Bitcoin is dead long live Bitcoin
Bitcoin is still going strong despite how many times we were told it was dead.
Some obituaries here: – https://99bitcoins.com/bitcoin-obituaries/
In my opinion they keep telling us it died because it’s a threat to the banking system and therefore control, as if you are your own bank what do you need them for? Some banks block transactions with Bitcoin exchanges or they want you to verify the transactions.
Let’s talk about the risks first.
Can I lose my money?
In my opinion the answer is a resounding NO providing we you are not stupid and sell it when the price is lower than you bought it.
Bitcoin’s price on October 16th, 2013 was $150. On November 30th , 2013 it was $1,150, and on December 19th, 2013 it was $560. now at the time of writing its $23,195.
The Bitcoin halving event, which happens once every four years, is believed to be in the middle of the market cycle. This is what happened in the 2012, 2016, and 2020 halving events. Every low of a major cycle has never fallen below the top of the previous one.
The Bitcoin chart in logarithmic scale shows its a 12 year bull market, with its ups and downs every 4 years or so, but the general direction is up.
Source: https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/bitcoin/
So in my opinion if you hold it for more than 4 years you should see it gain in value, as last cycles highs are normally this cycles lows.
Where do I get some?
When you purchase some Bitcoin it is held at an address on the blockchain and provided that you have the password (keys) to that address on the blockchain it will be there forever.
You will have to buy this bitcoin from an Exchange who will force you to KYC which means Know Your Customer. KYC check is the mandatory process of identifying and verifying your identity when opening an account. For this process you will need an address and a photo ID/Passport and a webcam/phone.
Once you are KYC’d you will have a purchase limit of about £1000 for online card purchases, which will increase over time, you can increase it to a larger amount by setting up a bank transfer.
Exchanges
https://www.coinbase.com/ Mostly in the USA and Europe quite easy to make purchases, the company suffered heavy losses recently so they are scaling back their operations. (We use them)
https://www.binance.com/en Global and the largest exchange on the planet, we have accounts there but we are not KYC’d yet as we have not used the account for years, purchasing is not as easy as Coinbase.
https://www.paypal.com PayPal are now offering the ability to buy Bitcoin, which is simple and safe but at this time you can’t take your bitcoin off PayPal in Europe however they may be relaxing that restriction some point in the future.
So, you have some bitcoin what next?
Not your keys not your bitcoin
A private key is a secure code that enables the holder to make cryptocurrency transactions and prove ownership of their holdings. Bitcoin keys specifically feature a 256-bit string displayed as a combination of letters and numbers.
If have bought your bitcoin on an exchange like Coinbase or Binance, you could leave it on the exchange however it won’t truly be yours as you won’t have the keys leaving you at the whims of the company and with it being in a centralised location could possibly be seized if the government want it.
In 1933, Executive Order 6102 had made it a criminal offense for U.S. citizens to own or trade gold anywhere in the world
So how do you guarantee its yours?
There are devices called hardware wallets from companies like Ledger and Trezor, these are small devices that connect to a laptop (USB) or phone (via Bluetooth) which will allow you to generate a 24-word seed which is used to make the Key.
https://trezor.io/
https://ledger.com/
These 24 words are a representation of a string of random digits called a seed, from which all the keys in your wallet are derived. The good thing about the 24 words is that if you ever lose your device, provided you have the 24 words, you can get another device and enter the words to access your coins.
The software for these devices lets you make accounts (addresses) which you can send your coins too so they are fully under your control.
DO’s DON’T’S
DO NOT enter your private keys onto a computer EVER, NO site or company will ever ask you for them if they do it’s a scam. Use the old-fashioned pen to write them down and store the paper/card safely.
DO NOT photograph your private keys as it’s a digital copy that could be stolen and read.
DO NOT purchase your device from Amazon or eBay as it may be tampered with, ONLY buy from the official sites above.
DO NOT download the software from emails even if it looks official as there are scam emails that look real.
ALWAYS check the address is correct even if you are just copy and pasting as there are hacks to computer copy buffers.
DO NOT be dazzled by the array of other “Crypto” on offer on the exchanges none of them are Bitcoin and even though they make promises of large gains, in the long run they ALL will lose against bitcoin, they are what we call shitcoins.
Back in May @samcallah did some shocking research revealing that nearly every shitcoin listed on coinbase has declined against Bitcoin since they listed it.
DO NOT trade, no matter how smart you think you are you can’t beat the professional traders and you will lose your bitcoin.
Transferring
Say you buy £500 worth of Bitcoin, and you want to send it to your hardware wallet I feel you would be a fool to send it all in one go without a small test send of say £5, if after roughly 10 minutes it arrives in your wallet you know the address you sent it too is correct and the transfer works, so then you can send the remaining £495 to the same address (still checking the address) and wait 10 mins.