Here you will find free guides and information designed to serve all types of investors from beginner to advanced and those just seeking knowledge or information on the future of finance, money, and the internet as we know it. You may chose from any of the topics below but I recommend going from top to bottom with the links provided below.
What is Currency and What is Money and How do They Differ?
Before diving into Bitcoin or other cryptocurrency, you first must understand how past and current economic systems operate and get insight into the Hidden Secrets of Money with this well produced series. This series goes in depth on how our current system was created and the massive amount of inefficiencies it has inherit in it's design as well as the almost certain demise of the fiat systems that are in place at the moment.
What is Bitcoin and How Does It Work?
I highly recommend this playlist to get you started with a basic understanding of what Bitcoin is and in great detail how blockchain works as well as forks and other related topics on the subject.
Principles for Investing
Start now
This investment vehicle is growing so rapidly that every day you are not on board is a day that you are potentially missing out on some good returns.
Never invest in something you don't fully understand
If you cannot comfortably explain the basic features and functions of the coin or method you are going to invest in, you're not ready to start! If you are incapable of, or unwilling to do your own research, don't bother with this.
Never invest more than you can afford to lose
Do not mortgage your house or put your life saving into this! Due to a small user error, you could easily lose everything entering one wrong character on a receiving address and all could be lost!
Diversify
Do not put all your eggs in one basket, all your funds on 1 exchange, or all your value in 1 wallet. Coinbase is not a wallet, they can freeze or seize your funds like a bank!
Track you investment
The best method for tracking your cryptocurrency investments is with a site/app like CoinTracking.
Don't buy the hype
If it has already hit the news cycle, you are already too late. Do your own research and try to find the next big thing before it is a big thing!
Dollar cost average
Invest a set amount steadily over time. Most exchanges and wallet services such as Coinbase, have a recurring buy feature that I recommend taking advantage of. Using Bitwage you can convert a portion of your paycheck (or all of it) to BTC. You can find the long explanation of DCA here. There is even a fun calculator here.
Hold on to the winners and dump the losers
No matter how much you believe in a project or coin/token and its mission, don't go down with the ship. I recommend using bots to execute trades on your behalf to take the motion out of the decision and let it be one based on math.
Compare your investment against an appropriate benchmark
You can compare the growth of your investment against the traditional stock market if you wish but I like to compare my trading against a buy and hold strategy.
Learn from every dip or bear trend
Not much can be learned about the market when every coin is on a bull trend but when the market goes for a dip, the strong coins begin to stand out and you can find one or two that act as a good hedge against the dropping market.
NEVER PANIC
Again, I highly recommend leaving your trading to automated bots. This space has more ups, downs, and loops than most roller coasters. Never trade or make decisions while emotional. Train yourself to be a robot!
Listen to advice but think for yourself
This space is full of many new investors and everyone thinks they have the keys to success, there are also MANY SCAMS so DO YOUR RESEARCH before investing anything!
AVOID SCAMS
HYIP
A high-yield investment program (HYIP) is a type program which promising very high return on investment but is very high risk. It operates as a ponzi scheme or other form of fraud, by not paying back with no response after some time, or suddenly disappearing with all the investor's funds.
Cloud Mining Contracts
There is a high amount of fraud in this sector.
Faucets
Common sense, there's no way to make free BTC.
How to Buy Bitcoin/Altcoins
Wallets
Almost every wallet on in the app store has the ability to exchange coins via an external exchange and some can even exchange them through a decentralized exchange (DEX). If you live in the US, Coinbase is a good option although it is more of a bank than a wallet as they hold the private key to your wallet and can close your account at any time.
Exchanges
On exchanges you can link your bank or send wire transfers to the exchange and then exchange your fiat currency for any altcoin of your choosing. Do your research to see which ones service your country of residence and which ones have the liquidity you need as pairs available.
Conversions
You can convert one coin to another using Changelly. If you want to convert your own coins or the person or entity you are transacting with requests or requires another coin, you can make that happen for most of the major coins. You only need the sending and receiving addresses.
IRL
The basis of human civilization, in real life, face to face agreements made between two consenting parties to trade an amount of one coin, for an agreed upon amount of another coin. There are some cities that host open air exchanges where you can swap coins in person.
Payroll
Another method of converting USD to BTC is getting your payroll checks directly deposited to Bitwage where they convert it to BTC. You can optionally have the BTC automatically forwarded to another address. Here is a video on how to get setup with Bitwage. The difficulty is the tax implications every time you cash out your crypto to fiat so you can pay bills at which time you create a taxable event.
Wages
There are quite a few sites for online work as a freelancer that pay in cryptocurrency. You may also be able to work out a deal with your employer (especially those in the tech sector) to be paid fully in crypto. The difficulty is the tax implications every time you cash out your crypto to fiat so you can pay bills at which time you create a taxable event.
Shopping with Bitcoin
BTC Debit Card
The easiest method of shopping with bitcoin is using a BitPay debit card that is linked to your BTC wallet on their app. You add BTC to the wallet like a bank account and each transaction immediately sells some of your BTC on the spot and converts it to USD as you swipe the card anywhere MasterCard is accepted.
Local Businesses
You can find out what local businesses accept Bitcoin as a method of payment using BTC Map.
Online Shopping
Here is a list of online retailers and chain stores that accept Bitcoin payments.
Investment Opportunities
Novice (Passive)
Buy and Hold (No minimum but the more you hold, the more you gain [or lose] when the exchange rate goes up [or down])
The easiest and possibly safest method is to buy and accumulate cryptocurrency and hold it. As the exchange rate continues to rise, so does the value of your holdings. Here's a fun calculator to see how that method works.
Masternodes (Minimum investment $85.00 + Hardware Costs)
Some cryptocurrencies and tokens allow you to make an income for actively participating in the security of the network by hosting a masternode. This is not mining and does not require a supercomputer and a megawatt of electricity to make a return, just an active internet connection.
Personally Managed Diversified Portfolio (Buying and holding with a program to manage redistribution of your holdings)
This method gives control of your funds across different exchanges after you select your portfolio of coins you wish to hold. You can re-balance your portfolio as it begins to grow. Shrimpy and HodlBot are other automated re-balancing programs.
Smart Mining (Laptop, or PC + electricity)
You can use a smart mining program such as Kryptex that you can install on any device to generate a passive income by automatically redirecting your processing power at the most profitable coin at any given time.
Intermediate (Active)
Arbitrage (Minimum investment $100 + transaction fees)
This tool will help you find exchanges where you can buy a coin for a low price and transfer it to another exchange to sell it for a higher amount.
Trading (Minimum investment $100 - exchange charges fee per trade)
You can train yourself to trade cryptocurrencies on the many exchanges that are available. You will need to do a lot of research on this and some trial and error before you begin to see results. This is massively time consuming to do all the research necessary to become a day trader and be good at it.
ICOs
Here is a tool to help you with your research. Here you can find ICO's that are upcoming, ongoing, and ended.
Advanced (Technical Knowledge Needed)
Automated Trading (Minimum investment $3000 + license cost)
This method is not for the faint of heart or the impatient. Much research is necessary and investing a good amount of time to get the program setup is required. Once running, it requires little to no maintenance to generate a passive income. Here are some of the online automated trading programs: 3Commas, CryptoHopper, Quadency, and Kryll.
Mining (Minimum investment $500 and up + electricity)
You can purchase highly specialized mining equipment to generate an income helping to secure the network of many different coins but the energy cost in most areas of the developed world make it very prohibitive and sometimes people barely break even on the amount they have generated. Over time and with a large amount of devices mining, you could begin to turn a profit especially if you hold onto the coins you are generating and they go up in value.
Here is a mining calculator to help you get an idea of the hardware you will need to achieve your desired returns.
Stay Informed
News and Education
Trading Tips
Articles
Tax Information
Bitcoin Accounting
There are numerous programs available for tracking short term gain and loss as well as profit to determine your tax liability but I recommend CoinTracker.io as it is a very easy tool to use and can plug into many exchanges and wallets to give you the full picture of what is owed.
IRS
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rican residents are subject to a 0% tax on cryptocurrency. See Reference Source.
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I am not a financial advisor or tax professional. You should always consult with a licensed professional when regarding your financial investments and tax situations. Do your own research into all aspects of your investments and do not invest in something you do not understand. Remember, never invest more than you can afford to lose!