If you don’t know about cryptocurrency yet don’t worry, you haven’t missed the boat. When you start to see some of the returns this all-new asset class is making you might think it’s too late…
But it’s not. And we should know. We’ve been involved in this sector for over seven years. Considering the sector itself is only eight years old, that’s saying something.
We were dabbling in Bitcoin in 2010. We were trying out ‘altcoin’ (now called cryptocurrency) in 2014. We’ve spoken to developers of cryptocurrency and we’ve tried or investigated every which way you can buy, sell and trade in them all.
Still, the average person on the street has no idea what cryptocurrency is. Most of them still don’t even know about Bitcoin. And that excites us.
It’s exciting because it means there’s a whole world of potential still available for Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, NEM and potentially hundreds of other cryptocurrencies out there.
Crypto ‘currency’ or digital assets?
But of course this is a new asset class. And in many cases even calling them cryptocurrency is misleading. The truth is only a few you could classify as ‘currency’. Some you would classify as ‘commodities’. Some are ‘energy’. Some are just simply businesses that exist on a blockchain.
In our view these are all forms of digital assets. And that’s the way you should view most of them. That helps to analyse their worth now, their future worth and whether or not they’re worthy of investment.
Now we could start to get pretty technical here and go into the detailed mechanics of cryptography, the algorithms these are based on, blockchains, ICOs, and all the ins and outs of how the different coins work.
But we won’t. You see, one of the first questions we get when people ask us about ‘crypto’ is ‘how do I buy cryptocurrency?’ And that’s what we’re going to help you with now.
Step one when buying cryptocurrecy: Bitcoin
First off, you need to know that the most dominant ‘crypto’ used to buy other crypto is Bitcoin. That means one of the first things you’ll need to do is to get some Bitcoin.
But even before that you’ll need to set up a Bitcoin wallet. Once that’s done you buy your Bitcoin from a seller and then send it to your Bitcoin wallet. We could list 100 different Bitcoin sellers here, but truth be told a simple Google search of ‘buy Bitcoin’ will give you plenty of options.
What we absolutely recommend however is that you start small. Even just $20–50 worth, so you get comfortable with using that particular seller. Then buy larger amounts. And if you’ve never bought Bitcoin before, starting small is even more important.
Step two when buying cryptocurrecy: Trading Platform
From there you’ll need to set up an account with a cryptocurrency trading platform. Most of the big ones are free. You just need an email address to sign up. That’s it. The biggest in the world is www.poloniex.com. We’ve used that one ourselves. Others include Bittrex, Kraken, SpaceBTC and Livecoin. But there are more out there.
When choosing a trading platform, we advise you to make sure there’s plenty of volume. That way it’s easier for you to move in or out of the cryptocurrency you want to buy.
When you’ve got your trading account set up, you send your Bitcoin in to the Bitcoin wallet on your trading platform and then start buying and selling cryptocurrency.
It’s really that easy. But it can be scary for first timers. So always start small!
The Wild West
And we also want to emphasise the incredible risk that investing in cryptocurrency carries. There is no asset class in the world that is as volatile and as risky as this. It’s unregulated and it’s full of scams, fraud, theft and danger. It’s the Wild West. Which makes it incredibly exciting and incredibly dangerous for newcomers.
You shouldn’t go into this blindly. You should follow advice of experts — experts like us. We know what to look for when investing in cryptocurrency, and we know what to look out for.
We know what to look out for because in the early years of it all we saw and were even a victim of fraud and theft. This was in the early, early days of cryptocurrency, when it was worth a fraction of what it is today. And we’ve also seen some of our crypto double, triple, increase seven-fold in the space of a few months.
This is one market you need the steady, guiding hand of an expert. Let us be that guiding hand and we can help you navigate the minefield of cryptocurrency. We want you on this ride because we haven’t seen an opportunity like this in over a decade of experience in the world of finance and economics.
It’s perhaps the single biggest opportunity in the history of money to get in early and potentially make a fortune. But it’s the highest risk we’ve ever seen, too. Be clear on that point.
But if you’re ready for the journey, then hopefully we’ve helped start you out. Now you know how to buy cryptocurrency, the question you should ask is, what cryptocurrency should I buy?
