*out dated* Guide to the Silk Road Part #4 – Buying Bitcoins
OK we’re almost there! The next step is to fund your Silk Road wallet with Bitcoins. I won’t go into a detailed explanation of bitcoins, but here is a good explanation. What I am going to do is tell you one of the ways in which you can easily convert US dollars to bitcoins and put them in your Silk Road wallet. If you live in a country outside the US there are other services besides the one I am going to talk about here for anonymously converting your local currency into bitcoins.
note: 7/19/13:
I had a tutorial on here on how to buy from bitinstant, but they have since changed their service and at this writing are down completely. I recommend buying bitcoins at http://localbitcoins.com. You can buy coins locally with cash or there are also many online options as well. One thing to note is the price of the bitcoins which vary on there (check against market price at http://mtgox.com and be sure you are not paying too much). When you find a good deal with a good payment method for you take a look at their feedback rating. The more trades they have the better….
You can then click the buy button. When you purchase they will release the coins into your localbitcoins wallet and you can then send them to your SR wallet. Sorry but don’t have time for a more advanced tutorial….it is pretty easy though.