Cryptocurrency For Beginners
By Raymond Durk
The Cryptocurrency Starter Guide
I’m not here to convince you that Bitcoin is the greatest invention since the internet. I won’t tell you which coins to buy, nor will I tell you how much you should spend on any particular cryptocurrency. I will tell you the easiest ways to get started and provide you with some resources to buy, earn, and use your cryptocurrency. The products listed below are for their utility and ease of use and are not necessarily things I use on a regular basis. I would encourage you all to start with Bitcoin and resist the temptation of the shiny new thing in the space until you understand what that thing is. However, I know a lot of you will ignore that and wanted to give you the best tools so you don’t get scammed.
Get Off Zero
The first and easiest thing you should do is download Lolli. It is a Chrome extension that provides cashback on purchases you make online but pays out in Bitcoin. All you have to do is make an account and you’ll get free Bitcoin when you shop at popular sites such as Marriott Hotels, Groupon, Walmart, Macy’s, and over 900 more. If you use this link you’ll earn $10 in free Bitcoin after your first purchase so you can start #StackingSats.
Or you can use Fold which gives you Bitcoin back when you buy gift cards at top brands. That way you can earn Bitcoin back by shopping online as well as in physical retailers. Fold also has a fun Spin The Wheel function where you can earn some free Bitcoin or earn bonus rewards on your gift card purchases. Fold is also releasing a Bitcoin back rewards debit and credit card which you can sign up for now. It will be like your cash back rewards on your current debit and credit cards but paid out in Bitcoin. The benefit of Fold is that the Bitcoin is paid out instantaneously as it is a gift card as opposed to Lolli which will be after the return window on your purchases closes. Use code WMH4JT94 for 20,000 bonus sats when you complete your first purchase.
The next thing you can do is earn some free cryptocurrency with Coinbase Earn. You’ll be able to earn free EOS and other ERC-20 tokens like 0x by learning about each project. All you have to do is watch a 2-minute video about the project and answer a question about what you learned. Personally, I would convert these free coins to Bitcoin but if you want to keep them, you do you. You’ll be able to earn up to $142 from the following coins with more opportunities added regularly:
$3 of 0x which is a decentralized exchange leading the defi (decentralized finance) movement.
$10 of BAT which is a token used to pay you for viewing ads in the Brave Browser (which is a fork of Google Chrome’s open source version with a built-in adblocker).
$3 of ZEC which is the privacy coin Zcash which uses a Zero Knowledge Proof.
$50 of Stellar
$50 of EOS
$20 of Dai which is a stablecoin.
$6 of Tezos which is a proof of stake protocol with on chain governance
You can also buy Bitcoin to get started accumulating more Bitcoin. There are plenty of exchanges such as Kraken, Coinbase, and Gemini, which are all used to buy and trade cryptocurrencies. If you want a Bitcoin only exchange to get the best price on Bitcoin, check out Swan or River. Each one has access to different coins so you’ll probably set up an account at more than one. I’d recommend the Bitcoin only exchanges to start and Coinbase so you earn up to $136 in free cryptocurrency and $10 in free bitcoin after your first $100 you invest.
You can buy as little as you want but I would recommend your first buy be 260,000 sats or 0.0026 Bitcoin. I suggest that amount as your first buy because 7.7 billion people on the planet divided by 21 million bitcoin is 0.0026 Bitcoin. I am not sure what the market rate on that first buy will be but you should get your share of the pie before even considering buying some other coin that is rising in price.
Best Cryptocurrency Wallets
After you open an exchange account, you should look into moving your assets off of the exchange. The hacks you hear about are often a hacker stealing funds from an exchange and unfortunately, there isn’t an FDIC for cryptocurrency. Once assets are stolen, you won’t be able to get them back. You may have heard the phrase, “not your keys, not your coins” because you should be your own bank by taking custody of your own funds. Here are the best cryptocurrency wallets by platform type when you are ready for some more responsibility.
Desktop
Zap is one of the best Bitcoin and Lightning wallets for the desktop. It is open source and allows you to send Bitcoin and Lightning payments. Lightning is a second layer scaling solution for Bitcoin that allows you to send Bitcoin at a cheaper, faster rate than sending it on chain.
Exodus is a self custody wallet for multiple coins. You’ll be able to manage your own private keys for Bitcoin, Ethereum, Monero, Litecoin, Tron, BNB and many more. Note that Exodus is closed source meaning you cannot see their code. They have been around for years but still a security concern.
MyCrypto is the best place for all things Ethereum. Whether you want to store some Ether or ERC-721 collectibles, ERC-20 tokens for an ICO, participate in an IEO, or claim your ENS name, the MyCrypto team does it all in a user-friendly way. The MyCrypto Desktop App provides the same functionality as the website but is more secure as it protects you from phishing sites, DNS poisoning, and other threats you may have heard on the news.
Web
Strike is a Chrome extension that allows you to make Bitcoin and Lightning payments online. It is made from Zap, the desktop wallet mentioned earlier. You can use that link to get $5 when you sign up.
Metamask is a browser extension that allows you to access Ethereum dapps making any browser a web3 browser. It is available for download on Chrome, Opera, and Brave.
iOS and Android
For Bitcoin, you should look to Casa, Blue Wallet, and Strike. Casa is known for the multisig set up but allows you to buy with Google and Apple Pay as well as your bank account straight into your Bitcoin wallet. Blue wallet is another great noncustodial wallet with some advanced features and lighting support. Strike is in a unique bucket as you can spend your fiat and instantly turn it into a Bitcoin or Lightning transaction. You can be one of the many people joining the Lightning Network for instant Bitcoin transactions at a near $0.00 fee.
There is more on Casa below as they have a great multisig product for added security beyond a hardware wallet.
There are a ton of great Ethereum wallets but I’d recommend Metamask or Coinbase Wallet (which is different from the Coinbase app from earlier) has the same features as Metamask but provides support for more coins such as Dogecoin on both iOS and Android. These will both allow you to store Ether, ERC-20 and ERC-721 tokens, and interact with dapps.
Honorable Mention
Besides the same three options listed for iOS, there is a Bitcoin-only wallet called Samourai which provides additional privacy enhancements with its coinjoin features.
Best Cryptocurrency Apps
Coincap is an app to check cryptocurrency prices from the company that makes Shapeshift. It is the best price checker with its beautiful user interface on both iOS and Android. Personally, I’d advise against checking the price consistently and would recommend DCA’ing (Dollar Cost Averaging). If you use an exchange, you can set it to autobuy some bitcoin every two weeks when you get paid. Don’t worry about timing the market, focus on time in the market. Set it and forget it.
If you start buying multiple coins and you want to do more than check the price of the Bitcoin, you can download Blockfolio on both iOS and Android. This tracks your cryptocurrency portfolio so you can see how many lambos you can buy as soon as it moons.
Best Cryptocurrency Devices
So far everything mentioned has been free software to get you off of zero and ease you deeper into the ecosystem across multiple cryptocurrencies. If you are willing to move to spend more than the $100 you’ve put in to get your free $10 in Bitcoin with Coinbase, here are some of the best devices to get secure your assets. These devices are the things the community uses every day or friendlier versions of the ones we use. I’ll go over hardware wallets so you can add more security to your assets, plug and play Bitcoin and Lightning full nodes, and even a plug and play device that allows you to start mining Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
Hardware Wallets
Hardware wallets are USB-sized devices that plug into your computer. It is much more secure to keep your assets off an exchange and stored securely with a hardware wallet. The private keys, which are the passwords that allow you to access and spend your cryptocurrency, are kept away from your computer so hackers cannot get access to your funds. All you have to do is secure your seed phrase which is given when you set up your device.
$59 — The cheapest hardware wallet is the Ledger Nano S. It is the cheapest way to custody your own funds to be your own bank. It has access to many different cryptocurrencies but you have to install a wallet per coin as an app on the device to use multiple cryptocurrencies. Space on the device is limited so it is a great way to get started but not if you are going to be using several chains consistently.
$79 — Keepkey is the best all in one hardware wallet as it has direct integration with its newly updated cryptocurrency trading platform by parent company Shapeshift. This device doesn’t have the app limitation like the Ledger but isn’t widely available with other services beyond Shapeshift.
$99 —The Trezor Model One is the best overall hardware wallet. It includes more features than the Ledger such as being able to buy cryptocurrency from within the wallet and works with more platforms than the Keepkey. The entire codebase and the devices are open sources so new features and coins can be added faster as well.
$189 — The Trezor Model T is the most secure hardware wallet. It has all of the same features as the Model One but with a touchscreen to avoid keyloggers when typing in your passphrase. It also has more coins such as Tezos with access to newer ideas such as proof of stake where you can make money by helping secure the network.
Multisig Wallet
Casa is best known for its luxury concierge service for their 3 of 5 multisig Keymaster. This is the best security for anyone willing to pay to protect their $100,000 in Bitcoin but they also have a cheaper multisig wallet for those of us who don’t have a full Bitcoin (you can buy a fraction of a Bitcoin). The Casa Gold package is a stripped-down version of their name brand Keymaster product as it has a 2 of 3 multisig wallets. This means you need 2 of 3 private keys to make a transaction (your phone and a hardware wallet) while Casa holds the third private key as a backup. Casa also allows you to buy bitcoin directly to your multisig so you can remove the counterparty risk.
Run A Bitcoin Node
A node is a copy of the blockchain that helps decentralise the network and can increase your privacy. This is a common question but I wrote a guide on how to run a Bitcoin guide here. It takes about 30–60 minutes and can be set up for less than $200 which you can subsidise with your new Fold accounts. Once you set it up, you can connect your wallets to it as I wrote about here with Ledger as one example.
Mine Bitcoin
If you want the same simplicity but more features such as mining cryptocurrency you should order a Coinmine One for $699. This Xbox sized device allows you to mine popular coins like Bitcoin and Ethereum, privacy coins like Monero or Zcash, and new cryptocurrencies like Grin. You can get the best all in one device for $50 off by using the Coinmine One promo code: Ray
Bonus: General Security
You should buy a Yubikey or Google Titan Security Key and learn about the importance of two-factor authentication and other threats like SIM-swapping on another blog I wrote. This covers all kinds of security threats and ways to protect yourself.
If you have any suggestions on anything I should fix, update, or add you can reach out anytime. My DMs are open. I’d also like to thank Jordan at MyCrypto for taking me up on that offer to edit this after I initially published it. As always remember to “Be humble, stack sats.”
