From my perspective, I think that there is a lot of complexity to purchasing and investing in Bitcoin.
This is a problem we have solved.
I have a Computer Science degree and graduated from an Ivy League school, but I’ve been trying to understand how to invest in Bitcoin and I struggle with the complexity.
Bitcoin doesn't have anything to do with computers. This may sound strange at first, but consider how many iPhone users there are and how many Candy Crush players are on iPhone. Azteco is going to make Bitcoin as easy as playing Candy Crush, and you will not have to know anything about computers at all. Bitcoin is just like SMS. It will be as simple and abstracted as that for the vast majority.
For example, below is says that AZTECO will make buying Bitcoin very simple. But when I went to the website it indicates to “redeem your Bitcoin voucher, enter your Bitcoin address.”
When you go to google.com all you see is a single slot. You know how to use it because you've used s search engine before. When you get your first Azteco Voucher, you will instantly know what to to.

I’m not clear on what a Bitcoin address is, where to get a Bitcoin address, and how to make the Bitcoin address secure.
A Bitcoin address is a re-usable telephone number. Imagine you have a phone that has an unlimited number of phone numbers attached to it. You can use one number for recieving all your calls, or a different number to recieve each call. Its up to you. And its that simple.
I’ve read comments that Bitcoin exchanges are not a reliable place to store Bitcoins and have seen comments complaining that accounts have been closed for reasons unknown to the account holder.
That is exactly correct. Bitcoin exchanges are not reliable. If you want a reliable way using Bitcoin, store it yourself on the wallet on your iPhone or on an OpenDime.
If Bitcoins are not stored on the exchange then there is the wallet option.
Correct.
There are a number of wallets on the cloud that are advertised, but how does an investor select the best wallet from the many to chose from?
Bitcoin is not an investment. If however you want to risk investing in it, you should store it on an OpenDime. You dont need a wallet, because you are storing Bitcoin long term…as an investment.
And only yesterday there was a story of a hacker stealing $7 million of ETH currency from online wallets that has a vulnerability.
Etheriuim has nothing in common with Bitcoin, and you should not conflate the two, even though you are encouraged to do so by unscrupulous scoundrels.
There are wallets for a desktop that have the same issues.
This is not true. The flaws in Etherium have nothing to do with the security of you personal computer. You can keep Bitcoin safely yourself with an OpenDime or a Mac. Do not use Microsoft Windows under any circumstances, for any purpose, whatsoever.
And there is also the external hardware wallets option. But which hardware wallet is best?
OpenDime is best. Its the easiest to use, the most secure and astonishingly inexpensive and convenient.
For buying Bitcoin, there are many exchanges. How does an investor select the best one?
You do not need an exchange to buy Bitcoin; you can use Local Bitcoins or buy it personally or best of all use Azteco. We are the simplest and easiest way to buy Bitcoin.
It’s possible to purchase Bitcoin on Coinbase and Coinbase has started also started GDAX, another option to purchase Bitcoin.
GDAX claims to be insured for assets stored in online storage, but doesn’t mention offline storage where the majority of assets are stored.
Gemini is a Bitcoin exchange where you can trade Bitcoins and also enter into auctions. Which is better for an investor. Gemini is registered in NYS as a fiduciary. It seems that is important is that when selecting an exchange?
If you want to trade Bitcoin as a form of stock, you can use an account on an exchange. Exchanges are not for obtaining Bitcoin; they are places where professionals and the inexperienced go to buy Bitcoin. As an investor, your aim is to buy Bitcoin as cheaply as possible and to store it as safely as poosible. You do not need an exchange for this, and you reduce your risk substantially (both in terms of technical risk and political risk; Coinbase has just been threatened with a request for information from the US Government for a list of their users who have comitted no crime. Anyone holding Bitcoin there is under constant threat. If you store your own Bitcoin, no one will even know you have any, and millions of dollars worth can be stored on a device smaller than your pinkie)
Then there’s Grayscale, a Bitcoin Investment Trust shares. It can be purchased similar to a stock or ETF.
All of these efforts are being made by men who want to put a sheen of the familiar on to Bitcoin. You do not need them, and if you do, you are free to use them, accept their terms, take the risk of being exposed to them and their bespoke approaches to imaginary laws and pay their exorbitant fees inordinate delays and ridiculous limits.
The security of the Bitcoins is another problem. I’ve read of persons misplacing their personal security keys and losing millions of dollars worth of Bitcoins, that doesn’t happen when a person forgets their bank account number.
The security of Bitcoin is not a problem. Bitcoin is secure. Thats like saying a million dollars of gold floated out on a log raft into the Atlantic sinking means “Gold is not secure”. The stories you’ve read about people misplacing keys is a story not about Bitcoin’s problems, but of the key loser’s problem. And people losing money does happen when they lose their account details with banks that have strict secrecy policies enforced by the law.
Bitcoin is just like any other thing. If you lose your wallet, you lose your cash. If you crash your car, you lose your car. You cannot expect to be protected from every adverse event that life throws at you; it simply isn't realistic.
So I find it confusing on which is the best way to invest in Bitcoin, where to get the best price when purchasing Bitcoin, what security measures to take when storing Bitcoin, and how to transact business with Bitcoin.
Buy Bitcoin from an individual, or LocalBitcoins or from Azteco when we launch. Keep your Bitcoin on an OpenDime, then keep your OpenDime in a safe where you keep your will and other things. You can send Bitcoin to your open dime without removing it from your safe; all you need to do is send people the adderss of your OpenDime (or show them the QR Code) and the money will go to it automatically. You can keep a copy of the QR code in your wallet and show it to anyone for them to pay you, without carrying the OpenDime with you. It could be anywhere, literally anywhere, on Earth.
I think people who have been involved with Bitcoin might see all the above issues as elementary. But for someone with no background in blockchain technology, which didn’t exist when I received my CS degree, and no background in Bitcoin, the solutions to the above issues are not obvious.
Everyone has to start somewhere and there is no shame in this at all. In fact, being open and teachable as you are, will make you a very powerful user.
From my readings, I think that the blockchain community underestimates the difficulty a new comer to the field encounters.
All of this will improve, and when Azteco launches, everyone will be immunized against bad Bitcoin companies, and will know how Bitcoin works, in the same way they know how Google works. Just put your address in the slot and press redeem. Simple.
Billions of people will be using Bitcoin from mobile phones for every conceivable purchase. Doing so will be as normal as making a phone call, or sending a text message. This is going to happen, without a shadow of doubt.
