@fjgenieter

@fjgenieter 23 June 2021

Do YOU need a hardware wallet I recently purchased a hardware wallet to store most of my cryptocurrencies. Before I decided to store my coins in a hardware wallet, I researched the reason to and not to buy a hardware wallet. I want to share those reasons with you and how I came to my conclusion.  **What is a hardware wallet?** A hardware wallet is a device that stores the private keys of your cryptocurrency accounts on a hardware device. This device lets you sign transactions on your computer or phone, without ever exposing your private keys to the computer or the internet. In contrary to a wallet programme, these stores the keys (often encrypted by password) on your device itself. With a keylogger or a virus, those could get exposed, this would result in your funds getting lost.  The hardware wallet is used to give your cryptocurrencies the highest form of safety possible, you become your own bank in a sense. People with large sums of coins need these securities to keep their assets safe, storing in a software wallet or on an exchange bears too much of a risk. **Why not on an exchange?** Why not just store your currency on the exchange where you bought it? The biggest risk is that the cryptos you bought are not in your possession, the company holds those coins for you. This means if the company has bad security and gets hacked, your precious Bitcoin may be gone. One of the biggest hacks know is the Mt Gox hack. This does not mean Bitcoin got hacked, but the keys from the company were hacked.  When you withdraw your coins to your own (hardware) wallet, those coins are in your own possession.  https://www.buybitcoinworldwide.com/mt-gox-hack/ **Why not on a software / mobile wallet?** As discussed earlier, the software wallet stores your private keys on the device itself, almost always encrypted with a password. This means if someone has access to your computer they can steal your keys and see your password. This way your wallet is as secure as the computer itself. **Why NOT a hardware wallet?** You are missing out on profit. Earning interest on your coins through staking and lending is possible on a hardware wallet like a Ledger, but rates are for the most part higher on other platforms. Platforms like Celcius or Nexo lend out your coins and give you really high-interest rates. These payouts are harder to get when your money is not on a platform but on a hardware wallet. This again comes at the risk of not owning your own coins, I would not recommend this.  A hardware wallet costs money to buy. A cheap one will be around $50, but even that for most people is not worth it for the amount of crypto they own. You need to weigh the benefits versus this price, wallets like Exodus for your PC are free.  You are in charge of protecting the wallet and the passphrase of the wallet. If you lose your 12/24 word phrase and are not fast enough, you can lose all of your cryptocurrencies.  **Hardware wallet** You made the choice to buy a hardware wallet, now what? There are a lot of options of wallets, but for beginners who want a lot of choice in supported coins I would recommend 2 different brands: **Ledger** Nano S (ref) Nano S (no ref) https://shop.ledger.com/products/ledger-nano-s/?r=016641ff98e4 **Trezor** Model One (ref) Model One (no ref) https://shop.trezor.io/product/trezor-one-black?offer_id=35&aff_id=8250 These brands are in my opinion the best to buy. I bought a Ledger Nano X myself and will make a review in the future. Some other reputable brands include Ellipal, KeepKey and Bitbox. https://shop.ledger.com/pages/ledger-nano-x/?r=016641ff98e4 **Starting with your wallet** So you just got your wallet. I will be making an in-depth future article on how to start using a hardware wallet, but I will quickly share some safety tips.  Make your seed phrase 24 words long (some wallets default to 24) and store it on a piece of paper or some other material. NEVER NEVER NEVER let a keyboard type your phrase or make a picture of it. Some way or another someone will find it and your cryptos will be at risk. Keep it on paper or maybe a safer solution like Crypto Steel.  https://cryptosteel.com/ Always check if the wallet is genuine, most sellers have a page to check this. Here are some examples: Ledger, Trezor. https://support.ledger.com/hc/en-us/articles/360002481534-Check-if-device-is-genuine https://blog.trezor.io/psa-non-genuine-trezor-devices-979b64e359a7 Those are some quick tips.   **Conclusion** In conclusion, a hardware wallet is the safest way to store your cryptocurrency, but also restricted in some ways. I will be doing a more in-depth article about some wallets and how to start using a hardware wallet. If you want to dive a little deeper or get some recommendations, watch this video by Coin Bureau. https://youtu.be/_t3Brlb0qzQ Let me know in the comments what kind of wallet you use or if you have any questions.  Previously uploaded to Publish0x, read articles and earn some crypto with free micro tips for you and the writer. https://www.publish0x.com/@fjgenieter?a=pmbkxQ6dzJ&tid=ContactInBio

@fjgenieter 16 June 2021

CHESS | Where do I start? Are you new to chess and you want to learn how to play? That is very common because chess is more popular than ever. Maybe you just watched The Queen's Gambit on Netflix and want to start to learn the game of chess. This I understand, so where do you begin? I want to teach you a few easy ways to begin learning about chess, which will all be free. Where to play Make an account on Chess.com this is the main place to play chess online with people from all over the world or your friends. Another popular website is Lichess.org. You can also very well create two accounts, but I would start by creating one. https://www.chess.com/home https://lichess.org/ **How to play** To learn the beginnings of chess, I would strongly recommend this video by GothamChess on YouTube. He explains all the different pieces and how they work and then explains some concepts of chess. For example, vision, attacking and defending, simple opening and some basic tactics. If this video is too fast for you, you can start by watching this playlist with short videos by Howcast. A very popular way of learning chess and studying it is by reading books. However, if you are just trying to learn how to play the game, I would suggest starting with these simple videos.  https://youtu.be/OCSbzArwB10 https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLALQuK1NDriznzxP5rQkQwKIrGSWRMZF **Openings** Now you know what all the pieces do, but how do you start a game? The video I recommended already covers some basic opening strategy, so this will get you started. If you want to learn a bit further, you can learn a couple of openings with both colors. You should not go out and learn all openings possible, but begin with just a few. Learn a couple of white openings and a couple of black openings.  I am not a chess master, so I will not try and teach you. I just want to point you in the right direction. A quick couple of recommendations would be: White: Vienna & London System. Black: Caro Kann, Kings Indian & Dutch Defense. If you learn these openings you will have a basic understanding of what to do at the beginning of a match. **Improve** The main way to improve is to play and analyses your games. This is a lesson on the analysis on Chess.com. And you should play puzzles. On Chess.com you can play 10 puzzles per day. The best thing is to think hard and succeed in most of the puzzles, instead of completing them quickly. If you want to do more puzzles, Lichess has more free puzzles and you can also try Chesspuzzle.net which has unlimited computer-generated puzzles.  https://youtu.be/ylpAHvPlafc https://chesspuzzle.net/ **Conclusion** This is one of the easiest and a free way to start learning the game of chess. Welcome to the world of chess. If you have any questions or remarks, I will try to answer them in the comments. I am not a great chess player, just for fun, but I can give you more resources to learn the game.  Good luck and thank you for reading!