Get started with crypto – a How to guide

As most of my friends and family know, I'm quite the crypto enthusiast and have been for several years. Since I've gotten a lot of question on how to get started with crypto, I wrote this article as a "getting started" guide for all of you that share my passion for crypto.

Disclaimer:

The contents of this post is not financial advice, but purely for educational/informational purposes (and to save me some questions about crypto). I'm not a financial advisor.

Getting crypto without investing your own money

Granted, these options will be slower than investing into crypto coins or tokens, but it does allow you to legitimately get crypto. This creates the opportunity to fiddle with it without putting your own hard-earned cash at risk.

1. Coinbase Learn and Earn

Learn and Earn is a section within Coinbase that is lesser known, but very interesting. Basically you get served 3 instructional video's, each followed by a single question. For each correct question, you'll receive an amount of crypto in your Coinbase wallet. Usually this varies between $5 to $10 on a monthly basis. And did I tell you creating an account at Coinbase is free?

2. using the Brave browser

Another means of getting free crypto is by installing and using the Brave browser. This browser comes with built in ad- and malware-blocking functionalities. It also has the Brave Rewards program, that gives you selected ads on new tabs you open, for which you'll receive a reward in BAT (Basic Attention Token). These rewards are payed out on a monthly basis.

3. Publish0x - Get Crypto for blogging

Publish0x is an interesting blogging platform where you can get rewarded by readers for posting content. These rewards can than be transferred to your personal crypto wallet at for example Coinbase. Your mileage may vary here, but people that post good and lengthy content often seem to easily get $2.5 to $10 per post.

Prefer shorter messages?

However, should you be more of a Twitter person, hence more active with short messages, then Noise.Cash might be a good alternative for you. Or take a look at HellaDoge, which is a brand new platform just getting started.

Buying and staking crypto

If you are looking to buy crypto, you'll probably be easiest using a crypto exchange. You could compare it with a bank where you purchase stocks.They will provide you with a wallet (comparable to a savings account) where your crypto will then be stored.

I personally use Bitvavo as my Exchange as their fees are really low and they provide staking abilities on a large number of crypto assets. And if you use this affiliate link you will not have to pay any trading fees on the first 1000 euro during your first week.

So what is staking?

Staking can be compared to interest on a savings account. You leave your purchased crypto tokens or coins in your wallet on the exchange and you'll receive a staking reward on this amount, usually paid out weekly.

Bitvavo currently offers staking of these crypto tokens and coins:

As you can see, the percentages vary quite a bit. Do note that these can also change per coin/token with changes in the market. But getting (for example) 7.5% on ICON (ICX) is much better than what most banks have to offer nowadays.

At any giving time, at least 25% of my portfolio is being staked. I'm invested in Cardano (ADA) and VeChain Thor (VET) at Bitvavo.

Should I rush into buying and staking?

No. Just like with stocks, this isn't without risk. So I would suggest investing carefully. I myself tend to invest a very limited amount. In essence, it's like the stock market: only invest the money you can afford to loose if things turn really bad.

Or you can just get started using the free crypto you've gained with the means indicated earlier in this blogpost. Creating an account on Coinbase and Bitvavo is free of charge and nothing is stopping you from moving rewards from Coinbase's Learn and Earn towards Bitvavo to stake them there.

Want to learn even more?

If you want to learn more about market movements and technical analysis, I'd suggest following Benjamin Cowen's channel on YouTube for unbiased information. I've learned quite a lot myself thanks to his in-depth analysis.

Best of luck.
Brecht