Introduction: Investing in Cryptocurrencies
The first cryptocurrency to be created was Bitcoin, built on Blockchain technology, and probably launched in 2009 by a mysterious person, Satoshi Nakamoto. At the time of writing this blog, 17 million bitcoins were extracted and it is estimated that a total of 21 million bitcoins could be extracted. Other popular cryptocurrencies are hard forks on Ethereum, Litecoin, Ripple, Golem, Civic and Bitcoin, such as Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin Gold.
Users are advised not to spend all their money on a cryptocurrency and to avoid investing in the top of the cryptocurrency bubble. It has been seen that the price has dropped sharply when the cryptocurrency is at the top of the bubble. As the cryptocurrency market is volatile, users need to invest the amount they can lose, as there is no government that controls the currency because it is a decentralized cryptocurrency.
Steve Woznia, co-founder of Apple, predicted that Bitcoin is a real gold and that in the future all currencies like USD, EUR, INR and ASD will dominate and become global currency in the coming years.
Why and why not invest in cryptocurrencies?
Bitcoin was the first cryptocurrency to emerge, and since then, about 1600+ cryptocurrencies have been launched with a unique feature for each coin.
Some of the reasons I’ve lived and want to share have been that cryptocurrencies have sprung up on a decentralized platform; so users do not need a third party to transfer cryptocurrency from one destination to another, unlike a fiat currency that a user needs. A platform like a bank to transfer money from one account to another. Cryptocurrency blockchain technology is built very securely and you have almost no chance of hacking and stealing your cryptocurrencies until you share critical information.
You should always avoid buying cryptocurrencies at the peak of the cryptocurrency bubble. Many of us buy cryptocurrencies at the top in order to make money fast and to fall victim to the bubble hype and lose money. It is best for users to do a lot of research before investing money. It is always a good idea to put your money in more than one cryptocurrency, as you may notice that few cryptocurrencies are growing, some on average if other cryptocurrencies go to the red zone.
Cryptocurrencies to focus on
In 2014, Bitcoin has a 90% market share and the remaining 10% of the remaining cryptocurrency. In 2017, Bitcoin is still dominating the crypto market, but its share has dropped significantly from 90% to 38% and Altcoin like Litecoin, Ethereum, Ripple has grown rapidly and has taken up most of the market.
Bitcoin is still dominating the cryptocurrency market, but it’s not the only currency you should consider when investing in cryptocurrency. Some of the major cryptocurrencies you need to consider are:
Bitcoin
Litecoin
Wave
Ethereum
Tron
Civic
Golem
Currency
Where and How to Buy Cryptocurrencies?
While a few years ago it was not easy to buy cryptocurrencies, but now users have many platforms available.
In 2015, India has two main bitcoin platforms, the Unocoin portfolio and the Zebpay portfolio, where users can only buy and sell bitcoin. Users should only buy bitcoin from their wallet, but not from another person. There was a price difference between the purchase and sale rates, and users have to pay a nominal fee to complete the transaction.
In 2017, the Cryptocurrency industry grew tremendously and the price of Bitcoin rose spontaneously, especially in the last six months of 2017, forcing users to look for alternatives to Bitcoin and crossing 14 lakhs in the Indian market.
Unodax and Zebpay were the two main platforms in India with a 90% market share – only Bitcoin. It allows other organizations to grow with other altcoins and has also forced Unocoin and others to add more currency to their platform.
Unocoin, one of India’s leading cryptocurrency and blockchain companies, has launched an exclusive UnoDAX Exchange platform for their users to trade various cryptocurrencies in addition to Bitcoin’s Unocoin trading. The difference between the two platforms was this: Unocion offered the immediate purchase and sale of bitcoin, on UnoDAX, users can request any available cryptocurrency and if it matches the recipient, the request will be executed.
Other major exchanges for trading Indian cryptocurrencies are Koinex, Coinsecure, Bitbns, WazirX.
Users must open an account by registering for any exchanges with their email ID and KYC details. Once you have verified your account, you can start trading your chosen coins.
Users need to research thoroughly before investing in any currency and do not fall into the trap of the cryptocurrency bubble. Users need to research the credibility, transparency, security features, and more of the exchange.
All exchanges charge a nominal fee for each transaction. There are two types of charges: Maker fee and Taker fee. In addition to the transaction fee, a transfer fee must be paid if you wish to transfer your cryptocurrency to another exchange or to your private wallet. Charges depend only on currency and exchange, as different exchanges have a different price module for transferring coins.
The main non-Bitcoin Altcoin
As mentioned above, Bitcoin is dominating the market with a market share of 38%, followed by Ripple, Ethereum, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash. Exchanges like UnoDAX, Bitfinex, Kraken, Bitstamp have listed Golem, Civic, Raiden Network, Kyber Network, Basic Attention, 0X, Augur, Monero, Tron and many other coins. If a coin fits in your wallet, you should buy it.
But, you have to put money in the market, because the cryptocurrency market is very volatile and the government has no control over it.
When to buy?
There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to buying your favorite cryptocurrency. But market stability needs to be investigated. You shouldn’t be at the top of a cryptocurrency bubble or when the price is constantly falling. The best time to always consider the price is relatively stable when it is at a low level for a while.
Method of storing cryptocurrencies
Before buying any cryptocurrency, you need to understand how to keep your cryptocurrency safe.
In general, all exchanges offer storage facilities where you can safely store your coins. You do not need to share your user details with your password when you have cryptocurrency in 2FA exchanges.
Paper wallet, Hardware wallet, Software wallet are some of the channels for storing your cryptocurrency.
Paper Wallet: A paper wallet is a method of cold offline storage to keep your cryptocurrency safe. It prints your private and public key on a piece of paper, where the QR code is also printed. The QR code must be scanned for future transactions. Why is it safe? No need to worry about your account being hacked or malicious malware attacks. You need to keep your piece of paper in a closet and, if possible, keep two or three paper bags in your control.
Hardware Wallet: A hardware wallet is a physical device where you keep your cryptocurrency safe. There are many types of hardware wallets, but the most commonly used hardware wallet is USB. When you store your cryptocurrency in your hardware wallet, you need to keep in mind that you should not lose your hardware wallet, because once you lose it, you cannot recover your cryptocurrency.
A famous event where a person took out 7000+ bitcoins and stored them in his hardware wallet and with another hardware wallet. One day he threw away his hardware wallet that stored his cryptocurrency in place of the damaged hardware and lost all of his bitcoin.
What can be bought from Indian cryptocurrency?
Most people believe that buying and selling any cryptocurrency is just for the sake of investing and making big profits in the long and short term. Influencers and bitcoin investors believe that in the coming years all fiat Bitcoin will dominate and be accepted as an International currency.
Dell is one of the largest e-commerce businesses that supports bitcoin as a payment gateway. Expedia and UNICEF are other examples.
In India, Sapna Book Mall accepted bitcoin as a payment using the Unocoin merchant service. People were booking movie tickets through BookMyShow or charging their mobile phone through the Unocoin platform. According to the report, the service has been canceled but plans to resume in the near future.
Conclusion:
Cryptocurrency is one of the fastest growing investment sectors and in the past has yielded a nice return on real estate, gold, stock markets and so on. You can buy cryptocurrency and hold it long-term for nice returns or quick short-term returns, as we have seen an increase in many coins in the past to 1000% +. Because the cryptocurrency market is volatile and not controlled by the government in the industry. You have to invest in any cryptocurrency that you can afford to lose.
You can store your cryptocurrency in your hardware wallet, wallet, software wallet if you do not want to save it in the local exchange you are trading.