Beginner Lessons Series | Coin Tutor https://cointutor.org Crypto News and Discussion: Bitcoin and More! Thu, 18 Nov 2021 07:25:52 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.3 https://cointutor.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/icon.jpg Beginner Lessons Series | Coin Tutor https://cointutor.org 32 32 Understanding What an NFT Is – A Beginner’s Guide https://cointutor.org/understanding-what-an-nft-is-a-beginners-guide https://cointutor.org/understanding-what-an-nft-is-a-beginners-guide#respond Thu, 18 Nov 2021 07:07:08 +0000 https://cointutor.org/?p=31517

Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) pose a novel way for artists and creatives alike to mass distribute their material, but what exactly is it and how does it work?

Non-fungible Tokens (NFTs) create an interesting and novel way for artists and entrepreneurs to make large sums of money. Anything from a house to a single pixel can be and has been, sold as an NFT and can generate millions of indirect revenue.

So what exactly is an NFT and how does one go about minting and selling one?

To understand NFTs, it’s important to know the basics of cryptocurrency. Bitcoin is the leading digital currency with a current equivalence to $55,000 USD. Satoshi Nakamoto came up with the theory of Bitcoin in 2009, and set a supply limit of 21 million bitcoin, meaning only 21 million Bitcoin can ever exist. However, this amount was not, and is still not, fully public to the market.

Bitcoins are found by a process called mining, where people solve advanced online algorithms in order to bring more Bitcoin on the market. Since the supply is limited, the market for Bitcoin increases as demand increases.

Ethereum is the second-in-command cryptocurrency used to power the market and run apps on a decentralized blockchain, similar to a personalized cloud, which documents everything you own and keeps it safe.

Non-fungible tokens are mainly run on Ethereum’s blockchain. NFTs are essentially an access code to purchasing distributed art. Once you acquire an NFT, you gain access to whatever was being sold in a file attached with your personal information and protected within the blockchain.

Unlike Bitcoin and Ethereum, NFTs are purchased at a value set by their owner. They are not cryptocurrencies that are exchangeable within the crypto market, but a means of distribution amongst several different artistic mediums, such as digital artwork. These mediums are purchasable as an NFT, mainly using Ether (ETH) as its mode of currency.

Minting and selling NFTs also requires a minimal background of crypto itself. According to Coindesk, Ethereum’s blockchain currently leads the NFT minting market. By choosing their blockchain, a user would need at least $50 – $100 in ether (ETH) and a wallet that uses ERC-721 which is the NFT standard. From there, one would use online NFT marketplaces, such as OpenSea, Superfarm, or Rarible to upload their artwork and mint their NFT to distribute amongst the masses.

The highly volatile nature of cryptocurrency’s value is likely to drive the value of NFTs, which raises questions about its longevity. However, the vast majority of vendors who sell items as NFTs are artists who, after a year of drought from direct revenue, are seeking any opportunity possible to increase their assets.

Similar to Tesla’s Bitcoin investment, NFTs have the potential to put large corporations in a confusing situation. The increase in popularity is likely to drive artists and creatives to push their artwork and merchandise out on this cryptic platform.

Time will tell if this new technology inspires more artists in the future to release their material independently rather than acquiring funding from large corporations. These industries could be faced with a difficult decision whether or not they want to put their time and energy into supporting this newfound technology.

Since this form of distribution interacts with its consumers directly on a peer-to-peer platform, it could be a significant contributor in independently distributing art, if it is mass adopted.

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]]> https://cointutor.org/understanding-what-an-nft-is-a-beginners-guide/feed 0 Beginner Crypto Lesson 03 – Hard Wallets & Getting Paid Interest https://cointutor.org/beginner-crypto-lesson-03 https://cointutor.org/beginner-crypto-lesson-03#respond Wed, 19 May 2021 05:38:47 +0000 https://cointutor.org/?p=4491 Recap So Far

In Lesson 01 you learned how to sign up for an exchange and purchase the Crypto of your choice.

In Lesson 02 we briefly discussed Understanding & Using Your Crypto Wallets and the importance of Understanding Custodial vs. Non-Custodial Crypto Wallets, we also talked about Where NOT to buy Crypto: (Robinhood & PayPal to Begin With)

Keep in mind  – coins are not stored in your hardware or other wallet. Your wallet only stores and protects your private keys. People are used to storing bills and coins in their wallets, but in the blockchain world, your wallet doesn’t contain coins – it contains private keys.

NEVER SHARE YOUR PRIVATE KEYS! 

So in recap – you followed lesson 01 and bought Crypto, you followed lesson 02, your crypto is still sitting on an exchange. So now we need to move your assets to bullet-proof safe locations.  Time to get get a hard wallet.

Hard Wallets

A hard wallet looks like a thumb drive. You plug it into your computer and move your assets from an exchange to your own device that can be disconnected from the internet and stored in a safe, a shoebox, or buried in the back yard.

As long as the hard wallet is disconnected, your crypto assets are 100% safe.

There are 2 industry-leading Hard Wallets. Pick One. Buy One.

The Devil in the Details – Earn Interest on Your Holdings

You bought crypto, you moved it off the exchange into a hard wallet that is 100% secure.

Good job. However – here is a twist, if you keep some crypto on an exchange you can actually get some amazing interest rates.

This is where you need to assess your risk tolerance. You can earn interest on some exchanges.

      • CoinBase – Horrible Rates, That’s a no from me, but it’s a low barrier to entry so a lot of people will just let it ride on that exchange.
      • Block Fi – Great rates but look at the tiers
      • Voyager – Seems to be the best as of this writing. Fewer restrictions and pretty straightforward.

BTC, ETH, LTC, etc. go up and down 9n value, but in the meantime, you are earning interest regardless of the price.

Finally – What Is Your Bank’s Interest Rate?

Take a moment to read A Basic Guide To Understanding Cryptocurrency Stable Coins

If you have $1000.00 in the bank, why not move that cash into BlockFi or Voyager as USDC and get an 8%+ interest rate?

More on that in the next lesson!

 

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]]> https://cointutor.org/beginner-crypto-lesson-03/feed 0 Beginner Crypto Lesson 02 – Understanding & Using Your Crypto Wallets https://cointutor.org/lesson-02-understanding-using-your-crypto-wallets https://cointutor.org/lesson-02-understanding-using-your-crypto-wallets#respond Wed, 05 May 2021 05:51:49 +0000 https://cointutor.org/?p=4450 Continuing our beginner’s guide, in Lesson 01 you learned how to sign up for an exchange and purchase the Crypto of your choice.

Once you have made some purchases, what are some best practices and strategies to maximize your purchases?

Let’s dive in.

First of all, if your crypto is on an exchange that is called a “custodial wallet” which means you don’t have the keys to your wallet – the exchange does. I wrote about that in the posting: Understanding Custodial vs. Non-Custodial Crypto Wallets

If you created a BlockFi or Voyager account as I recommended, those too are custodial wallets. But don’t forget – the message to be heard loud and clear is:

Why? Let’s look at an exchange from the past.

The Lesson of MT. Gox (Full Wikipedia Article)

Mt. Gox was a bitcoin exchange based in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. Launched in July 2010, by 2013 and into 2014 it was handling over 70% of all bitcoin (BTC) transactions worldwide, as the largest bitcoin intermediary and the world’s leading bitcoin exchange.

In February 2014, Mt. Gox suspended trading, closed its website and exchange service, and filed for bankruptcy protection from creditors. In April 2014, the company began liquidation proceedings

Mt. Gox announced that approximately 850,000 bitcoins belonging to customers and the company were missing and likely stolen, an amount valued at more than $450 million at the time. Although 200,000 bitcoins have since been “found”, the reasons for the disappearance—theft, fraud, mismanagement, or a combination of these—were initially unclear.

New evidence presented in April 2015 by Tokyo security company WizSec led them to conclude that “most or all of the missing bitcoins were stolen straight out of the Mt. Gox hot cryptocurrency wallet over time, beginning in late 2011.

I had just created an account in 2014 before the breach happened – but luckily never moved coins to it. Point being, I am going to make some recommendations about keeping coins on exchanges – I think they are much safer today – but buyer beware.

Ok, so you created your accounts at BlockFi and/or Voyager (As a reminder, Voyager has better interest rates but a waiting list, BlockFi has good rates and can be set up in a few minutes.) and connected your bank account.

And a quick reminder about Where NOT to buy Crypto: Robinhood & PayPal to Begin With.

Now you can buy the coins you are interested in and they will be in your online exchange wallet.

The next step is to get a non-custodial wallet – one that exists on your computer/phone where you have the private key (Seed Phrase) you WILL NEVER SHARE WITH ANYONE EVER.

I am going to recommend Exodus. Download it, install it, save your private key (Seed Phrase) that you WILL NEVER SHARE WITH ANYONE EVER. 

Now that you have your own private wallet. If your laptop catches on fire you can get a new one, re-install Exodus, and rebuild your wallet with your seed phrase.

You can now send/transfer crypto from the exchange to your Exodus wallet.

  • In Exodus go to SETTINGS (Top right gear icon)
  • Search for the Assets you own on the exchange you chose
  • Tick the box to the left to make it show up on your “homepage” list
  • Go back to HOME (Top Left Blue X)
  • Click on a coin
  • Click RECEIVE to get your wallet’s address for that coin.
  • Go to your online exchange and send the coin of your choice to that Exodus address!
    • Keep in mind, you need to send ETH to ETH, BTC to BTC, etc.
  • Once you initiate the transaction it will take a few moments until you hear “Ca-Ching!”
  • Your coins are now in your own wallet.

As long as your computer doesn’t get hacked (unlikely) and you have your private key/seed phrase stored safely, your assets are pretty damn safe!

To make them even safer, in the next lesson I will talk about Cold Wallets. Literally, a fob (Thumb Drive) that you connect to your PC, transfer the coins to, disconnect and put in a safe place.

I will also talk about not moving all of your coins off of the exchange – because you can earn really good interest rates by storing them there.

If you have read the first two lessons and have questions please leave a comment below.  I can update the existing posts as necessary or be aware of things I should address in the next few posts.

Lesson 3? Here you go! 

 

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]]> https://cointutor.org/lesson-02-understanding-using-your-crypto-wallets/feed 0 Beginner Crypto Lesson 01 – Getting Started In Cryptocurrency https://cointutor.org/step-one-getting-started-in-cryptocurrency https://cointutor.org/step-one-getting-started-in-cryptocurrency#respond Sat, 17 Apr 2021 14:43:36 +0000 http://cointutor.org/?p=522 Here we go! The Tutorials Begin.

The Beginner Lessons Series is designed to get you from knowing nothing to buying crypto and making informed choices to keep your investments safe.

So . . . .

Your mom heard about BTC, you told your co-worker about what you were doing and they want in. You support them getting involved but find explaining everything from scratch exhausting?

Send them a link to Coin Tutor and we will take care of it.

Away We Go!

Lesson 1 – Welcome Newbies, Glad to Have You – The Adventure Begins!

Let’s start at the beginning – Step one, you need a way to buy crypto.

You need to create an account at an Exchange.  This will let you buy crypto from the bank of your choice. (“Exchange” Cash for Crypto)

Exchanges will list multiple coins that you can purchase. The main coins like BitCoin (BTC), Etheruem (ETH), LiteCoin (LTC), Ripple (XRP), etc. will be on almost every exchange.

More esoteric coins or less mainstream coins will only be available on other exchanges. I will get into that later, but for now, here’s what the average person needs to get started:

  • Register for and set up a BlockFi account, this will be important later because of Interest Rates: Sign Up Here.
  • Also, get on the mailing list for a Voyager Account – it pays higher interest rates but there is a waiting list.
  • And then get on the waiting list for the BlockFi Credit Card, there is a waiting list so get in line,
    • I will show you how to earn an interest rate on the coins you own later, so for now – Register Here

There are a lot of other exchanges around the world that may be country-dependent. I will address this in future postings. Not in the US? Please leave a comment below, I look forward to hearing from non-American cryptonauts!

I purposely don’t mention Coinbase or Binance because of the strategy I am going to layout concerning interest rates. But of course, the choice is yours!

Once you have your BlockFi / Voyager accounts registered go through the instructions to get verified and connect your bank account.  Now you have an account, and a way to buy crypto!

Next lesson – depositing cash, buying your first coins, and getting a secure wallet that is not on an exchange.

Lesson 02 is now Available!

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