What I Have Learned in 100 Days of Using Crypto

From the starting point of this blog I have been posting all sorts of things related to cryptocurrency from setting up accounts to getting cryptocurrency for free. In this post I will be summarizing the main points that I have learned in the my first 100 days in crypto.

The first thing that I learned about crypto was how many cryptocurrencies there are. When I first started this I thought that there were only five: Bitcoin, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, and Ripple because they were the only ones that were on the news or were advertised. However, after about one week of setting up accounts and looking at different articles and websites I found out that there were a lot more.  As of May 16, according to Coinmarketcap, there are 1610 different ones that are valued at over $367 billion.  Some are legitimate, but many others will likely not be around in a few years or even a few months.  I have enjoyed reading about different ones, and in future blog posts will share my thoughts on specific projects.

The second thing that I learned about crypto was how volatile the market can be. I started looking when I heard about how valuable Bitcoin was, and even though I also heard it might be a bubble.  I started looking at Coinmarketcap daily and I started to notice how there would be days when Bitcoin was going up 10% then the next day it was down 7%. When I first started I thought that cryptocurrency was much like a stock in the way that it flowed. However that was not the case.  In the few months I have been following this, Bitcoin has been as high as $11k and as low as $6k.  Ethereum has been even more volatile – with a high of $1.1k and low of under $400.  By contrast, the stock market has only been between 24k and 25k.  If there was one big takeaway about the volatility of the market is that if it goes down big one day don’t jump out! Just stay in (or even buy more) because it is a marathon not a sprint.

The next thing that I learned happened much later down the road than the other two that I have talked about. I started to realize that there are many ways to store crypto from exchanges like Coinbase, to on-line wallets, to hardware wallets.   Each of these has different advantages and risks.  I have read a lot of people claiming that Coinbase is bad because you don’t really own the crypto on the blockchain or control the private keys.  But the nice thing is that it is easy to use!  With other types of wallets, you actually have control of the crypto on the blockchain, but have to be responsible enough to maintain your private keys.  This places more responsibility on you!  If you lose your private key, you lose your crypto!  Overall, it is question of what you trust more Coinbase’s security or your security of not losing it.  This is a major issue that will have to be developed further to help more people be able to understand and want to use crypto.  This is something else I plan to cover more in future posts.

The final thing that I have learned is there are many ways that you can claim free crypto.  One way that I have written a lot about is that you can claim faucets. This is a very effective way because you just need to be consistent and it is free.  If you missed my posts on this, check out this one to get started.  Another way that you can get crypto is by mining different coins.  You can do this through websites like Coinpot or find different  coins to mine through different projects.  Newer coins might not be as valuable, but are more fun to mine because I have learned more by using the newer tools.  A good example of this is TurtleCoin.  The final way that you can get crypto is using airdrops. This is where you can get new start up coin for free by doing various tasks on Twitter, Facebook and other platforms.  Two examples that have been going on for a while are Aelf, which is already listed on many exchanges, and Mannabase, which gives away coins once a week.

Overall in 100 days of crypto I have had a lot of fun doing different experiments, trying new things, earning different crypto, and learning about this exciting new world.  I will continue to share new things, and hope that you will all keep reading and sharing your thoughts with me.