Buying Bitcoin and other Crypto-currencies

I was born in Hamburg, Germany in 1986, three years before the Berlin Wall fell, communism didn’t pan out.

When my parents and I moved to America in 1996, everyone was still using the Deutsche Mark as currency.

Then, in 2001, several European countries joined the EU and Germany converted its money to the Euro.

Since then, times have changed dramatically. Digitized currencies are here, and they’re here to stay.

I have been living in a school bus since August of 2015. During these years, I have truly come to value my time over money, saving as much of both as I can. I can always earn more money, but I will never have more time.

Living in a 189 square foot bus home has allowed me to look at what is important, and what is not.

Over the past few years, I have met so many people and traveled to so many places. I thoroughly enjoy talking with people and hearing about their dreams and passions. What does everyone seem to want and need?

More time and more money.

That’s where Bitcoin comes in. Let me share with you, a few of the things I’ve learned.

Just like there is the US dollar (USD), Chinese Yuan (RMB), British Pound (GBP), Euro (EUR), etc there is Bitcoin (BTC), Litecoin (LTC), Ethereum (ETH), and so forth. These are all digital moneys which have different values to different people.

You can buy as much or as little as you want. Do you want to buy just enough to cover a purchase, or would you like to buy more as an investment, for when the price of bitcoin goes up?

You can buy 1.0 Bitcoin, 1 million Bitcoins, or .00000001 of a Bitcoin, which is termed a “Satoshi.”

1 Satoshi is worth USD $0.0000937402 — mere fractions of a single penny. That penny on the ground you walk by is worth more than the lowest possible denomination of a bitcoin.

Just as banks own gold bullion, the average person might have gold jewelry or gold teeth fillings, or use gold coins. All of them have a price and value, from the biggest bricks to the smallest nuggets.

1 dollar bill today is worth 10,668 Satoshis, which is equal to 0.00010668 BTC.

1 Bitcoin today is worth $9373.83 US Dollars (Price last week, today it’s actually at $10,391.14)

What can 1 cent buy you? What can 100 cents buy you? What can 1,000,000 cents ($10,000) buy you?

Money is money, and I love it all. The more the better!

What do you need to learn?

I am not trying to make any of this sound daunting or complicated. Everything I use these apps for, day to day, can be done without having a scrap of knowledge about bitcoin or anything else about Cryptocurrency.

I don’t know a thing about how much USD is in circulation, how the Federal Reserve works, how much money it prints, the intricacies of digital banking, or all the legal stuff involved with any of it. I just know that if I have a dollar bill, I can go somewhere and spend it. If I have a lot of dollars, I can open an account and the bank will take care of it for me.

Just as you get paid in dollars and spend your dollars, you can get paid in bitcoin and spend your bitcoin. It doesn’t have anything to do with investing, expensive computers, programming, nothing like that.

You download an app or two, configure your bank account information with these trusted companies, and save some money here and there on the things you were buying and doing anyway.

Bitcoin Demand — Coinstar expands to 2200 Locations

Do you spend money at Starbucks, Target, Amazon, AMC, Best Buy, Home Depot, Dunkin Donuts among other places?

You could easily be saving money at all these places with a couple free apps and a few minutes of your time.

Coinbase and CashApp/Venmo

The Coinbase App is by far the easiest way to buy and use digital money. Purchase, spend and send over 20 different kinds of currencies anywhere in the world.

Another app that I really enjoy, which offers only Bitcoin and US Dollars, is the CashApp. Have you ever seen the Square payment systems at farmers markets and stores? That company runs this app.

Both Coinbase and CashApp are considered “non-custodial” wallets that hold your digital money for you. Non-custodial is having your money at the bank, you own the funds, but they physically hold it for you.

Other digital wallets, like BlueWallet , are called “custodial” wallets. You own the money, and the money is right there on your phone, in your own account. You own it all and can access it at anytime. The physical wallet in your pocket would be a custodial wallet, you physically own the money inside of it.

CashApp, Coinbase and Venmo get linked to your bank account, in order to transfer your checking account dollars into the app’s wallet. From there, you can use the apps for making purchases, sending and receiving dollars, bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Venmo does not offer any Bitcoin services.

Any of these apps provide you with digital wallets that hold your digital money, even if you only load US dollars into these apps. You can transfer money out of the CashApp non-custodial bitcoin wallet and send it to your personal favorite custodial wallet. That is like taking money out of your bank account, and putting it into the wallet in your pocket.

With CashApp you can easily buy bitcoin, to send and receive to anyone in the world, by using the app to scan QR codes, phone numbers or through email.

You can also invest as little or as much into the stock market through the app. Either way you use this app, it might help you save money.

CashApp does what Venmo does, and more!

If you’re used to Venmo, you’ll have no trouble using CashApp. Both apps offer payment services right in the app, as well as free physical debit cards they will send you if you want to pay that way.

The main bonus to CashApp is its built in and easy to select “Boost program.”

Download the app, and on the screen you will see your virtual Visa card. From there, you can choose several “Boosts” to load onto your card. It’s basically a coupon you are loading onto your card, much like you would do on your Wal-Mart and Safeway app. A boost is a digital coupon, and CashApp offers some of the best!

Browse through the Boost options, select whichever one, and as soon as you pay with the app or the physical debit card, that Boost discount discount is immediately applied when you go to pay with your Cash app or Cash card.

Today is the first of the month, which means I get paid for my social media work. I get paid right into the CashApp.

Instead of getting paid into a bank checking account where I pay maintenance fees and receive zero interest, I can get the money sent to the CashApp for free and save money on stuff I am buying anyway. I can turn my paycheck dollars into bitcoins right in the app.

Buying bitcoin in the app is super simple with low fees, which are charged anywhere you buy and sell bitcoin.

I use the app at my favorite local coffee shop and save $1 instantly with the “$1 Off Any Coffee Store” boost selected.

Later on I can use CashApp on my phone or their free debit card to save 15% off DoorDash, $5 off at any restaurant, 10% Taco Bell, 5% off Home Depot, and so forth.

Now it gets even more beautiful!

Twitter video Link: How Fold works Real Life

This is the easiest and most efficient way to save money on things I’m already buying. To begin using it, you do not need any other app besides Fold.

Basically, the FoldApp works with merchants to offer bitcoin-back rewards from buying digital gift cards right inside the app.

For my afternoon trip to Starbucks, I opened the app, which is linked to my debit card and bought a $25 Starbucks gift card.

(You could link a cash-back credit card, saving you even more money!)

I received 1.5% back in bitcoin satoshis, which is available immediately in the app.

Opening up my Starbucks App, I clicked ‘add gift card,’ and entered the gift card details from the Fold purchase. Boom! The money was instantly available in the Starbucks app.

Ordered my grande dark roast with no room, scanned the Starbucks app at the register and earned Starbucks stars to use towards future discounted purchases.

It’s that simple!

If I had set-up my Fold account with a bitcoin wallet like BlueWallet and not only my debit card, I could have saved 3% cash back, but that’s just a little more involved, but not by much.

My bank statement will show a “Fold gift card purchase”, instead of “Starbucks gift card.” If this kind of privacy matters to you.

Twitter video Link: Using Fold on Phone App

Saving the Most Money at Target

My wife and I love target. We mainly come here for clothes and exchanging our Sodastream CO2 refill cartridges.

Walking through the aisles, I opened the Fold App and bought a $50 Target gift card.

I’ll get 2% bitcoin back — which is 0.00010819BTC, worth $1.12 today — on that gift card purchase. If I was purchasing this gift card with bitcoin I already had, which is a little more involved and technical, I could be earning 4% bitcoin back (0.00021639 = $2.24).

Earlier in the car, I bought a $25 REI gift card earning 8% bitcoin back, and a $50 Amazon card with 4% back, so I accrued some bitcoin in my Fold app wallet. I used this towards the purchase of the Target card, which I bought for $44.66. I’ll get the 2% or $1.12 back from towards the purchase of another card.

So really, a $50 card for $43.66 which was instantly available to me and the cashier with a scannable bar code.
My wife and I also use the Red Card and use the Target app with its “Target Circle Benefits” linked to that same gift card.

So we also got 5% cash back, loaded right into the Target app. This 5% is also valid at any Starbucks located inside of a Target.

The fold app is so easy to use, and lets you save more money the more you learn about how bitcoin works.
I highly recommend Coinbase, CashApp, Fold and as free apps to use to learn about digital money, saving you cash money and letting money be a tool you can wisely use. Use the apps and rewards that are available to you from the places you visit the most.

Saving a dollar here, 2 dollars there might not be much, but I’m in this for the long haul. I’m about wealth, not getting rich quick schemes.

I am stacking pennies like I am stacking Sats(Satoshis)!

**

Want to learn more about Bitcoin, having fun and EARNING some yourself, at no cost to you?

Go to your app store, download the “Thunder Games” Bitcoin Bounce game and the BlueWallet for ‘Bitcoin and Lightning network transactions.’

Twitter video Link: Bitcoin Bounce GamePlay

Play the game for free, collect tickets, and every day there is a winning raffle for 25 to 5,000 Sats ($0.002-$0.459) that you can load right into your BlueWallet lighting wallet and pay wherever you want. How about getting 8% off Dominos Pizza on the Lightning Network? Operated by Fold as well.

Ever see those Gift Card racks at your local grocery store? Some of them have Bitcoin cards! They are super simple to use. Want to learn more? Take a look.

It’s that easy. Happy earning!