Crypto Currency

Useful Websites

Crypto Currency

There are thousands of websites dealing with Crypto currencies. Here are some of the more useful ones.

Binance's Glossary of Crypto Terms - https://academy.binance.com/en/glossary

An excellent, up-to-date glossary of all the terms for Crypto.

CoinGecko - https://www.coingecko.com/en

Up to the minute crypto prices for the top 100 crypto, with trends (1 hour, 24 hour, 7 day), 24 hour volume of transfers, market cap, and last 7 days graph.

BlockChain - https://www.blockchain.com

Wallet, Exchange services, and blockchain explorer.

Wallet for holding your crypto online.
Exchange to buy & sell crypto (although I use Binance).
The Explorer allows you to enter any address and see the balance and history of that address.

EtherScan - https://etherscan.io/

"The Ethereum Blockchain Explorer". Very similar to Blockchain allowing you to explore the Ethereum blockchain.

Real Vision - https://www.realvision.com/crypto

Free online video channel for everything Crypto

Exchanges

Crypto Currency

To buy and sell Crypto you must have an account on an Exchange.

Excerpt from Wikipedia
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."

Excerpt from Wikipedia

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."

The exchange will allow you to submit money from your bank or credit card, and use that to purchase crypto. You can then keep the crypto on the exchange so that you can sell it again, but exchanges have been hacked and it can be risky. See the story of Mt Gox to the right. Best practises are to transfer it to a wallet.

Keep in mind that exchanges charge fees for each transaction.

I use two exchanges, depending upon where my money is coming from.

In Canada, I use Coinsquare.com as it allows Interac Email Money Transfer and receives the money to my account within 30 minutes.

In the UK I use Binance.com because it has the lowest fees I could find. Transfers into the exchange (cash or crypto) are free. Withdrawls of Bitcoin cost 0.0005 BTC (~$14 USD) for normal withdrawls, and can go as low as 0.0000014 BTC (less than 4 cents USD). Rates depend upon the type of address you send to, as wallets support different types of addresses. Ether withdrawls vary from 0.005 ETH ($3.65) down to 0.000052 ETH (less than 4 cents). You can view all their rates here - https://www.binance.com/en/fee/depositFee

Wallets

Crypto Currency

Storing Bitcoin & Crypto

Exchanges are businesses that buy and sell crypto currencies. Opening an account usually involves providing proof of your identity. Most of the big exchanges are safe places to buy & sell crypto, and can transfer your native fiat currency from and to your bank account. Exchanges have a drawback in that there are plenty of people trying to hack them, as they have a lot of money. As such, keeping money there increases your risk.

Hot wallets are places to hold your crypto currency. They allow you to receive money, send money, and view your current balances. Usually installed on your computer, mobile phone, or a tablet, they are secure against hacking, but you have to be cautious that your devide is not stolen or hacked.

Paper wallets are a type of cold wallet. Printed out on paper they have your public address and your private key. These are some of the most secure forms of storage, as long as the paper is not lost or stolen.

There are also USB based cold wallets that are very secure.

Mycelium

There are many hot wallets available. My preference is Mycelium. It is available on Android and iPhone, and can hold Bitcoin and Ether.

Here is a simple 10 minute video on Bitcoin Basics: How To Set Up Mycelium Wallet & Live Transaction Demo.

Here is how to move money from a paper wallet (also called "sweeping") into Mycelium, or to send it to someone else - Sweeping a Bitcoin Paper Wallet with Mycelium Phone Wallet app.

YouTube

Crypto Currency

Videos to watch

How to get started with Bitcoin (2021 updated) by 99bitcoins - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTUqcwoj4X8
How To Set Up Mycelium Wallet & Live Transaction Demo by Bitcoin Basics - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udMvZvMXyHE
Bitcoin Is The Start Of A New Paradigm Shift. We're Still Early | Michael Saylor - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMmJwCpnkA0

Channels to subscribe to

There are some great YouTube channels dealing with Crytpo-currencies. Below is a list of the ones I have found most useful. If you find others that you think are great, let me know.

Altcoin Daily

This channel focuses on news and events in the crypto world. They explain things quite well, though you may need some knowledge of crypto and financing to understand everything. Worth checking out.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbLhGKVY-bJPcawebgtNfbw

99bitcoins

This channel discusses crypto in simple, easy to understand terms. They have a large selection of short, 2 minute videos, each focused on one single topic.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQQ_fGcMDxlKre3SEqEWrLA