Bitcoin, Ethereum & CryptoMoney

Bitcoin, litecoin, dogecoin, Ethereum, potcoin, whatever coin, the new craze seems to be cryptocurrencies and everyone's gotta have it. We're all here trying to flip our coins and boom next thing you know the newest hottest investment becomes coins. The words been around the street for a while but if you don't understand it, today you receive the 411 on everything cryptocurrency.

What is a cryptocurrency?

It's simply digital money that uses encryption to control the amount of money available as well as to verify the transfer of money. Each currency is designated for a certain community. Anyone can join, and the easiest way to invest in them is by purchasing each coin for the lowest price available.

What is encryption?

Taking information that is shared and creating a code that won't allow anyone to know what is being shared. Only the end user will know the enclosed information.

Why is cryptocurrency important?

few simple reasons.

It poses a solution for our current currency problems.

Currently currencies (dollars, euros, pesos, yen etc..) change value for many different reasons. One country is at war, there's political instability, another country is printing out too much money so their money is losing value, a country couldn't pay its debts so the value of their money had decreased, and many more. Because of this many computer programmers have come up with the concept of cryptocurrencies to do 3 things:

1. Create one universal monetary system that the whole world will adhere to.

2. Stop the inconsistent increases and decreases among everyone's currencies.

3. Allow people to privately and safely move their money.

Why does this matter to me?

When we travel to other countries we have to convert our dollars to their currency. To convert it we have to pay a fee, and then we have to buy things in that country for a price, sometimes it's more than what we would pay at home. Cryptocurrencies want to end that. No matter where you go in the entire world, all values are the same.

No more dealing with things at the "tourist" price when you visit somewhere.

There's a huge opportunity in cryptocurrency investment because it's so young. 

 

Why are the coins so valuable if there aren't many people using them?

Technology.

Currently cryptocurrencies are creating the technology that is used to move your money on the internet. Each network uses their own specific type of technology to create safe and anonymous transactions. The more successful these transactions, the larger the community grows, the more banks want to buy and use their technology to create safer transactions for their customers. This technology is called blockchain.

Wtf is blockchain?

Blockchain is a digital ledger (accounting book basically) that safely records transactions online. In short. If you move money online, blockchain provides the proof that you sent/received money. Currently we move money from peer to peer (P2P) networks. Think of it like Limewire when you downloaded a song from another person and left your network open for someone else to download it. That's is how money is transferred on venmo, PayPal, chase quickpay, square cash and most of your current finance apps. Although currently effective, your money transfers and information can be hacked by hackers.

So how do I get in the game?

Coinbase (BTW CLICKING THIS LINK WILL GIVE YOU FREE BITCOIN. THANK ME LATER)

The easiest way to purchase coins and invest is by signing up for Coinbase. Coinbase is a digital asset exchange with over 7 million people trading Bitcoin, litecoin, Ethereum, Potcoin and over 30 other digital currency types. You log-in attach your bank account and purchase any type of coin you want.

Some coin types:

Bitcoin

Ethereum

Potcoin

Investing in Initial Coin Offerings (ICO's)

Initial coin offerings are a way cryptocurrencies use to raise money for new types of coins. It works similar to Initial Public Offerings like Snapchat that go on the public market and allow you and I to purchase stock in their company. What cryptocurrencies do in this process is they put out a white paper (essentially a business plan) that explains the project, amount of coins that will be distributed, and the goals of the cryptocurrency. Many people have earned millions because they are purchasing cryptocurrencies for pennies on the dollar. The website I use to find Initial Coin Offerings (ICO's) is Token Market. It's a great resource to not only read news on ICO's but also to get news on cryptocurrencies that already exist and to grow your knowledge on the industry.

The best investment portfolio to have is a diverse one. The more diverse your portfolio the more options you have to make money. And if you're anything like me, you really love to make money. I hope this article helps you understand how cryptocurrencies work and the next time you see Bitcoin, Ethereum, or any other coin on your timeline your reaction isn't....

If you have any questions shoot me an email, or hit me on social media (@cjoeblack everywhere).

Keep stacking that paper y'all,

CJB

PS: Just in you may have accidentally glossed over it earlier. In this article I gave folks a link to getting free bitcoin. If you want to get in the game, click -------> here