Newbie guide to the Steemit Economy (Part 1 - Steem Power)

Introduction-

This is the first in a series of articles aimed at folks who are new to digital currency, but are excited to participate in the Steemit Community and Economy. If that’s you, then you’re in the right place! The following article is split into two main topics: Getting Bitcoins, and Getting Steem Power.

Getting Bitcoins -

The easiest way to obtain Steem Power is by buying it with bitcoins.

First time bitcoin purchases used to be a real ordeal. In the beginning, the land of digital currencies was a bit like the wild west, and you had to watch out for all kinds of shenanigans.

A lone bitcoin purchaser in Bitcoin’s wild west days

This is not to say, that you still shouldn’t do you homework and be careful about where you place you money (please do!). But, luckily, things have come a long way and there are now many reputable services for purchasing and selling bitcoins.

Two of the easiest and safest providers are Coinbase and Circle. Both are well known, safe, relatively straightforward, and offer bitcoin wallets as well as various in-routes for buying bitcoins.

Coinbase's home page

Coinbase touts itself as the world’s most popular way to buy, sell, and use bitcoin. They allow users to on-board funds from a linked bank account or credit/debit cards. A Paypal account can also be linked for withdrawals. Payment method instructions can be found here.

Circle's home page

Circle is another great option. They also allow on-boarding from a bank account or credit/debit cards. The Circle payment options page can be found here.
Note: in both cases the bank option takes considerably longer (2-5 business days), while the credit/debit card option is near instant (but with higher fees).

Who likes waiting... especially when there is Steem Power to be had!

After you set up an account and buy some bitcoins, then you're ready for the next step.

Getting Steem Power -

Got some bitcoins already? Great let’s get some Steem Power!

Why do you need Steem Power? I mean really why is it so important?

The TL;DR version is that Steem Power increases you post, comment, and voting rewards. (If you want to read a short article about it, there is a great article by @donkeypong which can be found here)
Warning: When compared to STEEM tokens (or Steem Dollars), Steem Power is very illiquid and takes up to 2 years to convert back into easily accessible assets. However, because of this long term asset commitment users are given elevated rewards, as is explained in donkeypong's article.

# How to -

1. Login to your steemit.com account

We should all be familiar with this screen by now

2.Click your user account icon, and select the "Wallet" option

Select the "Wallet" option in your user account drop-down

3. On your Wallet page, open the Steem Power dropdown and click "Deposit"

Select "Deposit”

4. In another browser tab (or on your mobile device), open your bitcoin wallet in preparation to send coins.

5. In your Steemit account, on the "Buy Steem Power" page, get the bitcoin receiving address.

There are two options for importing this address into your bitcoin wallet, you can either:

• copy the receiving address to your clipboard and then paste it into your bitcoin wallet (CTRL-C for copy and CTRL-V for paste)
  
  

  or

• use your mobile camera to capture the QR code (a QR code is a visual representation of a bitcoin address)
  
  Example QR code

The option you chose will primarily depend on the bitcoin wallet you are using and whether or not your bitcoin wallet in on a mobile device.

6. Go check your transaction on blockchain.info by entering the receiving address into the search field

Search field example

After finding the receiving address, at the bottom of the next page you should see an unconfirmed transaction for your sent bitcoins. This is a good thing, it means that your transaction was submitted to the network and your coins went to the right place.

Now sit back and wait for confirmation and processing (it should take about 20 minutes).

More waiting... boring

Might as well watch some music videos, here is one to get you started -

Or better yet play a quick game or two

When you return from your 20 minute break, you should have a bunch of new Steem Power in your wallet. Go check it out!

Congratulations, you will now be better rewarded for your steemit.com participation and have just become an integral part of the Steem Economy. You're well on your way to becoming a Steemit influencer.

About the author - criticalproof is a developer working and living in South Korea. He has been researching and coding on the blockchain since 2013