Coinbase, Binance and how to start thinking about it
Since more and more people ask, and I know my original e-mail is starting to get around, I’ve decided to share this short playbook, to help you setting up your cryptocurrency trading environment
Please remember you’re investing in a very unregulated and unpredictable market!
Step 1 : Open an account on Coinbase, n°1 platform to buy “Entry level currency” such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. This is your starting point where you can buy coins with Dollars or Euros. What you need to understand is that most of exchange platforms won’t accept fiat currencies. Coinbase is a solid company, with a sleek UI, so you can get your hands on the subject. Fees are high, but it’s okay, you’ll get your $15 back once you’ll start trading on all currencies!
Here is my referral link :) https://www.coinbase.com/join/594ef918ee8dc5072599c72a
Step 2 : Open an account on Binance.com. There are many exchanges to choose from, but I find Binance to give the best UI/UX, with fair fees. Watch out though, it’s a chinese site based in Shanghai ☺ If Chinese regulation scares you a bit, go bitstamp, bitfinex, bittrex, poloniex, … (a google search will do)
Here is again my referral link :) https://www.binance.com/?ref=12310670
Step 3: Go to « Funds » in Binance. You’ll get a list of all your available coins. As a start, all of your balances should be at 0. Go to ETH or BTC (depending on what you have bought on Coinbase) and click « Deposit ». This will generate an « address » (character and numeric sequence) that you’ll need to copy.
Step 4: Go back to Coinbase/Accounts/BTC Wallet/Transfer : paste the address of your Binance BTC Wallet (don’t mistake your ETH address with your BTC address, or everything may very well be lost!) and Transfer all your funds to Binance.
After 1h or 1 day, you’ll see your BTC/ETH in Binance. It takes time because the verification steps are differents between blockchains and sometimes the network can be congested.
Step 5 : Buying other currencies “AltCoins”
Ok now you got $X worth of BTC or ETH. Both will work out. There are the only 2 currencies that can buy AltCoins (meaning you can’t buy XRP “Ripple” with SNT “Status”, except for Litecoin sometimes)
I would sugget to buy $20 worth of “BNB,” which is the Binance Coin – if you have any in your wallet, they will deduct fees from it for the half the price they would in BTC or ETH.
On could say that each trade cost less than a $1, but of course it varies!
Step 6 : Altcoins winners of 2018
Sure, it can change, and maybe you should trade from time to time, cashing out as you go. The point is many currencies will skyrocket in 2018. You should know what you’re investing on and get familiar with the project and the team behind each currency.
ADA « Cardano » : the open source blockchain
XRP « Ripple » : the banking/money transfer blockchain
TRX « Tron » : the content entertainment blockchain
MIOTA « IOTA » : the IOT blockchain
SNT « Status » : end-to-end solution for native C# and .Net blockchain application
SIA « Sia » : decentralized cloud backend
Step 7 : Understanding what’s under
See how each currency has its own project behind ? Some altcoins don’t have any, they’re created with the only purpose of trading and having fun (like the TrumpCoin, the cryptokitties, etc… they’re called shitcoins). But the serious stuff will have a significant impact if the tech is used in the real world. That’s the long game bet. Each altcoin will be used on its own blockchain to pay for microtransactions. So if the project behind gets deployed and used in the real-world by companies, people and maybe government — every one of them will need a chunk of those coins to interact within the blockchain. Since there’s a limited quantity of coins for each currency (available or being mined!), one day or another, if the project runs, their demand will rise for real purposes, not only speculation.
Step 8 : Cashing out
The big question.
- First : if the money goes back into your bank account, there’s a good chance that from where you’re reading this, you will be taxed!
- If you want to cash out at some point, you can always leave the money on the platform by buying Tether Coin « USDT », a coin that mimics the real $ market.
- I suggest openning an account at Revolut or another mobile banking that handles cryptocurrencies. More will rise this year. You can have a credit card directly deducting your crypto wallets :) And again, here is my referral link : https://revolut.com/r/sidneydrr!crypto
Step 9 : Get on the train at the station
Finally, you could also take the risk of investing into an ICO : getting cheap cheap coins, wishing the project will come around. Like an IPO, you will be giving a company money to build its platform but you won’t get shares. Instead the company will pay you with its own altcoins. You just gotta wish the project will see through, and once the currency get listed on a exchange platform, you’ll be able to cash out, or buy others coins, or hold your position to the Moon!
One last tip : I would suggest to follow up on :https://chia.network/ created by the mastermind Bittorent inventor Brams Cohen.
Check out https://www.coinschedule.com/ for the next ICOs
