Throughout the week, I’ve tried to do my best to explore Bitcoin. I’ve examined the currency itself, how it came to be, I’ve done my best to explain the blockchain technology underneath (and will soon return to that, at the request of a reader), and examined its’ competitors.
Now, it's time to go a bit more hands-on. I’m gonna give you the ropes on how you can start investing in this technology, if you so choose!
However, I warn you – you should research this more thoroughly on your own. I will not accept responsibility if you rush into a market you haven’t done your due diligence on, and get punished for it. Investing in anything can be risky. Furthermore, I'm no pro.
I have friends who've invested far more into this than me, and what I know is truly little more than the basics. I am not the ultimate reference in this by any means. But I do want to help as much as I can :)
Lets get started with the first step, shall we?
1. Do your due diligence
You’d be surprised, but this first stage is what does the most in separating those who fail from those who succeed.
I cannot drive this point home enough. You have to know what you’re doing, what you’re getting into, before you actually do it. In this case, you need to understand Bitcoin, the blockchain, the markets, the investments, the fluctuations, every important part of this tech before you dip your feet into it.
I assume you’ve read my articles so far. If you haven’t, no problem - I’m gonna give you a lot of resources you can use to learn more about how to start investing into this cryptocurrency. And even if you read my articles, they're not quite enough at this point - use these following resources, adn any others you find necessary to gain knowledge about every facet of this cryptocurrency.
To get into this with full security, you need to be able to answer almost every question someone can ask you about Bitcoin, in your sleep even. You need to be able to know every little bit of information about this technology. A daunting task, but a necessary one. Here’s where you could go:
• Weusecoins.org – I’ve taken a lot of the info on this article from this site. It has a lot of information, and even has some neat services, like a widget you can add to your website (if you have one), to get free bitcoins, in a sponsoring deal!
• Bitcoin.org – what else is there to say? This is where it all started! Here, you can read the white paper that started it all, and get a lot of info directly from the ones behind this technology! Give it a try!
• Glacierprotocol.org – This one is a little bit more esoteric. It’s more useful to big companies, its’ main product being a protocol that allows you to save up a huge amount of bitcoins securely.
After you know every nook and cranny of this technology, it’s time to start the next step – getting a place to store the bitcoins on your PC.
2. Get a Bitcoin Wallet
Bitcoins don’t just go into your bank account. You need a special place to hold them. A special bank account just for bitcoins, if you would call it that. More specifically, they’re called “Bitcoin wallets”.
There are many different Bitcoin Wallets out in the market. There are also almost as many voices professing the merits of each and every one of those wallets. Also, there are wallets for different types of devices – a wallet for your mobile might not be the best one for your PC, and vice-versa. I’ll summarize the 3 I found most important, but only for a PC. I’ll leave the mobiles up to you dear reader (while I casually drop the name “Airbitz” ;) ).
• Coinbase – This service, as the creators has admitted, has turned out as less of a wallet, and more of a retail service for bitcoins. Despite that, it has wallet functionalities, and they're damn good. Coinbase comes to us from people who have a knack for these types of businesses. So much so, that they’re one of the only wallets out there that’s never boasted a major hack. Along with an Android app, and the ability to make transfers using email, this wallet is one of the best out there.
• Electrum – This wallet also bets on security, but in a different way – even from installation, it makes sure you have a good password, and that in case your PC fails at a crucial part, you don’t lose all your bitcoins. A solid choice, with Reddit’s support, for those of you who look for that in a product.
• Armory - This bitcoin wallet is the safest of the 3 mentioned. However, be aware, this isn’t the best possible wallet for a beginner. It involves concepts I do not fully understand, but whether you want to save 100$ or 100000$ worth of bitcoins, you could not find a safer option
3. Acquire bitcoins
Now that you know how to store bitcoins, and are fully sure you know what you’re getting into, it’s time to actually adquire bitcoins. You can do that in 3 ways – buying, earning them, or mining them.
a. Buy
There are a ton of cryptocurrency exchange services out there. In these, you can spend some of your hard-earned money to acquite bitcoins manually. Coinbase is a good service for that. Indacoin, Kraken, and many others. Simply googling for “Bitcoin exchange” will net you more results than I could ever list. Be sure to pick a trustworthy one.
b. Earn
Many workplaces are now offering a new payment option – you can now receive your salary in bitcoins, if you so wish. If you charge others for services, consider asking them to pay you in bitcoins. Just keep this in mind – with the volatility of this currency, if you get it at a time where it’s of high value, you’ll lose money when the value drops, whereas with a normal salary or charge, you wouldn’t.
c. Mine
I’ve mentioned how the mining process works in my Bitcoin article. Despite that, be warned – this is pretty hard. Without help, a beginner cannot hope to quickly get a handle of this technology. I surely can't. It’s best to leave this for professionals for – but if you possess some of the know-how, or feel confident you can learn quickly, check out this mining guide. It has the information you need to get started.
4. Use them
Once you have a good supply of bitcoins in your wallet, you can put them to use – or not, and hope the value increases in the future. The choice is yours, and you should always keep up with the times.
In case you want to spend them though, there are plenty of services that allow you to do that. In fact, you can buy pretty much anything you want with this.
For starters, consider buying a good VPN service. I shall speak of these in the future, but for now, in case you don’t already know, these Virtual Private Networks keep your network secure, and private – you cant be tracked while you’re using them, and they’re considered a very important part of network safety nowadays.
Marketplaces like Openbazzar and Bitify (https://bitify.com/) specialize in giving you various goods and services in exchange for bitcoins. Check them out – but always be on the lookout for potential scams.
5. Secure them
Lastly, like any investment, Bitcoin takes constant care and attention. You must always keep yourself tuned with the way the market is blowing, and decide whether you want to keep your cryptocurrency, or sell it at the right time.
To accomplish this, you need a reliable, constant stream of information on the subject, and should keep up with it regularly. I’ve taken the liberty of singling out 4 particularly good websites and resources you should use.
• Bitcoin News – a constant stream of bitcoin-related topics and news, with numerous expert opinions, speculation, and podcasts. What more could you ask for?
• r/Bitcoin – for those of us who use Reddit regularly, we know what to expect from here. Reddit is a place where users can discus any sort of issue, and this subreddit is entirely devoted to sharing Bitcoin related news. Reddit is usually on the prowl for the latest news, and sometimes get them before other people. Just be aware that some of these people are somewhat…unqualified. Keep your skepticism up.
• Coindesk – this website spreads a wider net, expanding the talk to most other cryptocurrencies. Despite that, or even because of that, this is an excellent site to follow Bitcoin-related matters. Professional and appealing, these people can keep you up with the latest on Bitcoin.
• Bitcoincharts – this great website directly gives you all the numbers you need – you can track the variation in bitcoin prices from here, along with insightfull commentary and news. Be sure to keep up with this one.
We’re done for now!
I hope you learned something from reading this article, and that you can now have a clearer course on what to do in the future regarding this technology!
I will warn you again however – this is a very volatile market… and this guide is truly just a beginner’s guide. Don’t act rashly, and then blame me if something goes wrong. By the contrary, feel free to tell me anything that I missed, and give me suggestions to improve :)
I am working with a friend, who is much more well-versed than me in these matters, in order to create a more in-depth guide that can give you much more detailed information. Stay tuned!
I will be back next Monday with posts on another cutting edge science/technology subject! Might publish again till then, but nothing too major... I need to seize my vacation time guys hehe :)
Steem on guys!