" cash bitcoin out into legal tender without it leading back to you unless you're laundering it. Otherwise I usually discourage anyone from getting involved with crypto and these centralized "exchanges" that manipulate trades and never actually uses the bitcoin protocol until someone wants their crypto to leave the exchange in which case they conveniently get "hacked" or they "lose" their wallets.

 

[MCMangaDex15]

Can we send B.A.T. crypto currency?

 

[EdelgardeScans]

Pink, yo

 

[Holo]

@Hobnobs Yes, our hosting accepts crypto. There's no need to cash out at all.

 

[Inverness]

I just discovered that Coinbase does offer the ability to send coin instantly after buying if you use a debit card to do it. This is applies at least for people in the US, I don't know about other countries.

Details: https://help.coinbase.com/en/coinbase/getting-started/adding-a-payment-method/payment-methods-for-us-customers.html

This does solve the big issue I had with Coinbase where I wanted to send money immediately at a certain value rather than having it wait days in my account with a fluctuating value.

I just got done sending a donation. I am wondering if you're going to add a donation meter to the website so people can see the target that needs to be hit.

 

[bocchi]

Do you get info of the people who donate to you? (As name or email)

 

[Holo]

@bocchi No, we only see the wallet code. After all, it's all anonymous, so no names or emails are attached. People who wish to claim their transaction will have to enter their wallet codes into their accounts or something. I'll have to improve the transaction claiming system since it's no longer a paypal email address.

@Inverness That's good to know! And yeah, I could add something like that to the support page.

 

[HajimeNagumo]

Is there support for B.A.T? The crypto currency which the browser Brave provides to it's users?

 

[Ryzou]

Seem like coinbase did not support my country Malaysia (https://www.coinbase.com/places).. maybe you can list alternative trading platform based on your top 10 or top 20 visitor by country.

 

[HDMI1]

@Inverness @Holo Direct debit withdrawal is a massive risk if they store your information for easy purchases. If their system gets hacked and your debit information is stolen, the thieves can empty out your bank account before you're aware of it, and most banks do not offer debit protection the same way they do for credit cards, meaning you're shit out of luck and probably broke as fuck.

 

[SilentAnime]

@Ryzou that's highly improbable to be honest as those exchanges are highly dependent on each country's regulation, which results different options available each country. Coinbase is the main option for US users though, that's why it tends to be listed the most often.

For Malaysian and Singaporean users there's Luno for starter.

 

[Ryzou]

@SilentAnime agree on that part, coinbase did support a lot of country (including Indo and SG), but too bad did not support Malaysia 😂 . I'm just register Luno for luno, but might take a while for verification.

 

[SirGir]

@Inverness @Holo Direct debit withdrawal is a massive risk if they store your information for easy purchases. If their system gets hacked and your debit information is stolen, the thieves can empty out your bank account before you're aware of it, and most banks do not offer debit protection the same way they do for credit cards, meaning you're shit out of luck and probably broke as fuck.

That thankfully, is not entirely true. Debit cards do protect you from fraudulent charges like Credit Cards do, however when I looked at my terms in conditions in the past the period for reporting it was much shorter (like 1 month vs 2 months) on the Debit card.

Here's the relevant marketing speak from VISA:

How your Visa Debit card protects you from fraud
Every time you make a purchase, there are security protections that automatically help prevent fraud, including:
Visa's Zero Liability Policy. This policy protects you from unauthorized charges if your card is lost or stolen.* You’re 100% protected—whether the purchases occurred online or in person.**
Truncated for brevity

Oh, and sent in my donation @Holo ! Thank you for the step-by-step.

Two notable things about Coinbase:
(1) It requires a lot of personal information (last 4 of SSN, address, driver's license... etc). Honestly they don't need to steal my debit card at this point because they could just open one of their own with my information...
(2) The instructions are missing an important step. After you make an account and buy coin, you have to Account Settings -> Account Levels and upload your driver's license to be able to send Crypto to other people.

 

[Cyreader]

Can someone who is a trusted donator via bitcoin please set up a youtube channel or blog website that allows patreon/subscribestar/kofi donations and they can then turn it into bitcoins and use it to continue donating?
I know it's a more risky enterprise but I am a bit more willing to donate via those services than trying to sort out Bitcoin on my own, while I know Mangadex can't do it themselves surely there is one of the more trusted people here who could be an intermediary. Don't care if the blog or youtube channel doesn't do any uploads or anything as long as the donations are finding their way to the right people.

 

[bane_ecf]

That thankfully, is not entirely true. Debit cards do protect you from fraudulent charges like Credit Cards do, however when I looked at my terms in conditions in the past the period for reporting it was much shorter (like 1 month vs 2 months) on the Debit card.

@SirGir Yeah but what banks also don't make obvious with debit card protection is that they won't immediately give you your money back either. They are allowed to conduct an investigation and prove that you're a fraud victim before refunding you, something that could take months. After all, it's not their money - why should they hurry? Meanwhile, you have no money to pay your bills, mortgage loans, credit cards or whatever. And if they decide in the end that it wasn't fraud, you're not getting your money back. Sure, there's probably an arbitration appeal process, but by that time it could be a whole year before a decision is made, and even if you finally win your case (you won't, guess who hired the arbitrator?), the bank's got your money this whole time.

Credit cards are a ton more safer. If someone fraudulently charges your credit card, you can file a dispute with the card issuer and at minimum they can put an immediate payment hold on the charge so you don't have to pay until they can figure out what happened. The card issuer may even write a charge off right on the spot if its a smaller monetary value (not worth the cost and effort to investigate, assuming you aren't filing disputes frequently.)

So, the difference is that the customer carries all the financial risk when dealing with debit card fraud. Conversely, the credit card companies own most of the risk when dealing with credit card fraud. That's why you should never use your debit card for any purchases if you can, and sure as hell don't have it stored on a website you use to buy stuff like Amazon or eBay. Every card purchase is an opportunity for fraud to happen. The only time I pull out my debit card is at the ATM or for the bank teller.

And finally, credit cards are awesome because they give you bonuses like cash back. No fee cash back credit cards are awesome, I own a Costco Citibank Visa and I get $500-600 back every year in free money - about enough to cover a month payment on my car loan. (I also pay my card every month so I don't pay interest.)

 

[celsty]

For donators, here is a peer-to-peer exchange for Bitcoin & Ethereum: https://localcryptos.com/

Please add Ethereum support. These days there are a lot of stablecoins (cryptocurrencies that are pegged to dollars, some are DAI, USDT, TUSD, USDC <= backed by Coinbase) build on top of Ethereum. The easiest way to get an Ethereum wallet is via Metamask https://metamask.io/

Donations of Ethereum & Ethereum tokens (such as previously mentioned BAT) can be easily converted to these stablecoins so you guys can have a safer & stable store of money. Here is one exchange: https://kyberswap.com/swap/eth-dai (no need for KYC, just ethereum wallet)

 

[kekesed97]

Unfortunately, coinbase isn't supported in my place, yet. Using crypto.com needs me to deposit at least 500 bucks, which is out of question. And a local trader didn't accept smaller amount anymore...
I myself really need a small amount of bitcoin to pays off my leecher service. But I can't figure out other option.

 

[oblueknighto]

lol traffic is at an all-time high because more people are staying at home