I heard about bitcoins back in 2013 (I love how with crypto "way back" means anything before 2016, although this makes me feel kind of old). I decided to mine for bitcoin and got home to my computer and started to learn how to mine. With a crappy computer, I quickly learned I wasn't going to mine anything. The fad kind of wore off until 2017 when bitcoin started to make headlines again. I don't even remember exactly what triggered it for me but who cares. I am extremely excited about the markets and the technology that is being built around the block chains. Much like Andreas Antonoupolos (but not quite) I wanted to learn as much as I could about the block chain and the possibilities of a decentralized autonomous currency that cannot be manipulated and can make it easier for people to trade goods and services on a global scale. If that doesn't excite you then I just might be weird. Anyway, after watching many videos and reading many articles I was ready to get started. I signed up for every exchange that I could find, downloaded every tool that I thought would help on computer and mobile devices and today a few months later, I have several hundred dollars (I am crypto poor) in the market distributed through a few different coins and wallets. I am still learning every day. I sent my wife $20 to her Jaxx Wallet. Best of all I made my first purchase, I had to see it for myself folks. I bought an amazon gift card using bitcoin which I used to purchase Andreas book "The Internet of Money". It worked!
By the way, I have worked in IT for many years and I still don't pretend to understand all of the technical parts of the block chain but the beauty is that today, you don't have to. Much like we don't really need to understand how we swipe our card at a point of sale and the merchant gets paid(2 - 3 days later btw). Although we still have some hurdles to overcome to simplify how bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are used on a day to day by average users. Thanks to some very smart, talented developers we have solutions today that are getting closer and closer to making that a reality in the near future. ATM's, Debit cards, and virtual wallets are already available, working, and improving everyday. There is even a block chain social media platform! There is more and more acceptance from people, governments and even banks (weird huh) everyday. This is the future, embrace it and roll with it.
If you are just getting started below are some great places to get started:
Trade USD to Bitcoin, Ethereum or Litecoin:
https://www.coinbase.com/join/520e9ddbeb1c89c50900000d
Follow the market, see which currencies have the largest market caps, volume, performance, and nifty graphs:
https://coinmarketcap.com/
Download a wallet to take some bitcoins on the go, Jaxx is my favorite so far.
https://jaxx.io/
When ready to get into some alt-coins check out Bittrex exchange:
https://bittrex.com/
There are many resources out there providing free and paid advise on the crypto markets and the news of the day surrounding and impacting the cryptocurrencies. I find that those that can really explain the vision of the projects and shed light on the technical aspects, teams involved and influencers provide the best value. Here are some of the ones I follow:
aantonop - https://www.youtube.com/user/aantonop
CryptoBud - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAEktd4wejD_N4aPyDPD3zw
Boxmining - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxODjeUwZHk3p-7TU-IsDOA
BiteSizeCoin - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnePINazJJpbn9FWaq_skQA
There are many others but these are my top resources for getting up to speed and acquiring knowledge. aantonop goes around the world teaching people about the importance of the blockchain. Crypto Bud has a lot of great insight and gives really good advise on which alt coins are hot and have a future (he of course encourages his viewers to do their own homework as do the others), he also has a closed group that you can join which he shares his advise with before he publishes to the general public. Boxmining also has alot of great insight and technical knowledge but he also does interviews with many of the technical developers and CEO's of ICO's (initial coin offerings). Lastly and one of my favorites (to the moon!) is BiteSizeCoin which shares a great deal of practical advise on how and when to trade, he also shows his spreadsheets, teaches his audience about which coins are strong and why he does and doesn't like coins. Very insightful as well.
There you have it, that is my experience and some tips for getting started. I hope this helps someone out there.
"Bitcoin isn't money. The blockchain isn't a system of currency, it is a platform of trust. It's not a company, it's not a product, it's not a service you sign up for. It's not a currency - currency is just the first application. It's the concept of decentralization applied to the human communication of value."
Andreas Antonopolous
Additional youtubers I subscribe to:
dollarvigilante - https://www.youtube.com/user/TheDollarVigilante
Coin Mastery - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4nXWTjZqK4bv7feoRntSog
Show some love donate BTC here:
1G87t1e6XLJAr6KKixiFiWRcEYwWgcKsVe