A Total Novice
When I started investing into Bitcoin three years ago, I had no clue what I was doing. It's mysterious nature caused me to continue putting money into it, despite the high volatility. My passion for this little snippet of data was more important than these government backed reserve notes. I would go out of my way to meetup with individual traders who had unreal commission rates that would make any newcomer stay away. After a couple interactions, I realized that the rates were burning a hole in my pocket, causing me to look elsewhere for alternatives. Thankfully, the price soared and I broke even making most of those losses a mere learning experience.
Another Method
Many people have their own way of earning their share in the crypto community whether that be mining, trading, donating, blogging, advertising, selling products/services, and many more. One that I personally like is Dash's Masternode Program. This seems like a mouthful, but thankfully this post will break it down so that you too can have a piece of this crypto-cake.
Dash: The Private Digital Cash
Dash can easily be summed up as digital cash. It is another digital currency (sometimes referred to as an alt-coin or alternative crypto-currency) that can be found in this space. Originally, it started out as a project to address Bitcoin's lack of privacy. Once Evan Duffield, the creator, realized that the core developers of Bitcoin weren't planning to make changes on the protocol level, he decided to push out Xcoin (Dash's original name) in January 2014. Since it's launch, it has grown substantially. Currently, it places itself at #7 on coinmarketcap. Not to mention, it has solved many issues that Bitcoin is still needing to resolve such as confirmation times, private sending, block size increase (how many transactions can fit per block), and a self-funding development budget.
To learn more about Dash you can visit these links here:
https://www.dash.org/
http://www.dashnation.com/
A Passive Income with Dash
Dash has a unique governance model that set's itself apart from other crypto-currencies. In Bitcoin, all of the block rewards that are issued for mining (a function necessary to help secure the network) go directly to the miners. While in Dash, the block reward gets divided three ways, 45% goes to the miners (to secure the network), another 45% goes to the Masternodes (to vote, privatize transactions, and create instant transactions), and the remaining 10% goes to the budget system (to further expand the ecosystem). As you can see, Masternodes play an important role in this decentralized system. This is where you have an opportunity to generate a steady passive income. For starters, a Masternode is a dedicated server that performs a series of important functions for the digital currency. For these services, the owner is rewarded roughly 1.94 Dash every 7-11 days. The ROI that you can gain from this surpasses any of the benefits a bank can offer.
How to Setup a Masternode
There are two ways you can execute this, you can set it up yourself or have a third party service do it for you. Below, I have provided the appropriate information for whichever path you are wanting to take.
Setting It Up Yourself
What you will need:
1. 1000 Dash to activate your Masternode.
2. A server or a VPS installed with Linux (Some places to look would be Vultr or DigitalOcean)
3. A dedicated IP address (Which usually come with the VPS/server.)
4. Some time
Once you have acquired everything you need, you can head over to this link so you can begin to setup your Masternode.
Using a Third-Party Masternode Service
What you will need:
1. 1000 Dash to activate your Masternode
2. Extra Dash to cover the costs of your third-party service
3. Some time
Once you have acquired everything you need, you can pick out which third-party service you would like to sign up with. Below, I provided three options to choose from to get you started.
Node40 (Personally Recommend)
Masternode.me
Splawik's Supershares & Hosting Service
Masternode Shares
If you cannot afford the 1000 Dash collateral for a Masternode, Splawik's Supershares & Hosting Service provides a solution where you can purchase shares to make some gains on your Dash investment. The minimum entry amount is 50 with an initial .3 Dash starter fee. Depending on the value of Dash at that moment a fixed percentage, currently its 18%, is removed from the earnings to maintain the service and hardware. Payouts are every two weeks and you have the option to increase your shares after a cycle has been completed. If you have any questions regarding this service, you can reach out to Splawik at splawik21@protonmail.com.
A Possible Scenario
If you read my previous piece titled "Bitcoin for Dummies: The Ultimate Guide for a True Beginner" I talked briefly about Bitcoin debit cards. These debit cards allow you to spend your Bitcoin anywhere Visa or Mastercard is accepted. With this level of flexibility, you can work for this digital money and spend it as you normally would on everyday items or bills. It is even possible to convert your earnings made from your Dash Masternode instantly with an application called Shapeshift. In minutes, you can turn your Dash into Bitcoin to pay for whatever your little heart desires.
Conclusion
Automation is on the rise. Before we know it, our work will be replaced by cheaper, more accurate, and effective bots. At this point in time, it is vital to make some changes in order to survive this transition. I find that information is one of the most valuable assets an individual can have in their portfolio. Simply because if they didn't prepare properly, they would be out on the streets wondering "how the hell did this happened?" To everybody out there, I hope you have taken the time to figure out possible solutions to this problem. Masternodes are one of many solutions to bring in an income that require little to no work whatsoever. This will be an interesting shift to say the least, one that will certainly make it in the history books.
Image from: https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/jp-morgan-to-launch-in-residence-program-for-fintech-startups/
https://news.bitcoin.com/study-dash-masternode-18-roi/