CRYPTOCURRENCY FOR NEWBIES
LET'S TALK ABOUT "ALTCOINS"
`Altcoins` means Alternative Coins. Alternative cryptocurrencies, came as an initiative either to fix Bitcoin's perceived flaws or to pursue different goals and properties. No doubt Bitcoin brought about a major revolution in the digital financial technology world. It made popular the blockchain technology, a platform on which every transaction related to bitcoin is perfected. But from time to time scientists and programmers tend to improve on bitcoin by improving on its strengths and solving its perceived weaknesses. This attempts have brought about the creation of newer crypto currencies called altcoins. I.e alternative coins to bitcoin. Examples of Altcoins include amongst many others the follow-up: Ethereum, Dash, Ripple, Monero, Steem, Electroneum etc Your journey into cryptocurrency business begins with having your own wallet. You can start by creating a bitcoin wallet. And then you can add other coins of interest as the need arises. So let's start by creating a bitcoin wallet. Tho i treated this yesterday in response to a question asked here.
CREATING A BITCOIN WALLET
Creating a bitcoin wallet is as easy as drinking water. All you need is:
1. An email address.
2. Password
3. And of course a device with an internet connection.
Please note that there are several options in opening or creating a bitcoin wallet. What i mean is you can open your wallet with any of the available service providers. See them as the banks for your cryptocurrency. E.g
1. Blockchain http://www.blockchain.com/wallet
2. Coinbase https://www.coinbase.com
3. Paxful http://www.paxful.com
HOW TO CREATE YOUR FIRST BITCOIN WALLET
*Visit https://www.coinbase.com
*Click on sign up.
*Enter your email address and set a password.
* Check your email, confirm your email address from the mail sent to you.
* Then login to your coinbase account.
Your bitcoin wallet is displayed on your dashboard. A bitcoin wallet address appears like this. 12S7ZYZ4HQroVTygY3YhV85YVUekDKNdnL
Please note:
To login to your wallet, all you need is to visit http://www.coinbase.com
The process is pretty the same for creating wallets for other coins. I am trying as much as possible to break the whole thing down. Because i know a lot of people hate hearing the word bitcoin or cryptocurrency. It sounds too ambiguous to them. But with this article you are good to go.
HOW TO CREATE AN ETHEREUM WALLET
1. Visit http://www.myetherwallet.com
2. On the home page, enter your password and click create wallet. Once you sign up, your wallet is empty. Your balance is Zero. So how do you fund your wallet?
3. Download the Json file sent to you. Immediately, the system prompts you to download a json file. Please download it and save it both on your system and your usb drive. This is like a key to open your ETH wallet any time In addition to the json file you can also use your private key to unlock your ETH wallet. After creating the wallet. Login. Use your email address n Password when requested. Watch out for your private key. This is encrypted at first. Click on the eye icon...to decrypt it. It shows your private key. Copy it and save it also. Copy and save your Ethereum wallet address too.
HOW TO FUND YOUR BITCOIN/ALTCOIN WALLET
(1) Verified Online Exchangers: This trusted websites work this way: You pay your Naira to their account, they transfer bitcoins or altcoins to your wallet. Also, you can transfer your bitcoin or altcoins to their wallets and they pay you Naira to your bank account. Simple. Many of them exist. The legit once I've worked with are http://NairaEx.com , http://Instagold.ng , and http://crypstone.com . They sell coins at averagely N370/$1 and buy coins from you at averagely N340/$1.
(2) Individual Exchangers: They work same way with the above. The difference is that they are not a "company" and you can negotiate lesser prices with them. I won't advice you transact with just anyone, so many guys posing as legit sellers are scam.
(3) Group Chat: Some group chat exist where you use the admin as escrow (middle man) to ensure smooth transaction. To avoid stories that touch, i have created an escrow group where we can buy and sell to each other using the admin as an escrow. An escrow is more like a middle man who receives the cash, holds it and releases once the buyer confirms receipt of the digital currency.
SETTING UP 2 FACTOR AUTHENTICATION (2FA) SECURITY MEASURE
This procedure applies to any wallet that has an embeded 2FA security feature. Follow the steps as follows:
Login to your coinbase account
Click on settings
Select the security tab
Look for Two-Factor Authentication
Click on enable authenticator
Immediately a bar code is shown i.e a QR code, you need to scan this QR Code.
To make this easy you need 2 devices. One for login to your coinbase (use a laptop/tab).
The other is where you downloaded your authenticator
Now launch your google authenticator (on your phone/tab) It comes up in a camera mode. Place it over the QR Code displayed on your coinbase account.
Enter the code displayed by the authenticator correctly in the space provided for 2FA on your coinbase screen.
Device Synchronization takes place and you are all set up and good to go. Now for subsequent application/use Anytime you login to your coinbase account you will be required to authenticate your access by inputing a code. You will get this code by launching your google authenticator. So you see where your google authenticator comes in? It helps to authenticate your access to any app you already synched with it. Like for me....my google authenticator grants me access to 3 different websites n apps i already synchronized to the authenticator. Please let me know anywhere u have issues with any of the steps. Truth is....this is more practical. So u need to try it out. So try it and let`s know if you have challenges. What is an exchange platform? An exchange, like the Luno Exchange, is simply a platform that connects potential buyers with potential sellers. It allows them to exchange things like products, stocks, currencies and in our case: Bitcoin.
WAYS TO EARN FROM CRYPTOCURRENCY BUSINESS
The truth is in the world of crypto currencies, bitcoin has become the de facto currency hence it is the base currency against which other currencies are compared and exchanged. That is why every newly released cryptocurrency seeks to ensure they get listed on some exchange platforms so that investors can always have a place to exchange the new crypto for bitcoin and vice versa. It's common knowledge that once you have bitcoin in your wallet you are confident you have cash already. Hence the neccesity for exchange platforms.
1. HODLING
Hodling came from the word HOLDING. But now it was wrongly spelt by a big time investor who posted.... I AM HODLING THIS COIN So you can invest in a given coin at ICO. HODL it and wait for the price to increase then sell it off. E.g some of us bought electroneum at less than $0.25 in fact we got 100 tokens for $1. Excluding bonus ooh. So if i invested $10 it means i would have 1000 tokens which translates to 1000 units of the coin in my wallet. I.e with an investment of just $10 (N3600) i have 1000 ETN. If i HODL my ETN till price hits say $20 Do you know how much that will fetch me? Imagine that. ..all from an investment of $10 This is incredibly unbelievable right? But that's what people are making from crptocurrency. By keying into ICO MY ADVICE: Do all you can to buy good coins at prelaunch i.e ICO How would you know good coins to buy at ICO? I will talk about ICOs some other time, watch out.
2. TRADING
You can decide to be a cryptocurrency trader. You can do this big time. This involves buying and selling of cryptocurrencies of interest. All you need do is connect buyers to sellers. Meet demands with suplies that's all. Do you know people buy as much as $10,000 worth of btc at a go? I have once received an orde of $33,000 worth of bitcoin. Imagine how much profit was involved in that singular transaction. Trading could be profitable in reality.