Best Websites to Learn more about Bitcoin, ICOs and other Alt Coins

If your new to the crypto space or want to take a more deeper dive into the world of ICOs and various other alt coins than this article may be for you. This is my beginners guide to where to find stuff within the crypto space. These are all the links I use on a regular basis to stay up-to-date and on top of the crypto currency markets.
Coin Market Cap
This is ususally the FIRST stop every crypto investor makes to assess what is happening in the market. This is the most informative website you will find yourself using on a daily basis to check specific details on a crypto project such as their price history, circulating supply, what exchanges it trades on and their their official website and social links.
https://coinmarketcap.com
Cryptominded Directory of Resources
Before we get started, if your completely new to the space and have no idea what is Bitcoin or crypto currencies, then this is where you should start. This website has a ton or resources for new and existing crypto enthusiasts about everything you could ever want to know about this space.
https://cryptominded.com/
General Crypto News
Coindesk
This website is great for general crypto news that tends to focus more on the major coins like Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin. If you want to know which countries and companies are adopting or NOT adopting blockchain technology, this is usually a good starting point. Coindesk also put out industry reports on the state of the blockchain community (see below link).
https://www.coindesk.com
https://www.coindesk.com/research/
Cointelegraph
One of my personal favourites. They cover mostly the main crypto currencies (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Ripple & Dash) and I really enjoy the illustrated images and their periodic price analysis of these coins. This website tends to cover a lot of interesting things happening in the crypto space whether economical, political or socially humorous.
https://cointelegraph.com
Bitcoin.com News
Great for all around Bitcoin-related news.
https://news.bitcoin.com
Steemit
We can’t forget the one and only Steemit Crypto thread. I’ve been seeing more and more mainstream pro-crypto people start posting on Steemit. Notably Max Keiser (@keiserreport) and the Dollar Vigilante (@dollarvigilante) Jeff Berwick (@jeffberwick)
https://steemit.com/trending/cryptocurrency
https://steemit.com/trending/bitcoin
Ethereum News
Since a large majority of Alt Coins run on Ethereum, this is a great website to find news related to Ethereum and those type of alt coins.
https://www.ethnews.com
Crypto YouTubers
A lot of the best and latest information/news can be found on YouTube. Whether your not sure how a wallet works or you want to hear multple perspective on the market, YouTube is the place to be for the crypto space. Below are some popular YouTubers that talk about various aspects of the market.
Crypt0
This is another source of interesting news by YouTuber Omar Ban who posts daily YouTube videos on the current state of the crypto world. He often talks about interesting news or coins that I don’t hear from other content channels.
https://www.youtube.com/user/obham001
Suppoman
Suppoman is a very charismatic and chocky crypto YouTuber. Most people will either love or hate him with very few in between. The one thing that his channel does offer which is very valuable to new and existing crypto investors is his perspective on the markets, investing strategies and crypto project recommendations.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCmJln4C_CszIusbJ_MHmfQ
Oh Hey Matty
This guy is very knowledgable about the crypto markets and technical analysis but his best talent is reviewing and assessing various new crypto projects. He does a lot of very thorough assessments of ICOs and project interviews.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3p3s3WJkEG56W275gGbQlw
Crypto Daily
This is more for amusement than information. Crypto Daily is a very good crypto YouTuber who creates lite entertaining and informational videos.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC67AEEecqFEc92nVvcqKdhA
CNBC Crypto Trader
This is a more recent YouTuber/Television host from CNBC Africa that travels around the world giving you very insightful perspectives into crypto and new popular projects.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCN9Nj4tjXbVTLYWN0EKly_Q
Boxmining
This YouTuber posts frequent YouTube videos covering crypto news and mining-related content. I find myself watching more YouTube videos these days to get interesting news and commentary. Boxmining has been very consistent and thorough with their uploads.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxODjeUwZHk3p-7TU-IsDOA
Keith Wareing
Similar to Suppoman, Keith is a very charismatic ballsy guy. He focuses primarily on the alt market. There are well known alt coins, and then there are the ones that no one has ever heard of. Keith is focused on the latter. But be careful, his alt coin recomendations are either so far ahead of the times genius or… they could be considered boarder line “S#!t Coins” or scammy projects. Take everything he says with a grain of salt.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPyknnkt0GLdulwAOx6zlFw
Tracking ICOs
Bitcoin Suisse AG
Now this is a bit unorthodox but one of the resources I use to see what solid ICOs are coming out is by visiting Bitcoin Suisse AG. This company is well known in the crypto space for accepting fiat money and crypto investments from whales to fund new and upcoming ICOs. If Bitcoin Suisse AG is partnering with a particular ICO, you can be pretty certain that the project in question is solid and has been properly vetted.
https://www.bitcoinsuisse.ch
ICO Alert
This website is a great resource that shows you a ton if not all the known ICOs currently raising funds. Good or bad… so browse with caution.
https://www.icoalert.com/
Smith+Crown Ongoing/Pending ICOs
With a slightly more filtered selection of ICOs listed chronologically, Smith+Crown is a trusted website for seeing what new projects are coming out.
https://www.smithandcrown.com/icos/
ICO Ratings
I really love the concept behind this website but you should always take any recommendations or ratings with a grain of salt and do your own due diligence. ICO Rating provides a simple rating system that identifies the potential popularity and risk/reward of new ICO projects.
http://icorating.com/
Reddit
I sometimes explore the sub-reddits related to new and upcoming ICOs to see what the company and other people are saying about that particular project. There are a lot of sub-reddit forums you can checkout and explore to see what the community is talking about.
https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/
https://www.reddit.com/r/ico/
Market Analysis
TradingView
I’ve done a lot of trading in the past focusing on Equities, ETFs, Options and Commodities. I’ve recently started using TradingView as a platform to do my own market analysis and to also explore other peoples perspectives as well. It’s always good to get an outside perspective on things when investing. TradingView is a free charting service that is also very social and has a great community of like-minded individuals. You can follow my posts here or search for a specific coin to see what other traders have to say like the link below.
https://www.tradingview.com/
Hacked
This is an awesome website that posts high-quality market analysis on various crypto coins and preforms detailed Analysis on various noteworthy ICOs. Please note that this website limits you to view only one post free per day… if you want to get access to the entire blog you have to pay $39USD/month. I personally visit it once in awhile to view specific posts that peak my interest for free.
https://hacked.com
Cointelegraph
You can also find pretty solid market analysis from Cointelegraph’s Denis Harrison. He usually focuses on the big guys (ie. Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin, Ethereum Classic, Dash etc.)
https://cointelegraph.com/authors/denis_harrison
Node Investor (YouTube)
This is a very good YouTuber that goes by the name of Node Investor who releases frequent video commentary on the markets and highlights potential opportunities he sees. I highly recommend you subscribe to his YouTube channel.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCa81HAp1se359Sr5qEMMP7A
Best Exchanges to use For Beginners
Coinbase (Primarily US)
Probably the most popular and easy-to-use exchange in the space that allows you to buy/sell Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin. This is one of the oldest, established, and most reliable exchanges to bring fiat money into the market. Launched in the US, this exchange can also be used by Canadians. New features that are created on this platform are usually available to the US only, and eventually get rolled out to Canadians later. Like any exchange, I highly recommend you use them to only buy and sell. Do not store your coins in them. Get in and get out.
https://www.coinbase.com
CoinSquare (Primarily Canadian)
This one is a newer exchange that made a big splash in Canada. They have big money behind them and are similar to Coinbase. If your Canadian I would recomend them over Coinbase. They offer Canadians better methods to bring money in/out of crypto such as using Interac e-transfer. Use the referral link below to get an extra $20 when you create your account.
https://coinsquare.com/register?r=CD2F5B902
ShapeShift
This service allows you to swop crypto currencies without having to go through a traditional exchange. I highly recommend using ShapeShift as your first option when trying to swop existing crypto currencies. This is the most simple, safe and quickest option. Note that they are limited in the types of coins which you can swop but the selection is pretty good.
https://shapeshift.io
Changelly
This service is very similar to Shapshift but there are certain differences you should be aware of. Changelly offers a larger selection of coins which you can swop and they also allow you to purchase crypto directly using a credit card. Unlike ShapeShift, you must create an account in order to use their service but by they do allow you swop larger amounts of crypto.
https://changelly.com
Best Exchanges to Get Altcoins for Advanced Users
The above exchanges are the best options to bring your fiat money into the crypto space and buy the most well known crypto currencies. If you have gotten familiar with the market and want to try your hand at investing in more advanced crypto projects known as “alt coins”, you need to use crypto exchanges. Most of these exchanges do not support fiat money, they are primarily crypto-to-crypto exhcanges. Below are some exchanges to cover a BROAD range of the crypto market. Chances are you should be able to find the coin your looking for in one of these.
Bianance
This is one of the most popular exchanges. They have a large variety of coins and the user experience is great. They also offer desktop and mobile apps.
https://www.binance.com
Kucoin
This exhange is an up and coming exchange. Also very popular. I find it to be very fast and offer a good selection of coins.
https://www.kucoin.com/
HitBTC
In regards to coin offerings, this exchange has a lot of medium to small crypto projects. The exchange itself is OK but it get’s the job done.
https://hitbtc.com
Cryptopia
Although this exchange is not that good in my opinion, they do offer a lot of smaller crypto projects you normally can’t find on larger exhanges like Binance or Bittrex.
https://www.cryptopia.co.nz
Other Exchanges
There are tons of exchanges out there. You may have to create multiple tradding accounts on a variety of exhcanges to find the coins you want to buy.
Crypto Portfolio Management Apps
There are a lot of portfolio management options out there to help monitor your crypto holdings but for privacy and security reasons, I would recommend avoiding any service that requires you to create an account. For all the value of privacy, discretion and anonymity that crypto currencies give you, it would completely defeat the purpose if you simply told a centralized service which assets you own, how much, and in some cases which wallets their stored.
Blockfolio
If you do wish to monitor your portfolio I recommend using Blockfolio. It’s a mobile app available on Android and iOS that does not require an account. There is a lot of privacy speculation about portfolio management apps in general but this application seems to be on the up and up.
http://blockfolio.com
Mobile Wallets
No matter which wallet you use, make sure you back them up. In case you loose your phone or forget your password, you will need to backup them up to recover that information.
Ethos
This is an mobile app that has been in the making for some time now. They currently support a large variety of coins and will soon allow you to buy and sell on the platform as well.
https://www.ethos.io
Enjin
In my opinion, this is probably the most secure mobile wallet out there. They support a large range of coins and also support non-fungible tokens (NFTs) which are often in-game assets which you can store inside your wallet.
https://enjinwallet.io
Desktop Wallets (aka “soft wallets”)
These are desktop-based wallets that are stored on your computer. Some people use soft wallets that support multiple coins in one application like Exodus or Jaxx. Below are links to some of the most reliable wallets for the major crypto coins.
Copay (Bitcoin Wallet)
This is a popular bitcoin wallet that’s available on all desktop and mobile platforms.
https://copay.io
Official Litecoin Wallet
One of the most reliable and popular Litecoin wallets.
https://litecoin.org
Official Ethereum Wallet
One of the most reliable and popular wallets. You can store you Ethereum and all Ethereum-based alt coins (ERC-20 Tokens) in this wallet.
https://www.ethereum.org
Official Dash Wallet (aka “Dash Core”)
One of the most reliable and popular wallets.
https://www.dash.org/get-dash/
Hardware Wallets (aka “hard wallets”)
These are the most secure forms of storing your crypto currencies. Rather than storing them on your computer (which can get hacked) you can store them directly on USB type hardware device.
Ledger
The Ledger Nano S is a great entry level hard wallet. It works with MyEtherWallet and will soon be supported by Exodus as well. The Ledger is easy to use and looks awesome!
https://www.ledgerwallet.com/r/285c
Trezor
I have not used Trezor but it is similar to Ledger and also works with MyEtherWallet.
https://trezor.io
Crypto Mining
Once you’ve dipped your toes into the crypto market and purchased some crypto currencies you may want to start looking to get into mining your own coins. This allows you to generate long-term daily recurring revenue and help build your portfolio. In some future posts I’ll be talking more about the advantages of doing this.
CoinWars Mining Profitability
Before you start mining I recommend checking out CoinWars to find out which currencies are the best to mine and how efficient they are. This website also has a mining calculator that you can use to estimate how long it will take to break-even on your mining investments. Keep in mind that mining costs are always fluctuating depending on the dollar value, difficulty, demand for mining that particular coin.
https://www.coinwarz.com/cryptocurrency
https://www.coinwarz.com/calculators
Genesis Cloud Mining
The most popular and trusted cloud mining provider out there is Genesis Mining. I’ve used them for awhile now and never had any problems. Make sure to do your research into which coins you want to mine first before signing up. To save 3% on your next Genesis Mining purchase,feel free to use my promo code u0p1hb to help support my blog posts.
https://www.genesis-mining.com
The End
This wraps up all the main resources I use and think you will want to know about if your just starting out in the crypto space. I hope this information helps. If you liked this post, don’t forget to upvote it with some claps!
If you know some other great resources, comment below! I’m always looking to expand my horizons.
Happy Investing!
