How to Securely Invest in Bitcoin the Easy Way – SonofaBitcoin01

Buying, selling and storing digital assets can be confusing for newcomers with little technical knowledge, but every day the smart minds of the crypto world work harder to make buying, selling and securing these valuable digital assets easier for everyone.

I’m often asked by friends how to get started buying digital assets like bitcoin, so I decided to write this article.

Opening Your First Exchange Account

For a new investor with no knowledge of crypto, I always recommend opening a Coinbase account and starting there. Coinbase is the most beginner-friendly exchange with great ease-of-use and world class security.

Once you’ve completed identity verification and opened your account at Coinbase — just like opening an account at an old school bank — you can buy bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Litecoin (LTC), Ethereum Classic (ETC), Zcash (ZEC), 0x (ZRX), Basic Attention Token (BAT) and USD Coin (USDC) with more to be listed soon. USD Coin (USDC) is a stablecoin which is a cryptocurrency pegged 1:1 to the U.S. dollar. Then you can transfer them to their respective vaults for long-term highly-secure storage while you watch them grow in value over time.

To transfer your bitcoin to your bitcoin vault, you must first create the vault by going to the Accounts page, look down below your individual wallets and click the + Create Vault button, add a secondary backup email address such as Gmail, finish the last few steps and you’ve created your bitcoin vault. Then click the deposit button on your bitcoin vault, type in the amount of bitcoin you wish to transfer from your bitcoin wallet to your vault, and you’re done.

If you wish to withdraw bitcoin from your vault, it will take 48 hours to do so. You’ll also receive a series of texts to your cell phone and emails to both of your email addresses over that 48-hour period asking if you want to stop the withdrawal. So, if you plan to trade your bitcoin soon, leave it in your wallet, but make sure that you’re using the security features I mention next.

Once you learn your way around Coinbase, you can check out Coinbase Pro, Coinbase’s exchange for professional traders, which has a bigger selection of coins for purchase and cheaper exchange fees.

Security

Security is the most important aspect of crypto and it shouldn’t be taken lightly for a second. The days of using passwords like 1234John are over. That can be cracked by a hacker in no time at all with a brute-force attack. If you don’t know about 1Password, you might want to check it out. It changed my password-keeping life.

For anything today, you should use long passwords with letters, numbers and special characters like y+tk>GeR%mI9T>qLC@Mk[G[KIcxT.u@ to secure your accounts, and the only way to create and remember those is with apps like 1Password which work on your desktop and mobile phone.

A good password to access your 1Password account could be something like I love to eat 42 pancakes for breakfast but I want to weigh 217 lbs in 2019! or use the fourth sentence of the eighth paragraph of the fifth chapter of your favorite book. Just use something complicated that only you will remember.

Before you open your Coinbase account, create a new email address that’s only for that account. ProtonMail, an anonymous and encrypted email service, is a good choice but Gmail is good too because you can enable 2-factor authentication with it. Use Google Authenticator for 2-factor authentication instead of SMS (text messaging). Google Authenticator is a great app that can be downloaded from the Google Playstore or Apple App store and it’s easy to use.

If you’re very security-conscious like me — and you should be — spend $50.00 on a cheap smart phone from Best Buy or Amazon and download and install Google Authenticator on that. You don’t want to activate a calling plan with this phone because you’re never going to make calls on it. It’s only for using Google Authenticator to access your crypto accounts. You’ll simply turn on the WiFi when you first download Google Authenticator and then turn off the WiFi forever. WiFi doesn’t have to be on to use Google Authenticator. If you’re not connected to the internet, you’re safe from hackers.

Using your personal cell phone and SMS for 2-factor authentication leaves you at great risk of having your SIM card hijacked and your bitcoin stolen. It’s not recommended.

Using 2-factor authentication is important because if someone discovers your Coinbase password, they still won’t be able to access your account without the Google Authenticator code you must enter after your password. The Google Authenticator code changes every 30 seconds. Installing and setting up Google Authenticator is very easy.

Another great security device that I’ve started using is the YubiKey 5 NFC. This is a small physical USB device that you can set up for your Coinbase account. To log into your Coinbase account, you must have this device plugged into the USB port of your computer and able to push the button on it to enter your account. So if anyone were able to gain your password, they still wouldn’t be able to access your account unless they possessed your YubiKey 5 NFC.

I use a laptop that’s for crypto only. I don’t check email, surf the internet or download movies or music on that computer. I do those things on my desktop computer. My crypto laptop is for crypto only and I keep it highly secure. It’s always disconnected from the internet except when necessary. The hard drive is encased in a VeraCrypt volume. VeraCrypt is a free open source disk encryption software for Windows, Mac OSX and Linux. But this is for more advanced users who are buying other altcoins on multiple exchanges.

Learn to walk before attempting to run.

You should also use a top anti-virus app like Bitdefender to protect your computer and smart phone. Cryptonite by Metacert Protocol is the best anti-phishing and anti-fraud protection for your desktop computer.

Phishing and other forms of social engineering are the most common ways hackers steal your crypto. Stolen crypto is often a result of laziness and lack of knowledge on the part of the victim.

Educate Yourself With Daily Research

No crypto project should ignore educating the public about buying, selling and securely storing their digital asset. Mass adoption — daily use by the masses — will occur faster by teaching the public exactly what digital assets are and how they work.

I always recommend Chris Burniske’s excellent book, Cryptoassets: The Innovative Investor’s Guide to Bitcoin and Beyond, to everyone wanting to learn about bitcoin and other digital assets. I’ve read it more than once, and you should, too.

If you’d like to learn more about Bitcoin technology and how it’s rapidly changing the financial system, I also recommend Saifedean Ammous’s excellent book, The Bitcoin Standard: The Decentralized Alternative to Central Banking.

Popular podcasts such as Off the Chain with Anthony Pompliano, Unchained with Laura Shin and Let’s Talk Bitcoin with Andreas M. Antonopolous are great ways to learn about digital assets. A simple Google search will yield many more of these shows, but these are three of my favorites.

And as crazy as it sounds, crypto Twitter is a great place to learn about bitcoin, cryptocurrency and blockchain. Most of the best brains in crypto are on Twitter, tweeting articles, news and insights into this new technology.

CoinGecko is the best website for current crypto prices and provides lots of information on the digital assets listed there. Bitcoin is the number one coin in the world by market cap. If you click on bitcoin, it will take you to its information page where you can see its historical data (price history), social media links and list of exchanges where it’s sold.

Blockfolio is my favorite free portfolio tracker for mobile phones. You can go to their website for more information or download the app at the Google Playstore or Apple App store. It’s easy to use.

It always amazes me when someone says they lost money on bitcoin. They’re almost always someone who doesn’t know a thing about the asset and bought bitcoin because of the hype generated during the top of the 2017 bull run, the worst time to buy. You want to buy digital assets, just like stocks, at the bottom of a bear market and SELL at the top of a bull run.

You only lose when you sell. If we’re in a bear market, like we were all during 2018, and your portfolio is underwater, don’t sell now. Wait for the next bull market, when prices go back up, and then sell when you hit your specified price targets.

But you must have a plan that you stick to, and you cannot allow greed to affect your decisions. If you decide to sell when your asset increases by 20 times, you should probably stick to that plan.

Always remember the cardinal rule of crypto: never invest what you cannot afford to lose.

Make no mistake about it, a crypto revolution is coming that will change the world just like the internet did 25 years ago. I don’t know about you, but I want to be IN the game for the big win, not sitting in the bleachers watching it.

Luck is a by-product of knowledge and conviction. Do your research daily, so you can make informed decisions and increase your chances of success.

Good luck to you all.

Mark Workman is a digital assets investor who passionately believes in the future of blockchain technology. He traveled the world as a music business tour manager and lighting designer for 33 years. Mark is also the author of One for the Road: How to Be a Music Tour Manager, the first and still only book on music tour management.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and not meant to give financial advice. Please do your own research before investing in any digital asset.