Defi Kingdoms is without a doubt the most interesting blockchain game I’ve become aware of in the past year. It seamlessly combines the best aspects of NFTs, DeFi, and gaming in a ready-to-play, artfully constructed metaverse.

Many people have already covered great beginner’s guides to Defi Kingdoms, so I’m not going to go that route. However, I do want to provide links to the best resources I’ve found online for learning about the game and its ongoing development. You can view these resources below:

Best Defi Kingdom’s Resources:

Maybe the most important thing: Join the Discord

Samichpunch’s Beginner Guide

Defi Kingdoms on Twitter

DFKDAO on Twitter

Jewel Boyz on Twitter

Ready the latest articles via Hero’s Hold

How to Buy Harmony / Jewel

Jewel is the main currency of the Defi Kingdoms world and you will need it to play the game. Jewel primarily operates on the Harmony blockchain (although multichain expansion is already in the works), so the easiest way to get Jewel is by starting with Harmony.

If you’re in the United States, the best exchange that will let you buy Harmony token (ONE) is KuCoin. However, to be frank, I find it difficult to deposit USD directly to KuCoin and do not have any resources to share on how to do so. My preferred route was to utilize Coinbase to purchase Avalanche (AVAX), then to withdraw this to KuCoin, convert to Harmony, then to withdraw that Harmony to a MetaMask wallet for us with Defi Kingdoms (you can see how to use Metamask with Harmony here).

Note, you can also utilize AnySwap’s router feature to bridge directly from AVAX or FTM to Harmony without the need for a centralized exchange.

The post Defi Kingdoms Beginner Resources appeared first on Cryptocurrency Posters.

Most of what I say is useful if you understand how to interpret low level unprofessional shitposting. – Loomdart

I’m the person many of my friends, coworkers, and family turn to when they have questions about crypto. I field those great questions about whether or not Cardano and Ripple are legit.

I try to be as helpful as I can, but over the years I’ve settled on outsourcing these questions by:

1. Kindly telling people they should do their own research by reading certain introductory articles
   
2. Providing a helpful list of crypto people to follow on Twitter that offer free analysis and insight

Lately, I’ve reflected on the Twitter list and its absurdity. “Yes, follow the avatar with the Duck. Really sober takes on potentially large market moves. The guy with the old-dude avatar has the best educational resources. The Cobain tribute avatar hosts a podcast with some of the most giga-brain people in the industry. And that account that occasionally retweets hentai? Outstanding DeFi takes”.

95% of the people I send this info to never give me feedback, as you might expect. People want crypto to be serious and my recommendations tend to be anything but that.

But the people that have listened and taken the time to dive into crypto Twitter generally come back with two reactions: “these people are helpful” and “these people are hilarious”.

The second reaction is what I’ve been thinking about lately. Why do many of the best crypto investors, educators, and personalities tend to be shitposters with a sense of humor?

You could make an argument that part of it is selection bias. If you got into this industry early and became successful, there was a good chance you weren’t taking yourself too seriously. If you were one of the people wiring money to Mt. Gox in 2012 for BTC or buying the ETH ICO in the middle of the 2015 bear market to the degree that you are now set for life, you had to embrace the preposterous nature of the moment.

There was always a bull case, but you were still investing significant amounts of money into what we lovingly called “magic internet money”. You likely realized you were gambling and that if it all went to zero, you had no one to blame but yourself for thinking it was a good idea. And you were probably at peace with that.

What happened when these gamblers hit it rich? Well, they suddenly had all the time in the world to sit back, relax, and shitpost. Or as a more eloquent market observer once put it:

However, this history doesn’t fully explain the phenomenon. There are plenty of newer, high-profile crypto accounts that are just as dedicated to shitposting as their older compatriots that have already “made it”. What’s driving them to this type of posting?

Part of the explanation may be coping with the inevitable tragedies of cryptocurrency. For a market that has historically only gone up, it has also chewed up and ruined countless traders and investors in record time. It’s easy to gamble more than you can afford to lose, and when the music stops, nothing punishes your greed quite like crypto.

The symbiotic relationship between tragedy and comedy has been speculated about for ages, and a modern manifestation of this theory can be found in the general crypto Twitter consensus that bear markets produce higher quality content:

When you’re down 98% on Cummies, all you can do is laugh.

But I still don’t believe that bear market coping and the industry’s degenerate foundation alone explain why the crypto space is so driven by humor. At the most fundamental level, I believe this space is funny because it needs to be to survive.

Why is this? In a marketplace with no central authority, humans must fall back on their most basic social instincts. And one of the most basic trust mechanisms in human culture is humor. We use the social cues of shared jokes to understand who can be trusted, who’s a newbie learning the ropes, and who’s a Fed.

Inside jokes create a cultural moat that both protects the community from outsider attacks and strengthens it by giving existing members a sense of belonging. It also makes everything look completely ridiculous from the outside:

The importance of humor in crypto also goes well beyond the way that the community interacts. Humor is part of the investing experience as well.

We’re still in crypto’s big bang phase. We’re all floating around in the void trying to figure out what projects will survive and coalesce into something permanently powerful and what will fade away.

The people with industry experience know that one of the best tricks to navigating this expanse of shit projects is to understand how humor plays a part in building a community:

This movement of humor driven investing in crypto is happening against the backdrop of a collective backlash against the status quo. The GameStop/AMC “stonk” pumps and declining faith in the media and governmental institutions are indicative of an atmosphere where people are continuing to question the institutional dogmas they were raised to respect. Even business news anchors are starting to ask, why not Dogecoin?

So, what can we learn from all of this? These are the main points you should remember:

1. To those who have been in crypto for years and continue to complain about it not being serious enough and needing to “grow up”, you’ve lost the plot. If anything this space will grow more absurd as humor and in-jokes continue to be one of the most efficient ways of sharing knowledge and sorting out trust between increasingly anon participants. The irreverent culture of crypto will also continue to give the industry a leg up on traditional investing opportunities as the trend of questioning previously-accepted societal norms accelerates. So ask yourself, do you want to be right? Or do you want to make money?
2. To the new participants, abandon what you think about finance needing to be a stale and responsible topic. You’re never going to find that here, and if someone pitches a project that way, it’s probably a scam. The faux sense of seriousness that you’re trained to put on when you want to participate in modern business settings is not needed. If you leave your expectations at the door, you can educate yourself and participate in any community you want to. Have fun, make some friends, and make some money.

Embrace the ridiculousness because:

The post On the Value of Shitposting appeared first on Cryptocurrency Posters.

Crypto twitter is one of the most dynamic and engaging online communities you can find. It’s full of enlightening discussions of (possibly) the most important economic breakthrough of the 21st century. It’s also filled with frauds, shills, and shitposters. Searching for signal in this noise can be tough, but if you’re willing to put in the time you can build a great list of the best crypto Twitter accounts to follow.

Not willing to put in that time? We’ve got you covered with our comprehensive list of 100 essential crypto accounts on Twitter that you should be following:

100 Best Crypto Twitter Accounts

These are all accounts that have been active since long before the 2017 crypto bubble. These people have already made their fortune and it comes through in their tweets. Often accused of being “lucky” despite the fact that they were smart enough to trade from 2014-2015 when everyone else thought crypto was dead. Priceless wisdom to be had by following them, but they won’t make it easy for you to find. All funny, some with darker humor than others.

1. Crypto Cobain

The founder of Crypto Twitter.

2. I am Nomad

Follow for intelligent discussion of high-level trading concepts and timely retweets of the Chicago police scanner.

3. Loomdart

The most prolific Twitter user of all the OGs. Creator of the Loomlines technical indicator.

4. Loops

A (Russian?) duck that likes to do drugs and tweet about Bitcoin.

5. ThisIsNuse

Active trader, great follow for tips on lesser-known coins.

6. Notsofast

Will help you stay ahead of the curve on potential new opportunities. First person on this list that talked about CryptoPunks.

7. Angelo

She may just be the most legendary crypto trader of all time.

8. Bitlord

Consistently ridiculous. Side gig as an investigative journalist and broke the COVID-19 story from inside China in late January 2020.

9. Sicarious

One of the most well-respected accounts. Comments on the entire community.

10. Cryptopathic

Called the top of the 2017 bubble perfectly. Called the start of the NFT bubble of 2021 perfectly. A savant.

These people head up some of the most important businesses and organizations in the cryptocurrency space. Generally a bit more “professional” than other crypto twitter accounts.

11. Arthur Hayes

Co-founder and CEO of BitMEX. Currently on the run from the Feds, but still pumping out quality insights via his blog.

12. The Winklevii

The twins that got outsmarted by Zuckerberg  on Facebook, then went all in on crypto instead. Founders of the exchange Gemini.

13. Elizabeth Stark

Co-founder of Lightning labs which many community members believe is pioneering the best way forward for Bitcoin’s scaling issues.

14. Brian Armstrong

Co-founder and CEO of Coinbase, the #1 on-ramp to cryptocurrency for US citizens.

15. Bary Silbert

Early Bitcoin investor. Influential within a number of companies via his firm DigitalCurrencyGroup.

16. Sam Bankman-Fried

Billionaire founder of the exchange FTX. Quite possibly the most important person in crypto.

17. CZ

CEO at Binance, the world’s #1 exchange by volume for cryptocurrency trading.

18. Erik Voorhees

Early investor and outspoken Bitcoin supporter. CEO at crypto-to-crypto exchange ShapeShift.io.

19. Jack

CEO of Twitter and Square and an outspoken Bitcoin supporter.

20. Neeraj

Communications director for Coin Center, the cryptocurrency policy think tank. Quite possibly the most powerful voice for crypto in Washington D.C.

All of the accounts listed here have experience maintaining the actual code that drives some of the world’s most popular cryptocurrencies. Good resources for filtering out the BS that is spouted by much of crypto twitter. Will be the first to call out dumb ideas that aren’t technically feasible.

21. Hayden Adams

Inventor of the Uniswap protocol. Uniswap was one of the first DeFi protocols to gain widespread acclaim and adoption.

22. Charlie Lee

Original developer behind Litecoin, one of the earliest and most popular “altcoins” to Bitcoin.

23. Riccardo Spagni

Core developer for privacy coin Monero. Streetwear aficionado.

24. Adam Back

Cryptographer who invented the Hashcash protocol. Hashcash was cited in the Bitcoin white-paper by Satoshi Nakamoto as an influence for the proof-of-work algorithm that powers bitcoin.

25. Vitalik

Lead developer of Ethereum. Outgoing. Active Twitter feed full of casual and technical discussion surrounding Ethereum and many other projects in the space.

26. Charles Hoskinson

CEO of IOHK and founder of Cardano and Ethereum* (co-founder*). Make sure you know that or he may yell at you.

27. Zooko

Founder and developer of privacy-focused altcoin Zcash.

28. Peter Todd

Early Bitcoin core contributor. #21 all time on GitHub in terms of total commits to Core’s GitHub repo. Strong opinions on crypto and tech in general.

29. Luke Dashjr

Another long-time Bitcoin Core contributor. #10 all time on GitHub. Critical commentary on Bitcoin and, sporadically, traditional Roman Catholicism.

30. Anatoly Yakovenko

Co-founder of Solana, one of the most promising up-and-coming L1 blockchains.

There’s no shortage of crypto-related content in the form of videos, articles, podcasts, and more. A lot of it is trash. These accounts are reliable sources for high-quality content that will actually help you learn.

31. Ledger

Co-host of UpOnly with Crypto Cobain. Wholesome unassuming dude from Alabama who probably outtrades 95% of crypto Twitter.

32. Luke Martin

Quite possibly the only respectable crypto YouTuber.

33. Anthony Sassano

Founder of The Daily Gwei and Ethereum roadmap enthusiast. If you’re going to follow one person for Ethereum news, this would be our choice.

34. Leigh Cuen

Reporter for CoinDesk. One of the few journalists you will find that actually puts effort into mastering the space.

35. Aaron Van Wirdum

Technical Editor for Bitcoin Magazine. An absolute must follow if you want to understand the mechanics of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Quite possibly the industry’s best writer in general.

36. Andreas Antonopoulos

The most prolific producer of content with the purpose of making Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies accessible to the masses.

37. CryptoTaxGirl

The #1 public expert when it comes to United States cryptocurrency tax law. Insightful and always open to questions.

38. Bitmex Research

There is no-one putting out more consistent, detailed, high-level research on cryptocurrencies. The content arm of the BitMEX exchange.

39. ShitcoinDotCom

They don’t post much, but when they do, you should listen.

40. Peter McCormack

Host of the What Bitcoin Did Bitcoin podcast.

A lot of people are into cryptocurrencies because they want to get rich. These guys are doing it better than most. Plenty of posts on technical price analysis of different coins and they are usually open to answering questions (if you ask nicely). Remember though, this is not investment advice. Most of these people have cartoon characters for AVIs. Imagine explaining to your wife that you lost the kid’s college fund because you made your investment decisions based on a cartoon Jalapeno from Twitter.

Borrow their knowledge, these people are smart. But make your own decisions.

41. DonAlt

He don’t miss.

42. CryptoCred

He’s produced a bounty of free technical analysis content. Brutally honest. Grammar snob.

43. Sam Trabuco

CEO + crypto quant trader for Alameda Research, one of the industry’s top VC firms.

44. SalsaTekila

A pepper drinking a margarita that is extremely active and constantly posting charts. Conducts trading live streams on Twitch.

45. Flood

Margin trader extraordinaire.

46. Hsaka

Consistent producer of educational content and commentary about gibbons.

47. MoonOverlord

A prolific shitposter. Sometimes produces an insightful chart as well.

48. Su Zhu & Kyle Davies

Co-founders of Three Arrows Capital. If you’re lazy, tail their investments and you’ll probably outperform most traders.

49. Tm3k

Extremely disciplined and focused trader. Feed can sometimes seem a little boring since he is so focused on price action.

50. CacheBoi

Prolific trader. Also a Blockchain thought leader.

Note: There are a lot of crypto trader accounts on Twitter that will try to get you to pay for access to their “exclusive private trading group”. 95% of these accounts are frauds trying to take advantage of gullible newbies. All of the useful technical analysis you need to succeed in the cryptocurrency space is available for free if you are willing to hunt for it. Don’t get scammed.

51. Chris Giancarlo

Former Chairman of the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Self-described “CryptoDad”.

52. Cynthia Lummis

Wyoming Senator. The first known member of the Senate to own bitcoin.

53. Hester Peirce

SEC commissioner. Earned the moniker “crypto mom” for her embrace of the industry.

There is never a shortage of talking heads predicting the death of cryptocurrencies. If the price of bitcoins is falling, these Twitter accounts won’t miss a chance to gloat:

54. Nouriel Roubini

The Buc Nasty of hating Bitcoin.

55. Paul Krugman

The go-to economist for New York Times op-eds that hate on cryptocurrency.

56. Buttcoin

The OG Bitcoin hater.

57. Jim Rickards

Gold bug that hates anyone who entertains the thought that Bitcoin could be a considered a gold alternative.

58. Peter Schiff

Another gold bug that tweets about Bitcoin more than his favorite commodity.

These accounts don’t fall into any neat category, but all deserve a follow if you want to diversify your crypto twitter feed. Good mix of experienced users and newer accounts with high-quality, informative content.

59. Meltem Demirors

A better investor than 99.9% of crypto Twitter. Pay attention to the companies, projects, and individuals she supports.

60. fooo

A grown man that larps as a panda on the internet to talk about crypto but I swear the dude knows his stuff.

61. Joseph Delong

CTO for one of the most widely used DeFi protocols, SushiSwap.

62. Top Tick Crypto

Has dropped so much NFT alpha in 2021 you should probably be forced to pay for his tweets.

63. Heartwood

Maybe the most serious and respected DeFi analyst on planet Earth.

64. Molly

The most trustworthy source for China-focused crypto analysis.

65. Stardust

Tweets in his own language. Possibly Satoshi.

66. Starbust

An account Stardust uses to talk to himself. Smol ting. The chronicler of crypto twitter.

67. Bitcoin Bunnies

Exactly what you think it is.

68. CryptoChimp

The best original crypto memes on Twitter.

69. Ansem

Unbeatable research, charts, and analysis. Occasional blacked-out tweeting frenzies.

70. CL

A tireless advocate for memes, shitposting, and the superiority of the metaverse.

71. Eva Beylin

Director of one of the most innovative current multichain projects, The Graph protocol.

72. Beastlyorion

Honest conversation regarding promising altcoin trades and the overall market.

73. Actual Advice BTC

Passed away in 2020. Was a legendary trader and early crypto adopter. Account is obviously no longer active, but there’s priceless historical commentary and insight to be found within the tweet history.

74. BitcoinBella

Probably the most genuinely nice person on crypto Twitter.

75. The Crypto Dog

Sometimes gets sidetracked posting food pictures like it’s Instagram, but in general offers solid industry commentary.

76. Lowstrife

Doesn’t tweet a lot but always insightful.

77. Hailey Lennon

One of the most experienced lawyers on the planet specializing in crypto.

78. CryptoGainz

A trader that clawed himself back from getting wrecked in 2018 to now being semi-retired. Basically worthless for trading insights these days because he doesn’t have to try anymore. However, cranks out A1 reviews of weed edible products.

79. Hasu

Brilliant writer and podcast host.

80. Jebus

CEO of Pudgy Penguin NFTs.

81. Satsdart

Loomdart simp account.

82. Bluntz

Charts.

83. Soby

An absolutely essential follow if you want to get into NFTs.

84. Preston Byrne

Libertarian attorney. Self-described “blockchain nerd” but also one of the most reliably thorough skeptics of the entire space.

85. Nic Carter

Crypto bro set on boiling the oceans with Bitcoin mining.

86. Socal

Crypto miner and trader with an eye for new and undervalued coins.

87. Jameson Lopp

The most maximal of Bitcoin maximalists.

88. Secrets of Crypto

Doesn’t tweet often, but worth paying attention when he/her/it does.

89. Crypto Bobby

Runs the best crypto job placement agency on the planet. Also has depressing tweets about the Jets.

90. Larry Cermak

Director of Research at The Block, one of the industry’s best news publications.

It’s always good to make sure you’re balancing out your Twitter feed. These accounts aren’t 100% committed to posting about cryptocurrencies, but they do dabble. They’ll help you gain the perspective of a knowledgeable outsider.

91. Elon Musk

Probably owns 5% of the crypto supply but can’t tweet about it directly because the SEC sucks. Ex-CEO of Dogecoin.

92. John Bollinger

Legendary technical analyst and trader. Has an indicator named after him (Bollinger Bands). Super accessible and willing to discuss ideas with followers.

93. Peter Brandt

Another veteran trader of traditional markets whose attention has been captured by cryptocurrencies.

94. Ramp Capital

CFO of TradFi Twitter.

95. Mark Cuban

Went from hating on Bitcoin for half a decade to publicly linking an NFT collection via his Twitter bio.

96. Nick Szabo

Still rooted in crypto (he’s a “smart contracts pioneer”, but his commentary spans a wealth of other topics including political science, economics, and history.

97. Paris Hilton

Was ahead of the curve of the entire crypto industry on both Ethereum and NFTs.

98. Tim Draper

Venture capitalist who famously purchased 30,000 BTC via the US government’s first-ever auction of bitcoins. The bitcoins were seized from the illicit dark-web marketplace The Silk Road.

99. John McAfee

Had some of the most legendary tweets in crypto Twitter history.

100. Tai Lopez

Tai doesn’t matter at all to the industry but he is the best indicator that you should sell some crypto. Started putting out Bitcoin content near the top of the 2017 bubble. Ended in early 2018. When he starts talking about crypto again, a new top is likely near.

You won’t get much in the way of commentary from these accounts, but they’re an essential follow due to the effect that their announcements can have on the market.

• Coinbase
• Binance
• Kraken
• Okex
• Huobi
• Bitfinex
• Bitstamp
• BitMEX
• Bittrex
• FTX

The post 100 Best Crypto Twitter Accounts to Follow appeared first on Cryptocurrency Posters.

UPDATE NOVEMBER 2021

While this article was originally written to guide new Coinbase users who wanted to utilize crypto to buy NFTs for the first time, the situation has slightly changed. Coinbase has announced that they will be launching an official NFT marketplace very soon. They even have an official Coinbase web3 wallet now. To gain early access to this marketplace, you can click the link below and join their official waitlist:

COINBASE NFT SIGN-UP

While the new Coinbase NFT marketplace will likely be the easiest way to buy art with their platform, if you still want to have access to all possible NFT platforms you’ll want to follow the instructions below.

NFTs are quite possibly the hottest trend in cryptocurrency right now. Searches for the term as tracked by Google Trends continue to hit new highs, SNL is making skits, and artists are capitalizing on the ability to sell exciting genres of art directly to an increasing number of collectors around the world.

This has many people looking to get in on the hype.

And that’s most likely how you’ve found your way here. We’ve put together this guide for anyone who is trying to take part in the NFT community but doesn’t quite know where to get started. This has left many people searching for “buying NFTs on Coinbase” because Coinbase happens to be one of the most well-known and highly-trusted crypto exchanges in the world.

So let’s get this out of the way: You cannot buy NFTs directly via Coinbase. This could possibly change at some point in the future, but for right now there is no functionality built into either Coinbase or Coinbase Pro to allow you to buy and sell NFTs on the platform.

Then what should you do? Luckily, if you can buy crypto on Coinbase, you’re 90% of the way to being able to buy NFTs. Most of the popular NFT marketplaces operate via Ethereum, and Coinbase allows you to easily buy and withdraw Ethereum once you have a verified account. There is also a smaller NFT community that is growing via the Tezos crypto ecosystem (an Ethereum competitor), and this token is also available on Coinbase. Buying either of these tokens will set you up to be able to buy NFTs (see Important Note 2 below for more critical info for making your purchase decision).

If you’re ready to sign up for Coinbase, you can use my referral link below and receive $10 in free Bitcoin if you buy or sell $100 or more of any crypto.

TRY COINBASE

Step 1 – Buy Crypto on Coinbase

TRY COINBASE

The video above is a great primer that will teach you how-to quickly and easily buy crypto on Coinbase. This step in the process is fairly easy, just be sure that you purchase Ethereum or Tezos as these are the only two tokens offered by Coinbase (at the time of writing this article) that offer NFT functionality within their ecosystems.

Important Note: There are plenty of Coinbase alternatives that can be used for this step as well. The key thing is you need to find an exchange that will not only let you buy crypto but also let you withdraw it. If you aren’t able to withdraw your crypto, you won’t be able to complete the next steps.

Important Note 2: Quick breakdown on the Tezos vs Ethereum decision regarding what to buy: Ethereum has a MUCH larger NFT community than Tezos. There are all sorts of projects that are built on Ethereum and the majority of what you’ll likely want to buy will require ETH. However, Ethereum is very expensive to use these days due to high network congestion. Generally, to buy an NFT on Ethereum, you will be paying at least around $100 in transaction fees. If you’re going to be purchasing a $5000 NFT…not so bad. If you want to dabble and buy something for $5? Well that’d be a little ridiculous. Therefore, if you’re looking to simply try out the process of purchasing NFTs without making a large cost commitment, Tezos will be your best bet.

Step 2 – Figure Out What Wallet You Want to Use to Buy NFTs

Once you have your crypto purchased, you will need to withdraw it to a wallet that will allow you to interact with NFT marketplaces. The video below was made for instructing users on how to send crypto from Coinbase to Metamask, but it can be followed just as easily as a walkthrough for funding any wallet outside of Coinbase:

Coinbase also has a text guide for sending crypto to an external wallet here.

Many different wallets will do the trick for purchasing NFTs, but my recommendations are:

• MetaMask browser wallet if you will be using Ethereum
• Temple browser wallet if you will be using Tezos

These are both browser wallets, and I recommend them because they tend to be the easiest way to interact with platforms that sell NFTs. You don’t have to use a web browser wallet to buy NFTs, but as a beginner it will likely be the easiest option for you. But please remember: Browser wallets are used at your own risk and you should be very careful about keeping large amounts of money on them. Follow all the security tips offered during the set-up process and be sure to save the recovery phrase for whatever wallet you use.

Once you have your wallet picked out and funded via a withdrawal from Coinbase, it’s time for the fun part…

Step 3 – Buy Some NFTs

Ready to do some shopping? Check out the resources below and find the NFT of your dreams!

Our top recommended NFT marketplaces for Ethereum are:

• Opensea
• Rarible
• SuperRare

Our top recommended NFT marketplaces for Tezos are:

• Hicetnunc
• Kalamint

Opensea & Rarible Metamask Walkthrough (Ethereum)

Buying on Opensea (Ethereum)

Buy on Hicetnunc (Tezos)

Looking to publish your own NFTs? Do so easily via Hicetnunc (Tezos)

We hope you enjoyed this walkthrough! If you need any further help, feel free to reach out on Twitter via @postersofcrypto.

The post How to Buy NFT Art With Coinbase appeared first on Cryptocurrency Posters.

Looking for a guide to the biggest NBA Top Shot accounts? MomentRanks has you covered with their easy to use guide:

NBA Top Shot – Index of Top Accounts by Valuation

Sign up for NBA Top Shot

How does NBA Top Shot account valuation work?

NBA Top Shot account valuation is usually completed using tools such as intangible.market and evaluate.market. These sites gather current price info for all NBA Top Shot moments, then utilize that data to construct valuations for individual accounts.

What is NBA Top Shot?

Launched in October 2020, NBA Top Shot is an officially licensed marketplace for NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) based on NBA players and some of the league’s most exciting moments. It represents one of the most interesting developments in the cryptocurrency space in recent memory. This is due to the high-profile nature of the NBA and the explosive interest the project has garnered in such a short period of time.

How do you get access to NBA Top Shot?

Getting access to NBA Top Shot is as simple as creating an account on the site, funding your account via a traditional debit/credit card or cryptocurrency, and participating in the open marketplace (or being lucky enough to score a pack of cards via a scheduled “drop”).

How does NBA Top Shot work?

NBA Top Shot runs on the Flow blockchain. Flow is a fast, decentralized, and developer-friendly blockchain, designed as the foundation for a new generation of games, apps, and the digital assets that power them.

The post NBA Top Shot Account Valuations: Whale Tracking appeared first on Cryptocurrency Posters.

Get a 20% discount off everything in the Trezor shop on Black Friday & Cyber Monday by utilizing either of the codes below:

20% discount code for Cyber Monday is CYBERMONDAY2020

20% discount code for Black Friday is BLACKFRIDAY2020

The Black Friday deal will run until 11/29/20.  After that, the Cyber Monday deal will be active all day 11/30/20. Both these codes work on any purchase made through the Trezor shop including the popular Trezor Model T and Trezor One.

Click the banners below to shop now!

SHOP TREZOR

This promotion is part of Trezor’s ongoing Tech Month. The idea behind Trezor Tech Month is to help customers introduce friends, families, colleagues and peers to Bitcoin. With a long enough timeframe to allow for discussion about why to invest in Bitcoin, Trezor Tech Month will ensure newcomers have the chance to start their journey safely, and will aim to convince current users to take security seriously.

When shopping for a Trezor on Cyber Monday and Black Friday, you’ll have two primary options. These are the Trezor Model T and the Trezor One.

What is a Trezor Model T?

Trezor Model T is a cryptocurrency hardware wallet designed to keep your funds safe. It fits in your pocket and connects to your computer via a USB cable.

It is the next-generation premium model with an improved and modern design. Unlike its predecessor, it has a large color touchscreen that enables on-device PIN and passphrase input.

Additionally, you can use the Model T with Trezor Password Manager to help you manage your online credentials. Trezor Model T supports over 1,000 cryptocurrencies, including major coins like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Zcash.

SHOP TREZOR

Trezor One: Cryptocurrency and security for everyone

Trezor One is a hardware cryptocurrency wallet. It’s a computer designed to keep your funds out of the hands of people trying to steal them. It’s the size of a car key fob and connects to your computer via a USB cable.

Probably the most important feature of the device is that it keeps your private keys in an isolated environment, so even if you connected the device to an infected computer, your funds wouldn’t be compromised.

Additionally, Trezor Password Manager helps you manage your online credentials, and using Trezor as a security token lets you protect your online accounts with U2F.

Trezor One, when compared to the next-level design of Trezor Model T, is simpler and more affordable, but with the same level of security. It makes independent security accessible to the masses, and it’s a great starting point for cryptocurrency beginners.

Trezor One supports major cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Zcash, etc.) as well as hundreds of other altcoins.

SHOP TREZOR

Want to learn more about Trezors? Check out the links below:

• How to Use a Trezor (And How They Work)
• Trezor Wiki
• Trezor Blog

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The below article is a how-to guide for getting started with buying altcoins from safe and reputable service providers. It is not investment advice. Altcoins are extremely volatile financial products and are always at risk of losing their value entirely. If you choose to invest in altcoins, I highly recommend educating yourself as much as possible beforehand on their fundamentals and current market structure. 

Princeton states, “Hundreds of altcoins, or alternative cryptocurrencies, have been started, either to fix Bitcoin’s perceived flaws or to pursue different goals and properties.”

While accurate at its core, that statement is a bit outdated. Currently there are thousands of different active altcoins. These coins are fundamentally attractive to investors for a few reasons, but the primary seems to be their volatility. Historical charts of altcoins offer snapshots of ludicrously rapid price increases and brutal market crashes.

If you’ve landed on this blog, you’re likely looking to take part in this action. Below I’ll walk through the best platforms to buy altcoins with USD and the pros and cons of each method.

• Method 1 – Buy Altcoins Directly w/ Robinhood
• Method 2 – Buy Altcoins Directly w/ Coinbase
• Method 3 – Use a Cryptocurrency Exchange

How to Buy Altcoins With USD

Method 1 – Buy Altcoins Directly w/ Robinhood

Available Altcoins:

• Bitcoin SV
• Bitcoin Cash
• Dogecoin
• Litecoin
• Ethereum Classic
• Ethereum

Pros:

• Referral bonus for signing up
• No trading fees

Cons:

• For investing only – you cannot deposit or withdraw altcoins

Robinhood is one of the easiest and most secure ways to buy altcoins with USD. The Robinhood app is primarily for trading stocks, but crypto trading was added as a feature in February of 2018. Here’s how to buy altcoins with Robinhood:

1. Download the app and set up an account:

DOWNLOAD ROBINHOOD

Setting up your account is very simple and done via their app. You will need to provide them your personal contact information, bank account information to fund your account, and a Social Security number.

This may sound like a lot of personal information, but it is needed due to stringent regulations they must comply with as an investing platform. If you don’t mind providing this information, fill out the forms, connect your bank account, and you’re good to start investing in crypto.

Once your account is funded, buying altcoins is remarkably simple. In the example below, I’ll walk through how to buy Dogecoin:

2. Navigate to the dedicated page for your altcoin:

3. Enter how much you want to buy:

4. Confirm your order:

5. Enjoy your purchase:

From here you will be able to check up on your altcoin investment at all times via the Robinhood app. On top of being easy to use, you also have the benefit of paying 0 commissions to Robinhood. It’s hard to beat no-fee trading.

So what’s the catch? Unfortunately, you cannot deposit or withdraw cryptocurrencies from your Robinhood account. Robinhood’s statement on the matter is that “At this time we don’t support coin withdrawals, though we plan to do so in the future.” This means that if you want to do anything with your altcoins beyond simply investing, you will need to choose a different method within this article.

Only looking to invest? Then Robinhood will likely be your best bet. And, as an incentive, Robinhood offers free stocks to new users that sign up up via an invitation from existing users. You can get this offer and begin investing in altcoins by using my referral link below.

TRY ROBINHOOD

Method 2 – Buy Altcoins Directly w/ Coinbase

Available Altcoins:

• 0x
• Atom
• Augur
• BAT
• Bitcoin Cash
• Bitcoin SV
• Chainlink
• Cosmos
• DAI
• Dash
• EOS
• Ethereum
• Ethereum Classic
• Kyber Network
• Litecoin
• Maker
• OMG Network
• Orchid
• Stellar Lumens
• Tezos
• USDC
• XRP
• ZCash

Pros:

• $10 referral bonus for signing up
• Large selection of altcoins
• Track-record of security

Cons:

• Fees that are higher than a traditional exchange

Coinbase was one of the first ways most people in the US were able to buy Bitcoin, let alone altcoins with USD. Launched in October of 2012, they’ve been an integral part of the thrilling story of cryptocurrency since nearly the beginning. Officially, they claim “20M+ customers served” and “$150B+ in digital currency exchanged”. There’s no doubting the position they have as a powerhouse in the industry and the fact they have a track record of keeping funds safe for their clients.

1. Create your Coinbase account:

You can set up a Coinbase account on both their desktop platform or on mobile via their app. While you won’t need to give up your Social Security number, you will need to provide a phone number and identification documents like a driver’s license or a passport. There are options to create an account without giving up much personal information, but if you do so you will likely have very low purchase limits. This is because Coinbase restricts new accounts to prevent money laundering. Basically, the more information you can provide, the higher your purchase limits will be. Coinbase is also known to increase limits based on the age of your account and activity level.

Similar to Robinhood, Coinbase offers an incentive when you sign up via an invitation. If you use my referral link below, you will receive $10 of Bitcoin when you sign up and buy or sell $100 of bitcoin or more.

TRY COINBASE

2. Browse their altcoins:

3. Select a coin:

4. Enter your desired purchase amount:

5. Enjoy your purchase:

Earlier we pointed out that when you use Robinhood you cannot deposit or withdraw cryptocurrencies, so it’s also important to point out that this is a feature that is possible with Coinbase. This means that if you want to actually use cryptocurrency within an application or to make a purchase, Coinbase is going to be one of your best options. Side note: If you do decide to withdraw cryptocurrency from an exchange, to ensure the safety of your investment, we always recommend using a hardware wallet like a Trezor.

If Coinbase sounds like a match for you, but you’re still not sure, I highly recommend reading our article on the best Coinbase alternatives. We dive into a few similar platforms while also going further into what makes Coinbase unique.

Reminder, Coinbase offers $10 of free Bitcoin when you sign up and buy or sell at least $100 of cryptocurrency. You can get this offer and begin buying altcoins with USD by using my referral link below.

TRY COINBASE

Method 3 – Use a Cryptocurrency Exchange

Available Altcoins: The answer here is there are too many to list. For example, below you will see only a list of the USD-priced pairings available on a single exchange (Bittrex). This list doesn’t even take into account the trade pairings available that are only priced in BTC (3x the amount of coins listed here). And then when you look at all other available cryptocurrency exchanges? At that point, you are able to access 99% of altcoins. The only ones left out of reach would be altcoins that are only available via cryptocurrency mining or other distribution systems like airdrops.

Again, here is just a sampling of the types of altcoins you can access if you learn to use standard cryptocurrency exchanges:

• Cardano
• Ethereum
• Tether
• Bitcoin SV
• WAXP
• Hedera Hashgraph
• DigiByte
• XRP
• 0x Protocol
• Bitcoin Cash (ABC)
• Siacoin
• DAI
• TrueUSD
• Litecoin
• Basic Attention Token
• Enjin
• Tezos
• Chainlink
• Hive
• Algorand
• Solve.Care
• EOS
• RavenCoin
• TRON
• USD Coin
• Paxos Standard
• Cosmos
• ZCash
• Komodo
• Celo Native Asset
• Dash
• Ethereum Classic
• Decred
• Horizen
• Stably Dollar

Pros:

• Exchanges offer the largest selection of altcoins by far
• Fees are usually low
• You can deposit and withdraw all altcoins directly

Cons:

• Most complex method for purchasing altcoins
• Generally harder to deposit USD

This method opens up a ton of different possibilities for exactly how you will go about buying altcoins. This is because there are so many different cryptocurrency exchanges that you can choose from. For example, just for the altcoin Dogeoin, CoinMarketCap lists 50+ unique exchanges to choose from.

So how do we use an exchange? Your first step will be choosing exactly which one you want to create an account with. CoinMarketCap has a full list of popular exchanges that feature altcoin trading. I suggest using that as a starting point and investigating which individual exchange makes the most sense for your situation.

My personal top 3 (in order of preference) would be:

• Bittrex
• Binance US
• Kraken

This is based on my personal levels of trust I have in these exchanges. Please keep in mind that many cryptocurrency exchanges are unregulated. This puts you at risk in the situation that an exchange is hacked and loses your funds, or that the exchange itself closes up shop overnight and runs off with your money. If I had to make the choice, I would say that these three exchanges are the least likely to run away with your funds or be hacked. But please understand that this is my personal opinion and not investment advice. There is always risk of losing your investment when dealing with cryptocurrency exchanges so please do your research and practice safe investing.

For this example I will be specifically walking through the purchasing process on a mix of screenshots from Bittrex and Binance. However, the steps outlined here will be the same across almost all popular cryptocurrency exchanges:

1. Create an account:

The details of this process will vary from exchange to exchange, but in general you will be required to submit at the very least an email and a password, then confirm your access to the email. Other exchanges will require you to take further steps like uploading a government issued identification document to comply with KYC (Know Your Customer) laws. While you may balk at giving a crypto exchange your personal information, I’ll say that a general rule you can lean on is: the less an exchange asks of you in terms of personal information, the less you should expect from them in terms of service. An exchange that is taking the time to ask for KYC information is usually not planning to run off with customer funds. But, again, it’s up to you to evaluate the risks and make the best decision you can.

Note #1: When you sign up to any cryptocurrency exchange, please be sure to choose a strong password and enable 2 Factor Authentication on your account (use Google Authenticator if possible, do not rely on 2FA via a phone number). This will protect your account from being hacked.

TRY BITTREX

2. Fund your account:

Once your account has been created you will need to fund it. The easiest way to do this will almost always be to purchase Bitcoin elsewhere with USD, then send it to your individual exchange Bitcoin wallet address. The reason for this is because most altcoins are generally traded in BTC priced pairs. That is to say, the altcoin exchange process is priced against Bitcoin instead of against the US dollar or a similar fiat currency. Because of this you will likely need Bitcoin to trade many altcoins.

If you need to purchase Bitcoin to fund your account, I recommend Coinbase or one of the popular Coinbase Alternatives like Abra, CashApp, or Gemini.

Note #1: Be careful to ensure that the exchange you are using is, indeed, utilizing a BTC trading pair for your desired alt. There are some exchanges that instead utilize Ethereum pairs, or pairs utilizing stablecoins like USD Tether. In those cases, you will either need to fund directly with the altcoin pair’s counterpart, or deposit Bitcoin, convert to the counterpart on the exchange, then finally trade for your desired altcoin.

Note #2: Some exchanges will allow you to fund your account directly via a bank account (Bittrex and Kraken do this) or via Credit Card (available on Binance US). In general, if you can fund via a bank account, this will be the cheapest option for purchasing altcoins on an exchange. This is because it cuts out crypto transaction fees of having to send Bitcoin, Ethereum, or something else to fund your exchange wallet. The trade off? Generally any exchange that allows attaching a bank account will have very strict KYC. So be prepared to upload a Government ID.

After being certain that you will be utilizing Bitcoin to trade for your altcoin of choice on an exchange, you will go to your account’s deposit page. It should list a Bitcoin address:

You will need to copy this address and use a Bitcoin wallet to send however much in BTC that you want to convert to your desired altcoin. After your transaction is confirmed by the Bitcoin network, your balance should update:

3. Make the trade:

You’ll now navigate to the trading portion of the cryptocurrency exchange. Usually there will be a search box you can use to find the market you want to trade on. In the example below, I’ll be buying Dogecoin. On Binance, I’ve searched “doge” and instantly found the DOGE/BTC market I was looking for:

After clicking on the market, you will be taken to a trading page:

This is where you will make your final purchase. Again, different cryptocurrency exchanges will have different layouts, but in general the example you see here will be similar to what you find on most other exchanges. There will be a large graphic showing price history over time (top), a widget for buying the altcoin (bottom left), a widget for selling the altcoin (bottom right), and an order book (left sidebar).

The most important feature you’ll want to look at is the order book on the left. This shows all of the existing buy and sell orders for your altcoin that are on the exchange. Reading this can become a bit complex, so I recommend this article if you want a full breakdown.

If you want to become a great trader of crypto, you will definitely want to spend some time learning all about order books and placing what are called “Limit Orders” for purchasing coins. These are orders where you place a bid for a coin at a certain price that you expect the coin to hit in the future. You aren’t guaranteed that you will buy the coin at that price, but if you bid well, you may be able to get a bargain.

It’s easy to get off track on the actual trading topic so I’ll leave it at this: trading is an advanced skill and not recommended for beginners. If you want to learn, I recommend this study guide. If you don’t want to take the time to learn, I recommend sticking to the steps outlined below.

If you want to take the straightforward path and buy altcoins as quickly as possible, you will simply want to create a Limit Order that is priced based on the lowest sell price on the exchange:

As we can see from the orderbook, the lowest current sell for Doge is .00000029. At that price, there is 16,690 Doge for sale. While the last price for Doge was .00000028, the orderbook shows us that there is no longer any Doge for sale at that price (for now). To ensure that our purchase happens as quickly as possible, we set our price to .00000029 because we know that there is already Doge for sale at that price. Next we select how much BTC we want to spend (in this case, as much as possible), and then hit “Buy Doge”.

Note: This is by far the easiest place to make a horrible mistake when trading. One “0” in the wrong place could cause you to purchase far more of your desired altcoin at a far higher BTC price than you intended to. If this happens there is no guarantee you will get your money back. Double check and triple check that you are entering the correct order before moving forward.

If you entered all your information correctly, you should see a confirmation that your order has executed. Go back to the “wallet” portion of the exchange and you should now see that you are the proud owner of altcoins:

TRY BITTREX

4. Withdraw to a wallet:

This next step is not essential, but it is highly recommended if you would like have complete control of your own coins: withdraw them from the exchange! I have covered the risks involved with cryptocurrency exchanges already in this article and these risks are the reason why any seasoned crypto user will tell you to NEVER trust an exchange to store your coins for you. The popular saying is “not your keys, not your coins” and, trust me, you do not want to learn this lesson the hard way. If you have the ability to withdraw your coins I believe you should make the best effort you can to do so every time.

There are a number of altcoin wallets you can choose from. I personally recommend the Coinomi wallet for small amounts of coins. For large amounts, I recommend a hardware wallet like a Trezor.

No matter what wallet you settle on, the process will be the same from here on out. Your wallet will provide you with a “receive” address. You will take this address, navigate to your exchange’s “Withdraw” page, and select how much of your altcoin you want to withdraw. Double check and triple check that you put in the correct address, then go ahead and hit “submit”:

You will likely need to do some sort of confirmation even after this submission, in Binance’s case it’s an email. Follow the instructions from your exchange provider to ensure that the withdrawal is properly processed:

If all goes correctly, you should be able to confirm the withdrawal and you will see the transaction appear under your exchange’s transaction history:

From here you are waiting for the exchange to process the transaction. This time will vary greatly from exchange to exchange and even from coin to coin, so be sure to check their terms and conditions or reach out to the support team if you are in dire need of the withdrawal being processed by a certain time. Support teams can’t make special requests happen for you, but they can let you know if there are issues happening with withdrawals at any given moment. There is nothing worse than getting your purchase made in time only to miss out on whatever you needed the coins for due to transaction times.

The good news for us is that we’re dealing with Dogecoin in this example and Doge happens to have some of the fastest transaction times of any coin. Six minutes after hitting the withdrawal button, my coins were confirmed in my private wallet:

Once a withdrawal is confirmed on your altcoin’s blockchain, you’re ready to use your coins as you see fit! In the example above I used DogeChain.com, but this will only work for Dogecoin transactions. If you need to find a block explorer for your specific coin, I recommend visiting the website for your altcoin of choice. There will almost always be a block explorer that is recommended within the website.

Final Notes

Hopefully you’ve enjoyed this breakdown of how to buy altcoins with USD and it helps you find the perfect platform for your cryptocurrency needs. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to us via cryptocurrencyposters@gmail.com or @postersofcrypto on Twitter.

The post How to Buy Altcoins With USD appeared first on Cryptocurrency Posters.

For crypto users around the world, Coinbase is widely recognized as the go-to platform for buying and selling Bitcoin and Altcoins. However, as the industry has developed, more and more Coinbase alternatives have popped up as well. One of the more interesting competitors to hit the scene is Gemini.

Gemini was founded in June 2013 by the infamous Winklevoss twins. The exchange has been running since 2015 but was slow to offer a retail product to individual investors as they sorted through the regulations of all 50 US States. However, all (save Hawaii) are now active.

The Gemini product offering is extremely similar to Coinbase as you’ll see in the comparison table below. Gemini even offers their own US Dollar stablecoin that is built on Ethereum just like the USDC stablecoin from Coinbase. However, there are a few key differences between these two when you pull back the curtain.

Gemini vs Coinbase Breakdown

Here is the quick Gemini vs Coinbase comparison:

TRY COINBASE

TRY GEMINI

The Case For Gemini

The highlight from the comparison table above is pretty straightforward…at the high level, there is no difference between these exchanges. So why would Gemini be your choice?

I think the decision centers around whether or not you want all the features of Coinbase…but for the exchange not to be Coinbase. If this is what you’re looking for, Gemini is by far your best option on the market.

And why wouldn’t you want Coinbase? Personally, I have no qualms against the exchange, but there have been rumblings amongst users that are worried about privacy and Coinbase selling information to government agencies. I have no doubt that similar things may be happening at Gemini (it’s the sad reality of operating as a highly regulated cyrptocurrency exchange), but the current community mentality seems to be that Coinbase is the more egregious offender.

It’s very important to note that Gemini is a custodial cryptocurrency exchange. What this means is that you do not have access to the private keys of your cryptocurrency. This means that you are relying on Gemini to ensure that your coins are not stolen. They have an excellent track record of security and boast “institutional grade crypto storage” and “the largest insurance coverage limit of any crypto custodian in the world”, but any new user should realize that the safety of your crypto is completely dependent on their actions. And if you want to withdraw coins from the exchange, you will need their approval first.

Note: For more education on how private keys in cryptocurrency work (and how to store coins without an exchange) you can reference our blog on the Trezor hardware wallet.

As we noted above, Gemini and Coinbase hover around roughly the same 3% fee structure. But this is highly dependent on how much crypto you are purchasing. Their official fee schedule for web purchases (as of the date of this blog’s publishing) is:

They also state the following in regards to fees:

The Convenience Fee is calculated at a rate of 0.50% (or 50 basis points) above the prevailing Gemini market price for a given trading pair at the time we provide you the Quoted Price. Your actual Convenience Fee may be greater or lower than 0.50% due to price movement in the market between the time we provide you the Quoted Price and the time your Web Order is filled; however, this will not affect the price you pay.

Gemini doesn’t offer quite as many coins for purchase as Coinbase does (see the Coinbase breakdown below for a full list), but there is still a sizeable offering that you can purchase, deposit and withdraw from the platform:

• Bitcoin
• Ethereum
• Bitcoin Cash
• Litecoin
• Chainlink
• ZCash
• BAT
• DAI
• Orchid

Gemini offers $10 in Bitcoin to new users that sign up and spend $100 within the first 30 days. You can get this offer by using my referral link below. If you would rather use Coinbase instead, you can use this link to receive $10 of free Bitcoin. Their offer is also tied to buying or sell at least $100 of cryptocurrency.

Setting Up Gemini

You can set up a Gemini account by either downloading their app or creating an account via their website. You will be required to provide standard identification information such as your name, address, and phone number. United States residents will also need to provide a social security number and identification documents for Gemini meet AML/KYC regulations. After this process is completed, your account will be created and you will be able to add money via Bank Transfer or by depositing crypto.

TRY GEMINI

The Case for Coinbase

While Gemini is doing a great job of selling themselves as the “Not-Coinbase Coinbase”, some people simply want the original. Launched in October of 2012, Coinbase has the distinction of being one of the first United States-based platforms to allow for the quick and easy purchase of Bitcoin via a bank transfer. At that time it was a huge step forward for the industry because many people were still wiring money to offshore exchanges when they wanted to buy Bitcoins. Having a simple purchasing platform in the United States was a game-changer for a geographic market that is now home to one of the world’s largest concentrations of crypto users.

This first mover advantage has proven to be influential in their success. As of December 2018, they are one of four crypto exchanges in the world with more than 100,000 active users (and the only one based in the United States). Officially, they claim “20M+ customers served” and “$150B+ in digital currency exchanged”. There’s no doubting the position they have as a powerhouse in the industry.

Basically, if you want to buy and store crypto in the United States with a company that has the longest track record of success, they’re your choice.

Like Gemini, Coinbase is a custodial wallet service which means that they keep track of the private keys to your crypto for you. While this means you have to trust them to not be hacked, it also protects you if you lose access to your phone or Coinbase password. You can simply reach out to their team to get access to your account again.

Buying and selling is a simple process with both their mobile app and desktop website. They even have a training section that allows new users to earn free crypto by competing learning exercises.

Along with allowing you to buy and sell coins, they are one of the world’s top crypto wallet providers. On Coinbase, you can store, send, and receive:

• Bitcoin
• 0x
• Atom
• Augur
• BAT
• Bitcoin Cash
• Bitcoin SV
• Chainlink
• Cosmos
• DAI
• Dash
• EOS
• Ethereum
• Ethereum Classic
• Kyber Network
• Litecoin
• Maker
• OMG Network
• Orchid
• Stellar Lumens
• Tezos
• USDC
• XRP
• ZCash

On top of this you receive access to their enterprise trading platform Coinbase Pro. There’s a learning curve, but if you want to get in on the swings of cryptocurrency price action you’ll find dramatically lower fees then trying to trade via their retail product.

Setting Up Coinbase

You can set up a Coinbase account on both their desktop platform or on mobile via their app. While you won’t need to give up your Social Security number, you will need to provide a phone number and identification documents like a driver’s license or a passport. There are options to create an account without giving up much personal information, but if you do so you will likely have very low purchase limits. This is because Coinbase restricts new accounts to prevent money laundering. Basically, the more information you can provide, the higher your purchase limits will be. Coinbase is also known to increase limits based on the age of your account and activity level.

Coinbase does offer an incentive when you sign up via an invitation. If you use my referral link below, you will receive $10 of Bitcoin when you sign up and buy or sell $100 of bitcoin or more.

TRY COINBASE

Gemini vs Coinbase Summary

The key points to keep in mind when comparing Gemini vs Coinbase:

• Coinbase and Gemini are relatively similar when it comes to their fee structure and usability
• Coinbase offers almost 3x more coins for purchase than Gemini
• They both offer a $10 bitcoin referral bonus

We hope you’ve enjoyed this breakdown of Gemini vs Coinbase and that it helps you find the perfect platform for your cryptocurrency needs. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to us via cryptocurrencyposters@gmail.com or @postersofcrypto on Twitter.

The post Gemini vs Coinbase: Crypto Exchange Review appeared first on Cryptocurrency Posters.

Note: This piece is very outdated, so please consult other research articles. There are many more alternatives for trading now, especially DeFi alternatives and consumer crypto products. Stablecoins are all the rage and you can learn more about the top options USDT and USDC via this blog. My current favorite consumer crypto app is pics or it didn’t happen. You can also use Coinbase’s Wallet to interact with web3.

If you’re a cryptocurrency user or someone who is thinking of making a crypto purchase for the first time, you’ve likely heard of Coinbase. Launched in October of 2012, they have the distinction of being one of the first United States-based platforms to allow for the quick and easy purchase of Bitcoin via a bank transfer. At that time it was a huge step forward for the industry because many people were still wiring money to offshore exchanges when they wanted to buy Bitcoins. Having a simple purchasing platform in the United States was a game-changer for a geographic market that is now home to one of the world’s largest concentrations of crypto users.

This first mover advantage has proven to be influential in their success. As of December 2018, they are one of four crypto exchanges in the world with more than 100,000 active users (and the only one based in the United States). Officially, they claim “20M+ customers served” and “$150B+ in digital currency exchanged”. There’s no doubting the position they have as a powerhouse in the industry.

Of course, when you’re at the top, there’s a big target on your back. They dominate the U.S. market at the moment, but the wide-open competition of the crypto industry has allowed a number of competitors to build product offerings with comparable levels of service. At this point there isn’t a clear winner that can lay claim to being the best option, but there are some great choices available if you’re wondering what other apps are like Coinbase.

How am I qualifying these options? My criteria is as follows:

• Beginner friendly. This is a bit subjective, but it means that you should be able to get started and purchase crypto without any advanced trading knowledge.
• Widely available. The service has to be available to a majority of the United States population (some States can be excluded).
• No wire transfers required. Funding has to be available with a normal U.S. checking account or debit / credit cards.
• Price markup needs to be reasonable. Many websites will offer direct crypto purchases to U.S. residents with a bank account or credit card, but will charge an obscene markup from the current spot price. Coinbase has a markup of roughly 4%, so that’s what we’re aiming for.
• Android and iPhone apps. Coinbase is largely successful due to convenience, so any self-respecting competitor will need the convenience of a mobile app.
• Prepared for the Ethereum Merge. Coinbase is ready with staking services to help users get ready for one of the most important shifts in crypto history.

The Coinbase Alternative Competitors

If you’re looking for a platform that is a true Coinbase alternative competitor, these are your best options:

• Robinhood – Best Alternative for Zero-Fee Trading
• Gemini – Best Alternative for Advanced Traders
• Cash App – Best Alternative for Bitcoin Maximalists
• SoFi Invest – Best Alternative for High-Value Users
• Abra – Best Alternative for Altcoins

Check out my breakdowns below to see how each of these services stack up to the market leader. Please Note – I received no payment from the service providers listed to be featured in this blog. However, the links below do contain my own personal referral links for each platform.

The Coinbase Alternative Competitors

1. Robinhood

If your motivation for exploring cryptocurrencies is strictly focused on quick-and-easy investing, Robinhood may be the choice for you. They added cryptocurrency trading to their massively popular stock trading app in February of 2018.

Setting up your account is done via their app, but they do request a little more information than the other providers in this article. For one, they require a Social Security Number. This is because of the stringent regulations they must comply with as a platform that sells traditional investment vehicles such as stocks. If you don’t mind providing this information, fill out the forms, connect your bank account, and you’re good to start investing in crypto.

Robinhood vs Coinbase

Excluded states are Delaware, Hawaii, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Vermont, and Wyoming.

As you may be realizing now from the Social Security Number and Excluded U.S. States, Robinhood is a platform that takes compliance and regulation seriously. They minimize their risk. While this means that less people are able to use the platform, it does offer one excellent benefit to those who do get to enjoy the platform: low fees.

Robinhood has made their name in the world of stocks by offering commission-free investing, and this is no different when it comes to their crypto offering. The price you see on Robinhood for bitcoins and other cryptos is the price you get. This is because it is a true marketplace and you are buying / selling against other users directly.

Like I mentioned at the beginning of the breakdown, this is excellent if you only want to invest in cryptocurrencies. But if you want to actually use crypto outside of the Robinhood app? You’re out of luck. There is no ability for users to either deposit or withdraw bitcoin or altcoins from the app. Robinhood’s statement on the matter is that “At this time we don’t support coin withdrawals, though we plan to do so in the future.”

However, if you have no problems with safe and simple investing via Robinhood’s walled garden, it’s hard to turn down their 0-fee approach. They also have a respectable selection of altcoin investment options including:

• Bitcoin Cash
• Bitcoin SV
• Dogecoin (Learn How to Buy Dogecoin)
• Ethereum
• Ethereum Classic
• Litecoin

While their limited options may be frustrating to some, Robinhood is a welcome competitor that is filling an interesting use case for traditional investors that want to dabble in cryptocurrencies. It will be exciting to see how they grow this portion of their platform through the coming years. Their slick marketing and track record of success make them a dark-horse contender to become the powerhouse onramp for U.S. consumers looking to move from fiat to crypto in the coming years.

As an incentive, Robinhood offers free stocks to new users that sign up up via an invitation from existing users. You can get this offer by using my referral link below. If you would rather use Coinbase instead, you can use this link to receive $10 of free Bitcoin when you buy or sell at least $100 of cryptocurrency.

TRY ROBINHOOD

2. Gemini

While all the other options on this list seem to stand out in their own way, Gemini is the closest competitor you can find that appears to want to directly eat Coinbase’s lunch. Founded in June 2013 by the infamous Winklevoss twins, the exchange has been running since 2015 but was slow to offer a retail product to individual investors as they sorted through the regulations of all 50 US States. However, all (save Hawaii) are now active.

The Gemini product offering is extremely similar to Coinbase as you’ll see in the comparison table below. Gemini even offers their own US Dollar stablecoin that is built on Ethereum just like the USDC stablecoin. However, there are a few key differences between these two when you pull back the curtain.

You can access Gemini via desktop or their iPhone and Android apps. Registration is fairly simple and once you have a bank account connected you will be ready to purchase cryptocurrency.

Gemini vs Coinbase

Interested in learning more? Visit our full Gemini vs Coinbase breakdown article.

Right away you can understand the clear competition between these two platforms. The feature set is almost identical from one to the other. Gemini also sets itself apart from the rest of the choices in this article by allowing you to deposit and sell all the altcoins offered on their platform. These altcoins are:

• Ethereum
• Bitcoin Cash
• Litecoin
• ZCash

Gemini’s fee structure adjusts dynamically based on how much you are buying via their app. Fees are subject to change, but as of this article’s writing fees for a $50 purchase were 4.5%. However, when that purchase was increased to $100, fees were 3.5%. At $300, fees were 2%.

It is crucial to mention that here is a strange distinction between the desktop and app products for Gemini. While the Gemini app allows you to quickly purchase any coin via your bank like Coinbase, the desktop platform forces you to use their exchange product. This is in stark contrast to Coinbase where the desktop product looks remarkably similar to the mobile app.

The inconvenience of this design on Gemini is minor and the exchange order book system isn’t that hard to figure out, but it is a little strange that such simple functionality is missing. Looking further at the issue, I think it reveals something about the Gemini mission itself. They seem to view themselves as a bit more “professional”. Sure, they offer a standard wallet product for you to store Bitcoin, but to me they don’t want the type of customer who is going to use them to make a $50 purchase of crypto here and there. They want to attract serious crypto traders and that is why the order book is front-and-center on desktop.

You can feel the different vibe when reading headlines from the respective company homepages. Coinbase is inviting and reads:

“Buy and sell cryptocurrency – Coinbase is the easiest place to buy, sell, and manage your cryptocurrency portfolio.”

On the other hand, Gemini’s opening slogan has a bit more sterility:

“Security. Liquidity. Trust. Gemini is a licensed digital asset exchange and custodian. Buy, sell, and store digital assets in a regulated, secure, and compliant manner.”

One platform is “easy”, the other is “licensed”. Is one of these approaches better? I think that’s really up to the user. Keep in mind that Coinbase does offer a product that is aimed clearly at traders with their Pro product, so it isn’t like Gemini is breaking new ground with a regulated professional crypto exchange based in the United States. But, while the core Coinbase product clearly wants to cater to the buyer who’s making intermittent purchases while trusting a 3rd party to keep the funds safe, Gemini’s offering to this same group seems like an afterthought.

All that said, there’s no arguing that Gemini offers the best match to the CB feature set. If you’re looking for an app that’s as close to the real thing as possible, this should be your clear choice. Gemini offers $10 in Bitcoin to new users that sign up and spend $100. You can get this offer by using my referral link below. If you would rather use Coinbase instead, you can use this link to receive $10 of free Bitcoin. Their offer is also tied to buying or sell at least $100 of cryptocurrency.

TRY GEMINI

3. SoFi Invest

SoFi Invest is another alternative to Coinbase that, similar to Robinhood, mainly advertises to users that want low-fee stock and ETF trading. However, they also happen to have an easy-to-use crypto platform built into the app that they are widely promoting to users.

The set-up process is simple and can be completed either online or by downloading their app. You will enter your personal information to create an account, then connect a bank account for funding.

SoFi Invest vs Coinbase

Excluded states are Hawaii, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, & Rhode Island.

As the above comparison shows, SoFi is also similar to Robinhood in that you cannot deposit or withdraw cryptocurrency via your account. You are simply investing in the price movement of the underlying assets. This takes away the risk of your coins being hacked, but you should understand that you aren’t really able to “use” cryptocurrency with this method of investment. Nonetheless, you’re still able to expose yourself to the crypto markets in a safe and regulated fashion. The coins offered by SoFi at this time are Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin.

Even though there is a lack of altcoins, SoFi does stand out from Coinbase thanks to its generous fee structure. While Coinbase will charge a roughly 4% markup via fees, SoFi’s fee for crypto is 1.25% based on their FAQ page. As an example for how this will impact your purchase, at the time of this writing a $50 purchase of Bitcoin on Coinbase offers .0065 BTC, while the same $50 purchase via SoFi returns .00671 BTC.

While SoFi Invest is fairly bare-bones when it comes to crypto trading features, there are some interesting incentives at play. As of January 2020 they are offering $25 in free Bitcoin to every new investor that signs up and makes a purchase of at least $10 of cryptocurrency. The fine print on their site reads: To receive the offer, you must: open a new SoFi CRYPTO ENTITY account through the signup link you were given, and buy at least $10 worth of any cryptocurrency within 7 DAYS. The offer only applies to new crypto accounts. The offer is limited to one per person. The offer expires on January 31st, 2020. Once conditions are met and account is opened, you will receive $25 in Bitcoin (BTC) within 7 days.

On top of this, if you use a referral link like the one I provide on this page, you are eligible to receive $100 in stock via their reward program if you fund your account with $1000 or more. This is why I consider it the best alternative for high-value users. If you’re going to pick a platform and fund with $1000, it makes sense to consider the Coinbase competitor that will give you a 10% bonus on that investment.

To try out SoFi Invest, you can use my referral link below. If you would rather use Coinbase instead, you can use this link to receive $10 of free Bitcoin when you buy or sell at least $100 of cryptocurrency.

TRY SOFI

4. Cash App

If all you care about in an alternative to Coinbase is buying and using Bitcoin, Square’s Cash App is the most impressive challenger to Coinbase in the United States. Cash App is a great personal wallet app that is primarily aiming to be a competitor to Venmo and Paypal. They jumped into the crypto world by adding the option to buy and sell Bitcoin in January of 2018.

Set-up is easy and involves downloading the app, creating an account, then connecting either a bank account or credit card for funding.

Cash App vs Coinbase

As you can see, while Cash App is excellent if you’re interested in Bitcoin, it is severely lacking in regards to altcoin options. There are none available in contrast to the selection on Coinbase of BAT, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Ethereum Classic, Litecoin, ZCash, USDC, 0x, and Tezos.

Even though there is a lack of altcoins, Cash App does stand out from Coinbase thanks to its generous fee structure. While Coinbase will charge a roughly 4% markup via fees, Cash App’s fee hovers around 1.5% based on my own personal use.

The official statement from Cash App is that: “Your exchange rate for buying and selling Bitcoin through the Cash App is calculated using the current market rate across the most popular U.S. exchanges, plus a spread determined by the size of your transaction and market volatility. The exchange rate may differ between transactions, and may also differ from exchange rates available to you from other buyers and sellers of Bitcoin.”

Cash App also performs the vital function of allowing you to withdraw the bitcoins you purchase via their platform. This means that if you actually want to use your purchased bitcoins (as opposed to simply buying as an investment), you will be able to move them to a personal wallet via the withdrawal function. Keep in mind that this does not flow both ways. Users are currently unable to deposit bitcoins to sell on the Cash App. So, if you take coins off the app, you will need to find a different service if you later decide to convert the bitcoins back to USD.

Cash App says they’re “working hard to bring support for bitcoin deposits from third party wallets to Cash App.” While this may be frustrating to some users, others may appreciate the elegant simplicity of the app. It has a function (buying BTC) and performs it well. Square CEO Jack Dorsey is also a public Bitcoin maximalist which has made his app a darling for supporters of crypto’s oldest currency.

To try out Cash App, you can use my referral link below (you’ll receive a $5 credit and I will as well). If you would rather use Coinbase instead, you can use this link to receive $10 of free Bitcoin when you buy or sell at least $100 of cryptocurrency.

TRY CASH APP

5. Abra

If you’re looking for a simple platform that more closely matches Coinbase’s selection of cryptocurrencies, Abra will likely be your provider of choice. They actually far exceed the selection of the market leader with the ability to invest in 30 different cryptos via the same app.

Set-up is simple with a quick app download, entry of personal information, and bank account / credit card connection process. But there is one interesting quirk. You will need to ensure that you write down the seed phrase tied to your Abra account. This phrase is a string of words that will be generated when you first install the app. If you lose this phrase, you lose access to all funds in your account so it is vital that you save it in a secure location.

While the other services in this article take care of managing your balances for you, Abra is (for better or worse) closely aligned with the cryptocurrency ideals of independence and decentralization. They state “The Abra model is 100% peer-to-peer, with no middle man ever holding, managing or touching your funds at any point in any transaction. So you are in control of your money!” This is nice because you are guaranteed that Abra can’t run off with your crypto. Managing the safety of your money is entirely in your hands.

Abra vs Coinbase

The highlight above is obviously the attractively low purchasing fees. Abra is proud to advertise that “you can buy cryptocurrencies with some of the most competitive rates in the market.”

The official statement from Abra is that: “We don’t currently charge fees on currency exchanges, but Abra does generate exchange rate income on the spread between different currencies, which goes to cover our costs and generate a small profit for Abra. For instance, if you convert US Dollars to Bitcoin, or Ethereum to Ripple, there will be a small spread built into the exchange rate that you see on the app.”

As well as providing reasonable rates on crypto purchases and rewards to new users, Abra offers direct purchase of over 80 altcoins to app users:

• Bitcoin
• 0x (ZRX)
• Augur (REP)
• Basic Attention Token (BAT)
• Bitcoin Cash (BCH)
• Bitcoin SV (BSV)
• BlackCoin (BLK)
• Bytes (GBYTE)
• Bytom (BTM)
• Cardano (ADA)
• Crown (CRW)
• CureCoin (CURE)
• Dash (DASH)
• Decred (DCR)
• DigiByte (DGB)
• DigitalNote (XDN)
• Dogecoin (DOGE) – Learn How to Buy Dogecoin
• Endor (EDR)
• Einsteinium (EMC2)
• Enjin (ENJ)
• Ether (ETH)
• Ethereum Classic (ETC)
• ExclusiveCoin (EXCL)
• Expanse (EXP)
• Flo (FLO)
• Feathercoin (FTC)
• GameCredits (GAME)
• GeoCoin (GEO)
• Groestlcoin (GRS)
• Golem (GNT)
• Gulden (NLG)
• Horizen (ZEN)
• I/OCoin (IOC)
• Komodo (KMD)
• LBRY Credits (LBC)
• Litecoin (LTC)
• Lisk (LSK)
• Loom Network (LOOM)
• Memetic (MEME)
• Mercury (MER)
• Metal (MTL)
• MonaCoin (MONA)
• Monero (XMR)
• MonetaryUnit (MUE)
• Myriad (XMY)
• NEM (XEM)
• NEO (NEO)
• OKCash (OK)
• Paxos Standard (PAX)
• Peercoin (PPC)
• PinkCoin (PINK)
• Pivx (PIVX)
• Radium (RADS)
• RavenCoin (RVN)
• ReddCoin (RDD)
• Ripple (XRP)
• SaluS (SLS)
• Siacoin (SC)
• Sibcoin (SIB)
• Solve.Care (SOLVE)
• Spendcoin (SPND)
• Sphere (SPHR)
• StableUSD (USDS)
• Status (SNT)
• Stealth (XST)
• Stellar (XLM)
• Stratis (STRAT)
• SysCoin (SYS) TRON (TRX)
• Ubiq (UBQ)
• UnikoinGold (UKG)
• Verge (XVG)
• VeriCoin (VRC)
• Vertcoin (VTC)
• ViaCoin (VIA)
• WavesTRUE (WAVES)
• Zcash (ZEC)
• ZCoin (XZC)

What’s even more impressive about this list is that, while some Coinbase competitors only allow users to invest in altcoins, Abra allows you to both deposit and withdraw all supported cryptocurrencies via the app. Abra used to only support deposits and withdrawals of so-called “native coins” which were Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum and Litecoin, but began allowing full featured use of all altcoins in December 2019.

Abra seems obsessed with pushing the limits of what they can offer. There is also an indice product to purchase a basket of 10 cryptos and they recently rolled out stock and ETF investing backed by Bitcoin. With an impressive list of features and more being announced every day, Abra seems committed to continuing their progress as a worthy option for U.S. users. Still looking for more info? Check out our dedicated Coinbase vs Abra blog.

TRY ABRA

What’s Your Favorite?

And there they are, my picks for the best alternatives to Coinbase for United States users. Think I missed something? Feel free to send your thought to cryptocurrencyposters@gmail.com or to reach out on Twitter via @postersofcrypto.

*Purchase fees are approximates based on personal experience and exchange rates at the time of this articles writing. All fees are subject to change based on the policies of linked service providers and the exchange rates of the various cryptocurrencies they offer. Keep in mind there are other fees that users may be charged including but not limited to balance transfer fees, withdrawal fees and crypto network fees. Always consult the terms and conditions of exchanges before making a purchasing decision.

If you decide to withdraw cryptocurrency from an exchange, to ensure the safety of your investment, we always recommend using a hardware wallet like a Trezor.

Coinbase Alternative FAQs

Are there sign-up bonuses?

Yes! Coinbase offers a $10 referral credit, Abra offers a $25 referral credit, Square offers a $5 credit, and Gemini offers a $10 referral credit.

Do you have to pay taxes on cryptocurrency sales and purchases?

Yes. If you are a U.S. citizen you must record and report capital gains taxes based on your sales and purchases of cryptocurrencies via Coinbase and other alternative platforms.

Are cryptocurrency exchanges safe?

Just like a normal bank can be robbed, Coinbase or any other cryptocurrency exchange could also be hacked or lose access to your funds. Nonetheless they have a long record of safe cryptocurrency storage and are fully regulated by U.S. authorities that govern financial services.

Is Coinbase insured?

From their insurance page: Coinbase maintains commercial criminal insurance in an aggregate amount that is greater than the value of digital currency we maintain in online storage.

What coins should I buy?

To answer this question you must do your own research. Anyone online who tries to tell you exactly what cryptocurrencies are worth buying is likely only trying to advertise their own investments.

Leave us a review below!

The post 2021 Best Coinbase Alternative for the United States appeared first on Cryptocurrency Posters.

If you’ve been involved in the cryptocurrency space for any bit of time at all, you’ve likely heard from more experienced users that you should keep your crypto in “cold storage”. This means storing your coins via a wallet address / private key combination that was generated and exists in an offline environment.

The reason this is so important is because of the nature of the internet itself. The web was designed for information to flow from one place to another, not for areas to be blocked off or inaccessible.

Try as we might to create spaces on the internet that are hard to access like login-protected bank accounts and cryptocurrency exchanges, the reality is that these platforms are always at risk of being hacked. No data is 100% safe when stored online.

This is where cold storage comes into play. By storing your coins offline you are eliminating one of the largest attack vectors that someone could use to steal your cryptocurrency.

Of course, there are trade-offs when making this security decision. The most apparent is convenience. There are methods to generate and store cryptocurrency keys offline like paper wallets or random generation methods like dice, but they aren’t exactly “easy” to do. Paper wallets need a trustworthy generator and dice are time consuming.

Furthermore, these methods are fragile. If you lose your copy of the private key? Tough luck. There goes your cryptocurrency forever.

Luckily, there is more advanced method that allows you the convenience of a traditional cryptocurrency wallet with the security of cold storage: The hardware wallet.

One of the first hardware wallets to be developed was the Trezor. Created in 2014 by the SatoshiLabs company, the Trezor brought cold storage to the masses in a manner which was “secure, easy to recover and easy to use”.

SHOP TREZOR

This reputation continues to this day. Trezors are highly recommended by many cryptocurrency enthusiasts, have been named a top blockchain gift idea, and are considered an excellent choice for anyone interested in a convenient cold storage method. There are two models available for purchase, the traditional Trezor One (SatoshiLab’s original product) and the Trezor Model T (a high-end alternative).

If you’re interested in learning more, this blog will walk you through the following topics:

• How Does a Trezor Work?
• How to Use a Trezor One
• How to Use a Trezor Model T

How Does a Trezor Work?

We’ve discussed the importance of cold storage, but you may still be asking how you can know that Trezors are sufficiently acceptable as a cold storage method. At the end of the day….you are buying this product from a centralized company, right? How are you supposed to know that the device wasn’t tampered with before being sold? And how can you be certain that it won’t be hacked while in use? Let’s cover the reasons below:

Secure Recovery Seed / Private Key Production

At the very heart of how a Trezor works is the production of the private keys and recovery seed for the public cryptocurrency addresses that the hardware wallet will be used for. If you don’t know what these terms mean, we recommend the quick video below:

This private key / public address combination is the most important UX feature of cryptocurrency. As the video mentions, if someone has access to your private key, they can take complete control over any funds within your public addresses.

With this in mind, it is essential for a functional wallet to have a secure method of generating a private key that can be accessed by you and you alone.

This is where the Trezor’s recovery seed function comes into play. From the official wiki:

During Trezor device initialization, the “Create a new wallet” process creates a new wallet with a new recovery seed. This recovery seed consists of a certain amount of English words (12, 18 or 24) from which the account private keys, all private keys, public keys, and addresses are mathematically derived. Creation of the recovery seed and master binary seed is as follows.

First, the 256-bit random number is generated in the Trezor device on its Microcontroller by the RNG (Random Number Generator). This number has 256 zeros or ones, so the entropy, or randomness, of this number is 2 ^ 256. This equals approximately 10 ^ 77. For comparison, it is estimated that there are 10 ^ 78 to 10 ^ 82 atoms in the known universe.

A random number of the same length is then generated in the connected computer and sent to the Trezor device. These two numbers are now together hashed by the SHA-256 algorithm – this number, which is again 256-bit, is the basis for the creation of the recovery seed, let’s call it initial entropy.

Trezor also supplies the helpful infographic below to illustrate the process:

The TL;DR of the process is this:

• The Trezor device produces a provably random number
• Your computer produces a provably random number
• These two are combined to produce a new random number (which is provably unique by thanks to the mathematics of cryptography)
• This number is the basis of your cryptocurrency private keys and a seed phrase

After this process is completed, your Trezor is now capable of generating public addresses (to receive cryptocurrency) and using the private key to sign transactions and send cryptocurrency from those addresses. And, if you should lose the Trezor, your recovery phrase can be used to gain access to the funds via a new device.

Thanks to the software and hardware design of the Trezor, these functions can all happen without the private key ever leaving the device.

SHOP TREZOR

So how can you interact with cryptocurrency networks that are inherently online without your private key leaving the device? This is where the Trezor Wallet comes into play:

Trezor Wallet Integration

The Trezor Wallet is the client that is used to safely connect your secure hardware wallet with the outside world of cryptocurrency blockchains. It’s an easy-to-use interface that looks like this:

As you can see from the screenshot above, the Trezor wallet has all the functionality you would expect from a traditional crypto wallet (along with a few extra features like buying crypto via partner exchanges).

We’ll walk you through the full process of how to use the Trezor wallet further below, but for now the main point to understand is that this wallet never actually has access to your private key. The wallet is simply an interface that you use to communicate with the Trezor device itself.

Here’s the breakdown of how a Trezor transaction works:

• A Trezor is connected to a computer with the wallet client running
• The wallet client creates a transaction message
• That transaction message is sent to the connected Trezor
• The transaction is verified by user input on the Trezor device itself
• That signed transaction is sent back to the wallet
• The wallet broadcasts this signed transaction to the network

This process is fundamentally the same as the way that all cryptocurrency transactions are processed, it’s just that with a Trezor you are utilizing a separate piece of hardware to ensure that the private key is never exposed to the Internet.

For a visual breakdown of the transaction process and the cryptography behind it, we recommend watching this video from 1:08 – 1:54:

Now that you understand how the Trezor hardware, software, and wallet client interact, there’s one other aspect of the product you should be aware of:

Open Source Design

The final key element that makes a Trezor trustworthy as a cold storage device is the fact that all of the software and hardware functionality we just described is open source. From the official security wiki:

The software used in Trezor devices has always been open-source to be fully auditable. Everybody can look at the code used in Trezor devices and verify its integrity, look for vulnerabilities, or come up with improvements and integrations.

We made Trezor fully transparent to eliminate the inherent need for trust and to share as much of our knowledge and ideas with the broader community.

This open source philosophy is in-line with the spirit of cryptocurrency. It has always been a commonly-accepted principle that projects should be open source so that they can be verified by the community at-large. When you use a Trezor, you have the knowledge that the code has been vetted for security by actual users, not just a single company.

How to Use a Trezor One

Now that we’ve walked through the technology that makes these ingenious hardware wallets function, it’s time to dive into what it’s like to actually use a Trezor.

First up is the Trezor One. The next sections will be walking you through unboxing and making your first transactions on the device:

Unboxing a Trezor One

The Trezor comes in the nondescript black box seen below:

Once unboxed, you should have all the pieces below:

The package will contain:

• 1x Trezor Device
• 1x MicroUSB cable
• 2x Recovery seed card
• 1x Lanyard
• 4x Stickers
• 1x User manual

The star of the show:

Setting Up a Trezor One

To begin the process you can follow the instructions on the box and navigate to Trezor.io/Start/. You’ll then be instructed to select the device you are using (in this case, a Trezor One), and confirm. From there you’ll be taken to the wallet homepage and asked to connect your device:

Connecting the device is as simple as using the provided micro USB cable to plug the Trezor into your computer. You may receive a pop-up message that identifies the device.

Note: If you’re having trouble connecting the device, you will likely want to install the Trezor bridge communication software. It’s not always required, but if for some reason your browser is not recognizing the device, it should ensure that the process works flawlessly.

Once your Trezor is connected, you will see a screen prompting you to update the firmware. This is always recommended as the latest firmware will ensure that your device is as secure as possible.

Note that the screen of Trezor itself will be displaying updates as you make your way through the setup process. Upon a successful firmware update, you’ll receive the following message:

Following the firmware update you’ll be taken through a process that includes creating your backup (the recovery seed we mentioned earlier), setting up a PIN lock for the device, and naming the device. The first step is the backup process:

After confirming you’ll be ready to write down your seed:

During this process the wallet interface itself will not actually display the recovery seed, it will only be displayed on your Trezor. Again, this comes back to the core principle of the device that the private keys never leave your unique piece of hardware.

Be sure to write down this private seed phrase by either using the booklets provided in the box or your own piece of paper. You must keep this phrase safe. If something happens to your Trezor, it will be the only way to access your funds again.

After backing up your Trezor via seed phrase, you will move to creating a unique PIN. This will ensure that, even if someone gains access to your device, they will not be able to use it to send a transaction from your cold storage.

Again, you will be called on to confirm the changes via a physical button press on the Trezor itself.

The pin will the be selected via a blind matrix. Randomized numbers will be displayed on the device itself and a corresponding selection pad displayed in the wallet interface will allow you to enter a pin of your choosing.

You can check out the video below for a quick look at how the process works in motion:

One thing to keep in mind when choosing your pin is that this won’t be a one-off thing. Pretty much every significant action you will want to take with your Trezor from here on out will require a pin. Obviously that doesn’t mean you should choose an easy pin and compromise security, but you should still be warned that this is a process that entering your unique pin via the wallet will be a common action. With this in mind, be sure that you record your pin securely but also have it somewhere that can be quickly accessed.

Once the backup phrase and PIN are set-up, you can name your device. The wallet makes this process extremely simple and once again you’ll be asked to confirm on your Trezor.

Receiving Transactions on a Trezor One

After the naming is complete, you’re ready to receive crypto to your wallet! To do so, simply navigate to the “Receive” tab of the wallet:

Clicking the “Show full address” button will then display the address for you to confirm on your Trezor:

This display on the device is, again, essential to security. In practice an infected computer could display an incorrect deposit address via the Trezor wallet, but that same virus could never change the address displayed on the Trezor itself. By confirming the receiving address on the screen, you are ensuring that your funds will be sent to an address that only you control.

Once you have confirmed that the address does indeed match, you can safely send a deposit and expect it to show up within the wallet interface as soon as the transaction is confirmed by whatever blockchain network you are using. Here’s a view of how the completed transaction will appear:

While within this walkthrough we are using Bitcoin, the Trezor wallet interface allows you to quickly switch to a wide array of built in altcoin wallets:

Sending Transactions on a Trezor One

Once your wallet is funded (be that with bitcoins or altcoins), you’re ready to send a transaction. To do so you will use the Send tab in the interface:

The interface is very user friendly. Enter the bitcoin address you want to send to, the amount you want to send, then select the fee. Note on the sending fee, this is variable and can be made as expensive or as cheap as you want:

Generally you are safe to go with the preselected options, but there is a custom option as well. If you use this, be sure to note how changing the fee selector adjusts the actual cost of the fee estimate displayed above the green confirmation button. It is possible to adjust your custom fee incorrectly and spend all of your transaction on fees, so use this feature with care. In general, a high fee will allow your transaction to confirm faster on the blockchain. You can read more about transaction fees via the Trezor Wiki.

After you have all your transaction information set, you can hit the green confirmation button. This will trigger a request to enter your Trezor One pin:

After a pin entry, you will also need to physically confirm the transaction via a button press on the device:

Finally, once confirmed on the device, the transaction will appear within your wallet interface under the transactions tab as a success:

Trezor One in Review

There are a wide array of functionalities beyond sending and receiving that can be done with a Trezor One including things like staking coins or using ERC20 tokens, but for now you should have all the basics needed to get started on your hardware wallet journey.

If you’re interested in purchasing a Trezor One, click the link below or move on to our next section walking you through the Trezor Model T.

SHOP TREZOR

How to Use a Trezor Model T

Setting up and using a Trezor Model T is very similar to the process we covered for the Trezor One. We’ll walk you through it below

Unboxing a Model T

The Trezor comes in the two-piece box seen below (plastic wrap that sealed box has been removed for photo quality):

Once unboxed, you should have all the pieces below:

The package will contain:

• 1x Trezor Model T Device
• 1x USB-A to USB-C cable
• 2x Recovery seed card
• 4x Stickers
• 1x User manual

Focus on the Model T device:

Note: As you may notice from the picture above, the two big differences between the Trezor One and the Trezor Model T are that:

• The Trezor Model T has no buttons
• The Trezor Model T has a holographic sticker at the bottom of the device

The lack of buttons is because the Model T utilizes a touchscreen. Meanwhile, the sticker at the bottom of the device covers up the USB port and is used to indicate any potential tampering with the device. This video shows how to remove the holographic sticker and its residue.

Setting Up a Trezor Model T

To begin the process you can follow the instructions on the box and navigate to Trezor.io/Start/. You’ll then be instructed to select the device you are using (in this case, a Trezor Model T), and confirm. From there, you’ll be taken to the wallet homepage and asked to connect your device:

Connecting the device is as simple as using the provided micro USB cable to plug the Trezor into your computer. You may receive a pop-up message that identifies the device.

Note: If you’re having trouble connecting the device, you will likely want to install the Trezor bridge communication software. It’s not always required, but if for some reason your browser is not recognizing the device, it should ensure that the process works flawlessly.

The Model T itself will also tell you where to go to start using the device (if you happen to have misplaced the box):

Once your Trezor Model T is connected, you will see a screen prompting you to update the firmware. This is always recommended as the latest firmware will ensure that your device is as secure as possible.

Note that the screen of the Model T will be displaying updates as you make your way through the setup process. For example you’ll see the confirmation message and update statuses shown below when updating the firmware:

Following the firmware update you’ll be taken through a process that includes creating your backup (the recovery seed we mentioned earlier), setting up a PIN lock for the device, and naming the device. The first step is the backup process:

After confirming you’ll be prompted to finish the process on the Model T device:

During this process the wallet interface itself will not actually display the recovery seed, it will only be displayed on your Trezor. Again, this comes back to the core principle of the device that the private keys never leave your unique piece of hardware.

You will first see a confirmation message on the device:

Next your Trezor Model T will display your private seed. Be sure to write down this private seed phrase by either using the booklets provided in the box or your own piece of paper. You must keep this phrase safe. If something happens to your Trezor, it will be the only way to access your funds again.

After backing up your Trezor via seed phrase, you will be asked to type in specific seed words to the device via the touchscreen. This confirms that you have properly stores your phrase and still have access to it:

Next you will move to creating a unique PIN. This will ensure that, even if someone gains access to your device, they will not be able to use it to send a transaction from your cold storage.

Again, you will be called on to confirm the changes via a prompt on the Model T itself.

The pin will the be selected via a randomized keypad on the device itself. Similar to the seed phrase, ensure that you store this pin in a safe place that only you can access. Losing the pin will effectively cause you to lose access to the funds on the Model T:

Once the backup phrase and PIN are set-up, you can name your device. The wallet makes this process extremely simple and once again you’ll be asked to confirm on your Model T. After naming, you’re ready to start making transactions.

Receiving Transactions on a Trezor Model T

The first step will be to navigate to the “Receive” tab of the wallet:

Clicking the “Show full address” button will then display the address for you to confirm on your Trezor:

The display of this address on the device is essential to security. In practice an infected computer could display an incorrect deposit address via the Trezor wallet, but that same virus could never change the address displayed on the Model T screen itself. By confirming the receiving address on the screen, you are ensuring that your funds will be sent to an address that only you control.

Once you have confirmed that the address matches, you can safely send a deposit and expect it to show up within the wallet interface as soon as the transaction is confirmed by whatever blockchain network you are using. Here is a picture of what the confirmation message will look like under the Transactions tab:

While within this walkthrough we are using Bitcoin, keep in mind that the Trezor wallet interface allows you to quickly switch to a wide array of built in altcoin wallets:

Once your Model T wallet is funded, you’re ready to send a transaction!

Sending Transactions on a Trezor Model T

To start you will use the Send tab in the interface:

The interface is very user friendly. Enter the bitcoin address you want to send to, the amount you want to send, then select the fee. Note on the sending fee, this is variable and can be made as expensive or as cheap as you want:

Generally you are safe to go with the preselected options, but there is a custom option as well. If you use this, be sure to note how changing the fee selector adjusts the actual cost of the fee estimate displayed above the green confirmation button. It is possible to adjust your custom fee incorrectly and spend all of your transaction on fees, so use this feature with care. In general, a high fee will allow your transaction to confirm faster on the blockchain. You can read more about transaction fees via the Trezor Wiki.

After you have all your transaction information set, you can hit the green confirmation button. This will trigger you to complete the confirmation via the Model T’s screen:

One more confirmation screen:

Finally, once confirmed on the device, the transaction will appear within your wallet interface under the transactions tab as a success:

Trezor Model T in Review

And there you go! Everything you need to know about how the Model T works when it comes to key storage and sending / receiving transactions. Think I missed something? Feel free to send your thought to cryptocurrencyposters@gmail.com or to reach out on Twitter via @postersofcrypto. Any feedback will be used to make this article the best resource it can possibly be.

If you’re interested in purchasing a Trezor Model T, you can click the link below.

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