You probably heard of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and of course, Dogecoin, over the past year. For many, it’s an entirely new world, but for some of us. Well, we’ve seen this before in the first run up for Bitcoin. Certainly exciting times!
Did you know that the global cryptocurrency market is projected to reach USD 1,758 million by 2027? Despite risks and uncertainty around cryptocurrencies, we’re still very much in the early innings of discovering how cryptocurrency will integrate with the world at large. I think it’s an exciting time, and I personally don’t want to be in the camp where I have to explain to my (future) kids that I missed out on cryptocurrency because I was too afraid of what the future might hold.
With that said, in this article we’ll assume you have some baseline knowledge of cryptocurrency (you know what it is). We’ll look at how you can get started and explore some relatively low-risk methods for you to start dipping your toes into it. You will learn how to get started with investing directly in Crypto as opposed to using crypto ETFs or crypto stocks.
Step 1: Get a wallet
You may be tempted to store all of your future crypto on an exchange, where it’s easy to trade and maybe even earn some interest. While this liquidity is nice, do not store all your crypto on solely on crypto exchanges and online crypto saving accounts. Bitcoin, for example, has a long history of its exchanges being hacked and people losing all their crypto. There’s even a term for it: “You got Mt. Goxxed”. Granted, the days of Mt. Gox are almost a decade behind us, but similar silly things keep happening to crypto exchanges and savings accounts.
For personal wallets, nothing beats a cold storage. Popular cold stage wallets include Ledger and Trezor. Or if you want to go really old school, cold storage paper wallets.
For those wanting wallets on their computer, you can check out Exodus.
Step 2: Get a crypto savings account
Despite me acknowledging the risks behind crypto savings accounts and crypto exchanges, I still choose to have this section here simply because I know many people will want yield, and some will have higher risk tolerances than others.
Crypto savings accounts offer you a chance to get yield you wouldn’t normally get on your crypto assets. These organizations typically make their money through arbitrage and loaning. For Canadians, I offer you the following choices, please ensure you follow up with more in-depth due diligence on whichever interests you.
- Celsius
- Coins Supported:
- CEL, ZRX, AAVE, BNT, BAT, BNB, BUSD, BCH, BSV, LINK, COMP, EOS, ETC, SPARK, GUSD, KNC, LTC, LPT, MANA, MCDAI, OMG, PAXG, PAX, DOT, MATIC, XRP, XLM, SNX, USDT, TAUD, TCAD, TGBP, THKD, TUSD, USDC, UMA UNI, WDGLD, ZUD, ZEC
- Bonus: Sign up using my link and get an extra $40 in BTC when you deposit $400 or more.
- Coins Supported:
- NEXO
- Coins Supported:
- BTC, ETH, NEXO, XRP, USDT, USDC, PAX, TUSD, USD (fiat), EUR (fiat), GBP (fiat), BCH, LTC, EOS, BNB, XLM, PAXG, ADA, DOT, LINK, TRX
- Coins Supported:
- BlockFi
- Coins Supported:
- BTC, ETH, LTC, LINK, UNI, BAT, PAXG, USDT, DAI
- Bonus: Sign up using my link and get extra $10 in BTC when you deposit $100 or more into a BlockFi Savings Account
- Coins Supported:
Step 3: Get on a Crypto Exchange
NEXO and BlockFi both have in-house exchanges and Celsius is expected to launch their own in-house exchange in the near future. For those who can’t wait, there’s other exchanges available. The benefits of dedicated exchanges are in the larger variety of cryptocurrencies listed and available. Recent regulatory crackdowns in Ontario have made this a bit of a minefield, however. Most recently, Binance has announced it will no longer be servicing Ontario residents later this year. Fret not fellow Ontarians, there are still some (one) exchange that you can use without worry.
Crypto.Com
Buy and sell at true cost. Crypto.com also offers a Visa card offering up to 8% back, and gives up to 14% interest on crypto assets. Sign up using my referral link and get $25 USD with a valid transactions.
Coinbase
Coinbase is one of the larger exchanges with a LOT of cryptocurrencies available, far more than I could feasibly list out in this blog post. I do use them myself and if you sign up using my referral link, you’ll receive $12.33 CAD when you buy or sell your first $123.32 on Coinbase. Additionally, they have a few rewards, which all in all will total to about $35 CAD upon completion of a few single questions regarding some new and upcoming cryptocurrencies! Get paid to learn!
Mining
Mining is a bit more advanced, but I will be covering this in my next upcoming article as I plan to go fairly in-depth in this regard. Suffice to say, most of my current crypto earnings comes from mining. I will share my current mining rigs so you have some idea of what to expect from my upcoming Crypto mining article. I suggest beginners start with what I’ve outlined first, as you’ll need those before we dive into mining 😉
- 1x GPU (RTX 2080) – Overclocked
- 1x CPU i7-7700k – Overclocked
That’s it! I’m a fairly casual miner and my risks are reduced as playing video games is one of my hobbies.
