Know your investment!

We are here to help you know what you are investing in.

Cryptocurrency and its underlying blockchain technology is extremely complex. However, understanding the basics of what you are using, how it works and why it is valuable, is an important first step to getting started. With any investment, you should understand what you are buying, before investing in it.

There are thousands of different cryptocurrencies and digital assets. Many of which have different “functions” and use cases. This is why it is extremely important to understand what you are buying, as some have little to no use and are marketed as the next Bitcoin.

What is Cryptocurrency?

What is it? How does it work? Why it is important.

Cryptocurrency, such as Bitcoin, is a digital currency. A currency, for example, is the US dollar you spend every day, however, there are no physical Bitcoins. The name crypto stands for cryptography. This is the encryption process that makes Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies secure and prevents hackers from stealing or creating more. As we mentioned earlier, there aren’t actual “bitcoins”, but rather a bitcoin is simply a number balance on a ledger. The ledger consists of all wallet addresses (bank accounts) and their current balance (or number of bitcoins).

There is a large network of computers running the software. They all have the same ledger stored with the same information. Any computer on the network can verify any balance. As transactions occur, these are then saved every few minutes as a miner solves a block and condenses all new transaction data in the block and this is then updated across the network on all computers to reflect the changes in balances. Instead of being printed on paper like US dollars, cryptocurrencies are mined using complex computers. The encryption process that makes them secure, is also used to verify transactions.

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are extremely important in our current economic climate. As the value of a dollar continues to go down due to inflation, Bitcoin is deflationary and fewer and fewer of them are being mined yearly. This is key to being a great hedge against inflation and also isolates itself from any central government or currency.

How do I buy Cryptocurrency?

Buying cryptocurrency is surprisingly very easy. There are many websites called “exchanges”, that you can purchase cryptocurrency with a debit or credit card. They even store the cryptocurrency on secure wallets that are easily accessed through a normal website like you access your bank account. A common misconception is that you must buy an entire token or coin. For example, one Bitcoin is worth thousands of dollars. This does not mean you need thousands of dollars to start investing. Bitcoin can be divided as low as 8 decimal places (0.00000001). This is called a Satoshi. Basically 1 Bitcoin is equal to 100,000,000 Satoshis. You can look at a whole Bitcoin as a dollar bill and a Satoshi is a penny. You can buy fractional amounts called satoshis. You can in theory, buy $0.01 worth of Bitcoin. This allows anyone across all walks of life to invest in cryptocurrency.

There are hundreds of places you can buy cryptocurrency, but picking a well established and reputable place is the best way to ensure you will not have any issues. Over the years many fly by night places have come and gone, but there are still several options that are extremely trustworthy, reliable and secure.

In the next section, we will show you a few of the easiest and best places to make your first cryptocurrency purchase.