Living from cryptocurrencies #3

Understanding what you are dealing with.

As with any other investment in life, knowing where you are putting your money is key.  If you still haven't done so, please take a look at some of the videos from Andreas Antonopolus youtube channel. They will give you a clear idea of what cryptocurrencies are, how they are different from fiat currencies and how do they operate.

Bitcoin was the first crypto currency to appear, that was back in 2008 and just two days ago we had the first fork on its blockchain. There are protocol coins (with their own blockchain) and tokens (coins using a protocol coin blockchain), there are ICO's (Initial Coin Offering), exchanges, and online services offering a ton of options to invest and deal with your investment. But the first thing you have to understand is that as with any 0ther service in the internet, is it unregulated. You are responsible of your decisions and hackers are around the corner, there are tones of fraudulent sites offering nice rewards wich are just ponzi schemes. This is why getting to understand what you are dealing with is of extreme importance. You can lose all your money from being hacked, but you can also lose it just sending it to the incorrect destination as there is no way to request your money back!

Besides all this, there are exchanges where you can buy and sell your cryptos, or trade with them. But keep in mind, this is a very new "technology" and some of the stuff you are dealing with is quite technical. Read the experts before deciding how and when to move forward and make sure you start small and grow as you gain confidence.

Finally, as with any other investment in life, make sure you just use money you can lose. This is a risky game and you can earn a lot of money but you can also lose it all. Diversify with different cryptocurrencieas just as you do with your stock portfolio, use different services to hold your assets and make sure you keep your private keys under a secure offline place.