Wednesday, December 27, 2017

I might be able to buy crypto for fiat at Kraken.

I was researching where I can buy crypto for fiat and I came up with Kraken (where I already have an account).
I think I just have to upgrade from a tier 2 to a tier 3 account and I can use my bank account to buy crypto. It will require sending in more identification documents. I'll look into it tomorrow.
Gemini is still processing my passport. I don't know what is taking so long. Maybe the picture was fuzzy but it looked good to me.
I guess everybody is trying to get signed up at the same time.
Something happened tonight that made me think about things.
A friend of mine (Brian) was told that a freezer had broken at a grocery store and thousands of dollars worth of food had been thrown out.
He asked me for a ride to that store so he could scrounge through the garbage bins for some good food.  I turned him down because I didn't want to be in the freezing cold for some, thrown away, food.
It got me thinking about a lot of things:
First, Brian is probably in worse financial shape than I was aware of. A few days ago I was suspicious that he might be shoplifting for food.
I know that he was offended at a food pantry that was run by a church that they gave food to illegal aliens. I don't think he ever went back there even though that was the best place to get free food in town. He's probably having a harder time of it than I was aware of; and I should be aware because he hits me up for free coffee all the time at Java Johns.
Second, it got me thinking about myself. Why was I too proud to go and get some (perfectly good food). I'm not too proud to avoid going to the food pantry. I've been know to walk for miles to collect aluminum cans for redemption. I haven't done that lately since I can get by on Social Security.
So what makes me too proud to pick up food behind the grocery store?
Instead I just spend money at the co-op and look down my nose at Brian. What a hypocrite I am.
Later.

Tuesday, December 26, 2017

I may not be able to Arbitrage Either After All

I was just comparing the price of Either and Bitcoin between Coinbase and Gemini. They were identical. Tonight there is no opportunity to make money based on the spread of the prices because there is no spread.
I swear that a couple of days ago there was a big spread. Maybe somebody else is arbitraging in a big way and, therefore, they shut down the opportunity.
I'm still waiting to be verified at Gemini so there is nothing I could do anyway. I'll just watch the prices and see if it spreads again.
Later

I Might be able to get the Arbitrage Thing Working.

I'm still waiting to be verified on Gemini. It's taken over 3 days to check my passport to be sure that I'm really me. Of course 2 of those days were on a weekend and the third day was Christmas. I have to expect it would take a while.
I sold some Bitcoin Cash for fiat in my credit union account. I was hoping it would take less than an hour but it took about 8 hrs. Of course that's better than the 3 days it said it would take.
Maybe there is hope that I can get one or two arbitrage things in on a day. I'll see.
I have to have accounts at both Gemini and Coinbase to make it work. Transferring the Either won't be a problem; that'll take less than 10 minutes. But getting it through a buy and sell cycle at the bank will take much longer. The more time it takes the better the opportunity that the market will go against me and I won't be able to do anything about it.
The banks get a fee of about $3.00 for a $200 move so that is $3.00 off of my profit.
I'll try it after I get my Gemini account opened.
On other news, there are a lot of articles about people going to hypnotist to help them find their missing Bitcoins. That's what I'm doing. I just don't have the money to pay the guy in N. Carolina a Bitcoin to try and then 5% of the found coins. If I had the money I would go to him but the guy in Ames is a lot cheaper and I think he'll help me find them.
I went to visit my brother, yesterday. I spent all day on the road. It's over a four hour trip to Holstein, Iowa from here.
It was a fun trip since I listened to Country Western Christmas music both going and coming from my visit.
He didn't want my laptop that I took him. I found out that he did have internet access. But he didn't seem to want to get on the internet for some reason. It didn't seem like him. Oh well.
A mandolin player is about to start preforming at Java Johns so I'll sign off for now.
Later

Saturday, December 23, 2017

Free Money?

I think I might have stumbled on to a way to actually make free money.
Arbitrage is loosely defined as buying something on one market at a low price and selling it elsewhere for more money.
I might have found a way to arbitrage crypto currencies.
I read an article last week about how a credit union association was using blockchain technology to speed up their transactions. Normally it takes three days to get money into or out of a bank.
If they are doing this they have cut that time to a matter of minutes.
This will enable me to buy ETH on Gemini and sell it at Coinbase at a noticeable profit (maybe $20 for every $1000 invested).
I noticed that my transfers to and from my Credit Union took a lot less time than I anticipated last week. I'm going to the credit union next Tuesday and ask them if they are using the new system. Maybe I can start doing it Wednesday. Monday is Christmas and I'm hoping to visit my brother on Tuesday.
About other news, Bitcoin is fluctuating a lot, lately. It went down by about 30 or 40% a couple of days ago. It made back most of the loses today. I consider it a normal thing for crypto currencies. I'm holding on for dear life in Bitcoin cash, Ether, and Monero. It's just the way it is. I hope it doesn't affect my arbitraging much.
That's all I have for now. Good luck with your arbitraging and I'll see you, later.

Friday, December 15, 2017

Not Much is Happening.

I haven't posted for a while because not much is happening.
I still have my cold but I started actually sneezing; so it's finally breaking up.
I've got some money in Bitcoin and Litecoin but they aren't really doing much. They just fluctuate. I think there is an upward trend but it's in a holding pattern.
I've been spending too much at the co-op. I like to eat there because it's organic and local but it simply costs too much. It's similar to Whole Foods which has a nickname of Whole Paycheck. Retired college professors and other rich people eat there. I shouldn't; I need to get food from Safeway and simply eat at home.
At least the snow shoveling has begun. I made $50 shoveling snow a couple of days ago. I hope it's a snowy year. The last 2 years it hasn't really snowed much. I barely made any money shoveling; in fact, I barely kept up with my coffee and doughnut bill.
Regina will be singing and playing the piano soon so I think I'll sign off for now. I really don't have much to say, anyway.
Later

Tuesday, December 5, 2017

I Went to the Doctor Yesterday

I was worried that I might have pneumonia so I went to a doctor at the V.A.
Apparently the vaccine for pneumonia is working since I really haven't had that disease since I had the shot.
I just have a chest cold and she recommended that I take something called Muscelex.  I think I misspelled that but I couldn't find out how to spell it.
I went to the co-op and they didn't have it so I tried a honey based medicine. It seems to be working.
That led to a screw up yesterday. I had my medicine in my car while I was at Barnes & Noble in Onalaska. I went out to the car to take a snort of the medicine and I forgot that my laptop was still at the table at the bookstore. I drove all the way home before I realized my mistake.
I called them and confirmed that the laptop was there; then I went back today to pick it up.
At least the cold seems to be breaking up; at least I'm coughing more and getting more flem out.
I think I'll be fine in a couple more days.
I bought a few hundred dollars of Litecoin and Bitcoin today. At least I'm in position to make some money. I think I'll have some more money this Friday. I'll put it all into crypto currency.
Later