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The Meaning of Cryptocurrency and a Financial Revolution
Cryptocurrency is digital/virtual currency, which is stored through cryptography. The use of cryptography makes it impossible for anyone to fake or counterfeit any cryptocurrency. The technology it uses to carry out all of its transactions and trades is called blockchain technology. Trade and e-commerce have been revolutionized with the use of cryptocurrencies. The emergence of cryptocurrencies has completely changed the manner in which people now look at trade, investments, buying, selling and transactions. Cryptocurrencies have completely changed the financial sector and all its dealings.
Explaining the Creation of the Bitcoin Currency
Currently, there are over 2000 cryptocurrencies in use. But despite this diversity, people still love, use, trade and prefer the Bitcoin cryptocurrency.
Here’s an explanation why Bitcoins are the most popular, most used and most loved by people.
The most important reason for its popularity is that Bitcoin is the first cryptocurrency ever launched for public use. It was launched on 3 January 2009, by Satoshi Nakamoto, who to date, remains an unknown person or group of people. This virtual currency is decentralised and does not have a central authority or bank. It is an independent entity and makes its transactions by transferring the currency from a single benefactor to the other party by using the peer-to-peer bitcoin network. Therefore, middlemen and intermediaries are not needed for any stage of the transaction process by either of the parties. You can get started in investing in Bitcoins at Bitcoin Rush and also have a read at oldskoolman.de/trading-software/bitcoin-era/
But the buying, selling, trading and dealing of the Bitcoin currency come with their own risks. The value of Bitcoins has supposedly increased by almost 30,000% between 2013 and 2021. But there are no indications when it could drop to a devastating low value. There have been times when the value of the Bitcoin currency was reduced to an amount as low as £300. If one wishes to get involved in the field of cryptocurrencies, they should be willing as well as (somewhat) comfortable in taking such financial risks.
Once any individual has understood and accepted the conditional nature of the venture of virtual currencies, they will only need to take a handful of steps in order to finally be able to start trading.
Step 1: Get an Account at a Cryptocurrency Exchange Platform
The very first step required to start trading is choosing a cryptocurrency exchange platform. This is the place where all the trading, buying, selling, investing and other related activities will take place. There are over hundreds of cryptocurrency exchanges available to choose from. As a beginner, one should preferably use a safe, secure, less costly, easy to handle exchange platform with a user friendly interface and easily navigable display. It is necessary to check if the chosen cryptocurrency exchange platform has a Bitcoin wallet as a built in feature or not. Some popular and well liked exchange platforms are Coindiect, BC Bitcoin, Bitcoin ATM Automatic Tellers, Coinfloor and CEX.IO.
Step 2: Choose the Appropriate Payment Option
Once an exchange platform has been decided on, the account created on an individual’s basis needs to be funded, before one can start trading. The payment options and methods will differ according to the different exchange platforms. Some will allow the individual to fund their account directly through their bank accounts. Other crypto exchange platforms may permit the use of cheques, some may prefer write transfers, and others might only work on digital transfers. This is another feature that should be checked while choosing an exchange platform. Different exchange platforms offer different exchange rates and funding fees as well. On a general note, transfers based on credit cards or debit cards, and even wire transfers, tend to cost more than the ones made directly through bank accounts or through digital transfers. Since fees can reduce how much money one is able to invest, and therefore, how much money one can earn and increase, electronic transfers made from respective bank accounts are the preferred means of conducting payments.
Step 3: Order the Required Amount of Bitcoins
The third step, after getting an account and funding it, is placing the order of the Bitcoin currency. Now, an individual has fulfilled all the related prerequisites needed to invest and trade in the Bitcoin currency, at last. The required amount of Bitcoins can be bought in mainly two ways. If one’s chosen cryptocurrency exchange platform provides the option, then the user can buy Bitcoins through the exchange platform only. If the exchange platform does not provide such an option, one might have to use their Bitcoin’s Ticker Symbol (BTC). After entering their required details, the user would just have to enter the amount of money one wishes to invest. After paying the amount of their choice, the user would own a small part of the Bitcoin. That might be a surprise to some people. Despite the name of this particular cryptocurrency (‘coins’), the value of one Bitcoin is quite high. In fact currently the value of a single Bitcoin is more than £35,000. Therefore, in order to buy just one Bitcoin, an individual needs to buy it by paying more than £35,000.
Step 4: Make a Decision about a Considerably Safe Storage Option
A cryptocurrency exchange platform usually provides its users with joined Bitcoin wallets to store their cryptocurrency. If not, they have a partner organisation that work together with the crypto exchange platform to provide the same services to the investors. But there are many people who do not feel secure in just leaving their cryptocurrency connected to the internet, where it is visible and available to hackers, and there is a possibility that it may be stolen. The important and major cryptocurrency exchange platform provide private insurance to their clients. They also provide offline storage facilities to the users. It is essential that one must store all of their Bitcoins, or any other cryptocurrency, in their personal bitcoin or multi-currency wallet with a QR code.
Security and care in dealing with cryptocurrencies is, therefore, a necessity.