First of all, because this is my first post on Steemit i cannot start writing before salute all the Steemit community users and to wish them all the best and a happy life every day!
In this post you will find:
- What are cryptocurrencies.
- Cryptocurrencies wallet examples.
- How to and where to buy Cryptocurrency.
- How cryptocurrency wallets works and what are.
- Cryptocurrency Exchanges list.
- Cryptocurrency web sources for information and news
!!! IMPORTANT: REMEMBER THAT THIS POST IS ONLY FOR YOUR INFORMATION!! RESEARCH MORE FOR YOUR OWN SAFETY !!!
So let's begin with a introduction of what are Cryptocurrencies or Digital currency (digital money, digital cash, electronic money or electronic currency) are a type of currency available only in digital form, NOT IN PHYSICAL such as banknotes and coins (FIAT money - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_money) like Dollar "$", Pound "£", Euro "€", Yuan Renminbi "¥" and so on. Cryptocurrency (or crypto currency) is a digital asset that is using cryptography to secure the transactions, to control the creation of additional units, and to verify the transfer of assets. So.. what is a Cryptocurency? Cryptocurrency is based on mathematical theories and computer science practice; cryptographic algorithms are designed around computational hardness assumptions, making such algorithms hard to break in practice by any adversary. Short story.. the cryptocurrencies are based on a code.
Cryptocurrencies use the Blockchain Technology.
Blockchain is a global online database (like a very big book) that anyone with an internet connection can use, but it doesn't belong to anyone (meaning that is not CENTRALIZED, for example Wikipedia's digital backbone is similar to the highly protected and centralized databases that governments or banks or insurance companies keep today. Control of centralized databases rests with their owners, including the management of updates, access and protecting against cyber-threats; With Blockchain, many people can write entries into a record of information, and a community of users can control how the record of information is amended and updated. Likewise, Wikipedia entries are not the product of a single publisher).
- To explain what is Blockchain will take a lot of time and this post is not about Blockchain, even if cryptocurrencies run on this technology - I will make an post in the future about Blockchain!
That being said, let's move on to the essence of the article:
Just like you need a wallet to store your cash banknotes, for storing your cryptocurrency you need a wallet too! Cryptocurrency wallets are divided in three (3) distinct categories: hardware wallets, software wallets, and paper wallets:
Software wallets: can be a desktop wallet, mobile wallet (on your mobile phone) or online wallet ; the exchanges wallet addresses enter in this category (depends on the chosen cryptocurrency! not all the cryptocurrencies support all this three types of wallets!) A cryptocurrency wallet is a software program that stores private and public keys and interacts with various blockchain to enable users to send and receive digital currency and monitor their balance. If you want to use Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency, you will need to have a digital wallet!
Hardware Wallets (Offline Storage) - are the most secure form of Cryptocurrency wallets ; however, unlike software wallets, they cost money!
Best Hardware Wallets:
Ledger wallets ; Support Multi-Coin (NANO S and NANO BLUE) - https://www.ledgerwallet.com/
KeepKey ; Just Bitcoin - https://www.keepkey.com/
Trezor ; Support Multi-Coin - https://trezor.io/
Software wallets (Hot Storage): can be a desktop wallet, mobile wallet (on your mobile phone) or online wallet (the exchanges wallet addresses enter in this category!)
PS: Almost all the Cryptocurrencies have their own wallet!
Software wallets Examples:
Exodus - https://www.exodus.io (Multi-Coin)
Jaxx - https://www.jaxx.io (Multi-Coin)
MyCelium - https://wallet.mycelium.com/
Electrum - https://www.electrum.org
Airbitz - https://www.airbitz.co
MyEtherWallet - https://www.myetherwallet.com
Coinomi - https://www.coinomi.com (Multi-Coin)
Bitgo - https://www.bitgo.com (Multi-Coin)
Copay - https://www.copay.io (Just Bitcoin)
And the list may continue.....
Some websites from this examples have also a mobile App wallet!
!!! IMPORTANT: REMEMBER THAT THIS POST IS ONLY FOR YOUR INFORMATION!! RESEARCH MORE FOR YOUR OWN SAFETY!!!
Paper Wallets (Offline Cold Storage): Paper wallets are an offline cold storage method of saving cryptocurrency. It includes printing out your public and private keys on a PIECE OF PAPER which you then store and save in a secure place. The keys are printed in the form of QR codes which you can scan in the future for all your transactions.
How to Documentation:
https://blockgeeks.com/guides/paper-wallet-guide
https://medium.com/crypto-currently/paper-wallets-are-best-for-beginners-61c31d931cce
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Paper_wallet
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/paper-wallet.asp
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1979281.0
https://coinsutra.com/make-bitcoin-paper-wallet-spend-bitcoins
Website Examples for Paper Wallet:
https://www.bitaddress.org
https://walletgenerator.net
PS: WATCH OUT FOR SCAM WALLETS!!!!!!!
!!! IMPORTANT: REMEMBER THAT THIS POST IS ONLY FOR YOUR INFORMATION!! RESEARCH MORE FOR YOUR OWN SAFETY!!!
Now that we've finished the short introduction with the wallets, let's continue with, where do we buy the Cryptocurrencies!
!! This part of the article is related to the Exchanges!!
!!! REMEMBER THAT BEFORE BUYING ANY CRYPTOCURRENCY, FIRST YOU MUST HAVE A WALLET ADDRESS, WHERE TO DEPOSIT THE BUYED CRYPTOCURRENCY !!!
I must start this part to say that almost Coins and Altcoins are in strong relation with BITCOIN!! Meaning that you cannot buy them if you don't have BITCOINS! The most simple way to buy Cryptocurrency is from the bitcoin ATM's!! But there are some websites or Exchanges from where you can buy with the credit card (this way is not so fast because you must send documentation about you and the time until your documentation is accepted may be very long!) Beside the long time that you must wait until the account documentation is accepted and your account is activated, the fees are high! So be carefour at the fees! When you buy bitcoin from the ATM you must have a Bitcoin Wallet address (the address can be an Exchange address, a hardware wallet address,software wallet address or a paper wallet address)
HERE YOU HAVE THE WORLD MAP WITH BITCOIN ATM'S (BE CAREFOUR AT THE ATM FEES!!):
- https://coinatmradar.com
- https://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-atm-map
- https://www.buybitcoinworldwide.com/bitcoin-atms
Example of website from you can buy cryptocurrencies with your credit card:
https://changelly.com ( just buy with credit card no trading) !! Remember that first you must have a wallet address where to deposit your buyed cryptocurrency!!
Let's go to the next point, THE EXCHANGES! There are two (2) types of Exchanges: FIAT TO CRYPTO and CRYPTO TO CRYPTO!
First of all you must know that the cryptocurrencies are listed on different Exchanges, meaning that.. some coins are only listed on some Exchanges, and if you want to buy them you must have an account with a wallet address at that specific Exchange! ONLY BITCOIN IS LISTED ON ALLMOST EXCHANGES!
Example: If you want to buy "SukiSan Coin" (this coin does not exist! Is just to understand how things works) you must have an account at "abcdefgh123 Exchange" because just there is listed! To do this (to buy "SukiSan Coin") first you must make an account and a wallet address at that Exchange ("abcdefgh123 Exchange") and deposit bitcoins from the ATM or from a website like https://changelly.com in the "abcdefgh123 Exchange" wallet address, and after this buy "SukiSan Coin"!
Here are the largest Exchanges on 20 nov 2017 (considering the volume of transactions):
Bithumb - https://www.bithumb.com
Bitfinex - https://www.bitfinex.com
Bittrex - https://bittrex.com
Binance - https://www.binance.com
Hitbtc - https://www.hitbtc.com
Coincheck - https://coincheck.com
GDAX - https://www.gdax.com
Coinone - https://coinone.co.kr
Poloniex - https://poloniex.com
CEX.IO - https://cex.io/
Kraken - https://www.kraken.com
Bitstamp - https://www.bitstamp.net
OKEX - https://www.okex.com
Huobi - https://www.huobi.com
Bitflyer - https://bitflyer.jp
Quoine - https://quoine.com/
Korbit - https://www.korbit.co.kr
Zaif - https://zaif.jp
WEX - https://wex.nz
Gemini - https://gemini.com
And in the final - Cryptocurrency source with price information and news:
https://coinmarketcap.com
https://www.worldcoinindex.com
https://www.cryptocompare.com
https://bitcointalk.org
https://bitcoinwiki.org
!!! IMPORTANT: REMEMBER THAT THIS POST IS ONLY FOR YOUR INFORMATION!! RESEARCH MORE FOR YOUR OWN SAFETY!!!
BEWARE OF SCAM COINS!!!
WATCH OUT FOR SCAM WALLETS!!!
RESEARCH MORE BEFORE INVEST IN NEW COINS!!!
SOME COINS ARE FOR LONG INVESTMENTS AND SOME ARE FOR TRADING!!!
I tried to compress the information on this subject as much as possible.. but is a very vast subject and maybe i forgot some things.
You are free to put questions if you cannot understand the information from this post!
Thanks!! Happy trading!!