How I Fell In Love With Crypto - Beginners Guide

Crypto has changed my life and it happened really quick. Every month I try to set a goal to learn a new skill or industry outside of my normal scope of work. Last September it was Morse code, November was bread making and of course Christmas cookie baking in December. 

This month my goal is to finally learn everything I can about Bitcoin and crypto currency.   May saw a huge spike in the crypto currency markets and even got a lot of national press, so I decided this would be my thing to learn. I started on the 15th of May and dove right in.   

First I started with YouTube videos, and then blogs and then I started following the daily price charts and following them every hour. The first week was just constant learning about the industry and what Bitcoin is and how it works.   I was quickly surprised to learn there were so many different types of crypto currency. Bitcoin is just the most popular of over 600 crypto currencies. 

Aside from Bitcoin, the one that I have found to be most intriguing is Ethereum. Ethereum is like Bitcoin but it’s platform just activated SegWit. It gets too technical for this blog, but the point is Bitcoin isn’t the only crypto to watch. Then things started to click for me and I started to understand the market.    

The crypto currency market is flooded right now and everything from Bitcoin to Ethereum to countless others are seeing all time highs. Despite seeing all-time highs, within a few days of this blog being posted, it is still unbelievable early. This is really a true emerging market that could redefine how money is transferred around the world.    

The market cap for all crypto currencies broke $100 Billion on the 5th of June. That is a drop in the bucket compared to the global currency assets, but is impressive.    Once I dove in and understood more and listened to a ton of really smart people, I decided to start investing myself. I see it as investing because my plan is to HODL or hold to the layperson. (Inside joke for crypto currency traders.)   

I also plan to only invest in Bitcoin and Ethereum to begin with. That was on May 31st and since I got into Bitcoin it has gone up over $500. Etherum has gone up over $130. The nice thing is, you don’t have to buy an entire Bitcoin for $2850 to start. You can spend $20 and get .0007 Bitcoin. It make it easy to invest a little each week.   

Doing all the research on where to go and who to trust with my Bitcoin purchases, I picked Coinbase. The company is a billion dollar company and just completed another round of funding. They are really growing in the right direction. They have hickups, but every service I have used has them so far. Few platforms make it as easy as Coinbase and have as much financial backing.  

Currently you can only buy Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin on Coinbase, but since that is really all I am interested in, then it doesn’t matter. I tried to open an account on Kraken, but it takes weeks to get approved. I finally have an account on Kraken, and it has more alt-coins, but my focus is on Ethereum now. I was able to buy Bitcoin the same night that signed up for Coinbase.  

One of the most important things that I learned about crypto currency is the need to protect it. There are only a lifetime total of 21 million Bitcoins available. If you lose a hard drive with all your keys on it or someone hacks your phone, you could lose it all forever.    This is the key to investing in any type of crypto, buy a hardware wallet. A hardware wallet is basically a usb thumb drive that is uniquely secure that can allow for you to recover your crypto in the worse types of scenarios.    

The one that I am trusting and the one that so many in the crypto world use is the Ledger Nano S. It is perfect for holding onto crypto during this major growth period, and it is the best priced one on the market. It is around $65 bucks.    If you are looking to get started, you can buy your Bitcoins and Ethereum on Coinbase and then transfer it to your Ledger Nano S for safekeeping.    

With projections from experts I trust saying that Bitcoin will likely be around $11,500 early next year and Ethereum could be around $1,200 by the end of the year, I couldn’t be more excited about the future of crypto and getting into something this big, this early.    So of course my business is now accepting Bitcoin and Ethereum for any of our services.

 Crypto is going to be the future and it is going to be a bumpy ride, but I think it is worth spending some time in understanding if it is right for you to invest. After all, I am a marketer and consultant, not a financial advisor.    If you want to join Coinbase, use this link and you and I will both get $10 free Bitcoin.   If you want to get a Ledger Nano S, please use this link so I can get a couple of dollars.   Thanks for reading and let me know your thoughts about crypto in the comments below.    

Any questions from new investors and tips from longtime pros welcome. Thank you!