Lately, IOTA has been the talk of the town among the cryptocommunity subreddits and it's not without warrant. While there are kinks that still need to be worked out, IOTA has a strong concept with a highly scaleable network which will be interoperable with Ethereum dapps. Perhaps the biggest draw for the day-to-day consumer, made in response to the Achille's Heel of Bitcoin, is that there are no transaction fees required for IOTA to function.
As of today, I can say that I got into IOTA to the tune of 38.4 MIOTA. Although the process is a bit more intensive than purchasing off of Coinbase, it isn't exactly difficult either. Here's a guide to setting up your IOTA wallet, purchasing IOTA, and transferring your purchased IOTA back to your wallet.
Getting your IOTA Wallet:
[1] Go to Github (https://github.com/iotaledger/wallet/releases)
[2] Scroll down to 'Downloads'. If you have Mac, choose 'IOTA.Wallet-2.4.0.dmg'; if you have a PC, choose 'IOTA.Wallet.Setup.2.4.0.exe'
[3] Wait for it to download, and put it in a folder where you can easily find it (for organization's sake)
[4] Follow the instructions, beginning with choosing the light node.
[5] Choose any host, but preferably choose something at the top of list of light servers found here: (http://iotasupport.com/lightwallet.shtml)
[6] Next it should give you the 'transition' window. Just X out of it (this is what occupied alot of my time trying to figure this out).
[7] Now, generate an 81-character seed for your wallet. This is basically your password. Use this or some other: (http://passwordsgenerator.net/); if using this, only check 'generate on this device' and 'include uppercase characters'.
[8] Write down your 81-character generated seed (x2) and store it in a safe place. Also, use Lastpass and save it there.
Getting your Bitfinex Account:
[1] Make an account on bitfinex, using an email address, username, and password. Also, use a referral code such as this: Tj4A8yUUDB when making the account for 10% off trading fees (not my referral fee; found off of YT tutorial). Write username and password down.
Transferring Bitcoin from Coinbase to Bitfinex:
[1] Go onto Bitfinex and click on 'deposit' in right hand corner.
[2] Click on 'click to generate address' under 'Exchange Wallet'.
[3] Log into Coinbase and go to 'Accounts'
[4] Click 'send' on the bitcoin account (note: must have bitcoin in your account)
[5] Copy the address under exchange wallet that you clicked in step 2. Paste it into the 'recipient' option in the 'Send BTC'
dialog box on Coinbase. Choose how much BTC you want to send in the same dialog box.
[6] Click 'Continue' and then 'Confirm'. It takes roughly 30 minutes but don't worry if it's more like 45m or an hour.
Trading on Bitfinex:
[1] When it arrives, go up to the 'Trading' tab in the top left hand corner of Bitfinex home page and then hover down to IOTA, and then IOTA/BTC, and then click.
[2] Look into the left sidebar and ensure that the options to the right of 'Order Form' have 'Exchange' selected as default; if not, then select it (if US citizen, then ignore this as margin trading isn't available for US citizens)
[3] Next, look down below 'Order Form' to where it says Price BTC (and then 2 circles), and Amount Mi (and then 2 circles). Click the green circle to the right of 'Amount Mi' as this is your maximum buy that you can get with your current amount of Bitcoin.
[4] Next click the green square button that says 'Exchange Buy'
Transferring IOTA from Bitfinex to the IOTA Wallet:
[1]Wait for the transaction to occur (mine happened instantaneously) and then go to the 'Withdraw' tab on the top right of the Bitfinex home screen.
[2] Go back to your IOTA Wallet and click on the 'Receive' tab.
[3] Copy the address and then go back to Bitfinex and paste it into the 'address' option of the 'Withdraw>Bitcoin' page.
[4] Send however much you want by inputting it in the 'receive amount' (I'd suggest all because leaving anything on the exchange is EXTREMELY unsafe).
[5] Click the 'I've understood blah, blah, blah' box and then the green 'Request Withdrawal'
Voila! It should transfer within the next 20 minutes.
Here are some tutorials that helped me out:
