Simple Ways to Buy and Invest in Bitcoin

What is Bitcoin?

Bitcoin is a decentralized, peer to peer, digital currency system, designed to give online users the ability to process transactions via digital unit of exchange known as Bitcoins. In other words, it is a virtual currency.

The Bitcoin system was created in the year 2009 by an undisclosed programmer(s). Since then, Bitcoin has garnered huge attention as well as controversy as an alternative to US dollar, Euros and commodity currencies such as gold and silver.

Rise to Popularity

Bitcoin had not attained much attention in the world of business and finance before the year 2009. It rose to prominence in the 2011-2012 period when it gained over 300%. Bitcoin has had a 400% growth in its value since the August of last year. As a result, venture capital firms and investors around the world continue to pay importance to the cryptocurrency.

In the first half of 2014, venture capital firms invested $57 million in Bitcoin in the first quarter, followed by another $73 million in the second quarter amounting to a total of $130 million, which is 50% greater than last year’s total of $88 million. This is a complete contrast to the scenario in 2012 where Bitcoin firms amassed a relatively meagre sum of $2.2 million.

These statistics prove beyond doubt that Bitcoin is worth your investment, which begs the question, how can you buy and invest in Bitcoin?

A guideline for novice investors in Bitcoin

The easiest and least complicated method to invest in Bitcoin is by purchasing bitcoins. There are a lot of established firms, mainly in the US as well as abroad, who are involved in the business of buying and selling bitcoins, abbreviated as BTC.

Coinbase

If you are living in the U.S. then Coinbase is the place you’re looking for. Coinbase provides it’s clients with BTC at an estimated mark up of 1% over the existing market price. Residents of the United States have the option to sync their Coinbase wallets with their bank accounts. As a result, future payment transfers are made hassle free. This company also gives you the option of automatic bitcoin buying from time to time. For instance, if you’re interested to purchase $50 in bitcoins at the beginning of each month, Coinbase allows you to set up an auto buy for that amount.

Be mindful of the terms and conditions before you begin to use this service. If you have subscribed to an automatic bit coin service, then you will not be able to control the price at which the BTC is bought every month. Note that Coinbase is does not function as a Bitcoin exchange i.e. you buy and sell the coins directly from the firm. Since the firm has to source the coins from other buyers, you may face delays or disruptions when laying orders during fast market moves.

BitStamp

BitStamp suits the requirements of a conventional bitcoin exchange. Bitcoin acts as an intermediary which allows you to trade with other users and not the company itself. Here the liquidity is higher and you always have a good chance to find someone who is willing to trade with you. There is an initial fee of 0.5% which can be reduced to 0.2% if you trade $150,000 in a period of 30 days.

Alternative ways to purchase Bitcoins

Local Bitcoins

Exchanging isn’t the only method of investment in bitcoins. Local Bitcoins is often used to buy BTC offline. The website is designed to link potential buyers and sellers. The bitcoins are locker from the seller in an escrow and can only be released to buyers.

Buying bitcoins offline isn’t always very reliable or safe. Hence it’s preferable to meet the sellers during daytime and let a friend tag along with you just in case things go south.

Bitcoin is not just a modern trend. Venture capital firms consider Bitcoin to be a decent substitute to conventional currency in the long run. There are cointless ways for you to enter the sphere of bitcoin investment. As mentioned before, Coinbase, BitStamp and Local Bitcoins are the most popular channels for investing in bitcoin in the United States. Do your homework and find out which avenue ticks all your boxes.

Learn About the Bitcoin Trading

Bitcoins are the newest form of digital currency being used by many traders and investors. Any exchange market can trade bitcoins but it's a risky shot, as you can lose your hard earned money. One should be quite cautious before proceeding.

About Bitcoin:

A bitcoin is the same as currency, although it is digital in form. You can save it, invest it and spend it. Crypto-currency once circulated the market and brave rise to the Bitcoin. This started in 2009 by an anonymous person with a nickname of Satoshi Nakamoto. The bitcoin has gained popularity during this year as its rate jumped from $ 2 to $ 266. This happened during the months of February and April. A process known as mining is said to generate a Bitcoin using powerful computer algorithms called blocks. Once a block has been decrypted, you earn about 50 Bitcoins. Usually, solving a single problem takes a lot of time, maybe a year or so. If you can not do so, then there is another medium to get these Bitcoins; that is you simply buy them.

Working of a Bitcoin:

When you buy a Bitcoin you exchange your physical money and get the digital currency in form of a Bitcoin. It is very simple, if you want to exchange currency you have to pay for it in order to get that currency. Same is the case with the Bitcoins. You pay the current rate of Bitcoin. Let's suppose it is $ 200 so you pay $ 200 and get one Bitcoin. Basically it's a type of commodity. Most of the exchanges operating in the market make a lot of money by moving the currency in the market. They get US dollars by giving these Bitcoins and get rich instantly. But the thing is that as it looks easy to make money by converting the Bitcoins into Dollars, these changes lose their money quite easily too.

Become a player In the Market:

There are several ways of becoming players in the Bitcoin market. The simplest way is to buy a dedicated computer and install some Bitcoins mining software and start decrypting the blocks. This process is said to be the easiest possible way but it's slow.

If you want to make money faster, then you have to form a team. You should organize a Bitcoin pool consisting of four to five members. Then you can form a mining pool and can decrypt the blocks faster than an individual can do.You would end up decrypting several blocks simultaneously.

The quickest way to make money through Bitcoins is that you should go straight to the markets. Go for the reputable and reliable Bitcoins exports operating in the market. You first of all have to register yourself. Sign up and make an account and then you must respond to the confirmations accordingly. This will keep you up to date about all the working stocks of the Bitcoins. You can trade bitcoins at any online trading platform. Some companies have even started accepting payments in bitcoins.

What To Look For When Going A Bitcoin Trading Bot

Cryptocurrency market has become very popular and every trader is looking to make it big with bitcoin trading. It is however a very volatile market that can be hard to keep up with, especially considering that this is a market that never sleeps unlike the stock market. To make things easier for traders, trading bots have been developed. A trading bot can be defined as software program which is designed to interact with financial derivatives directly so relevant information is obtained and interpreted so orders can be bought and sold on the traders' behalf.

In essence, the bots make decision through market price movement monitoring and use of pre-programmed rules so that losses can be stopped. The bot analyzes market actions like price, volume and orders according to your preferences and tastes as a trader and makes the decision. If you are into bitcoin trading, then you may want to choose the best bitcoin trading bot to ease out the process for you. But with so many bots now available, how do you know which one is best?

Customization and ease of use

The interface of a good trading bot should be easy to use by any kind of trader including those who know nothing about coding. All information necessary should be easy to find and the gains clearly shown together with all aspects of the trading that matter including buy orders and current sell. All you should be required to do is enter your pairs and numbers and then start your trading with a click of a button. Apart from being straightforward even for first time users, a customizable trading bot is even better. With this function, you will be in a position to change how the skin looks so you can have a program that you are happy to use every time.

Operating system compatibility

Not all bots are designed the same and not all traders will use the same operating systems. For this reason, you want to get a platform that functions on all the operating systems. With this kind of bot on your side, you can access your trades from Linux, Mac or Windows depending on the device you are using. With your orders and settings on a USB, you will only need to plug into any computer to continue trading with the operating system notwithstanding. A standardone bot that requires no installation and is compatible with all systems will prove very convenient in the end.

Support for pairs, coins and exchange

Apart from bitcoin, you could be a trader interested in other pairs, exports and coins. It can there before be more helpful to find a trader bot that can accommodate different coins offered by major exchanges. A full stacked crypto bot will work great for a spontaneous kind of trader.

Other bot features that could prove to be helpful are notifications and reporting, real time and historical back testing among others. Find out what the trader bot can do and select accordingly.

How "Crypto" Currencies Work – A Brief Overview of Bitcoin, Ethereum & Ripple

"Crypto" – or "crypto conventions" – are a type of software system which provides transactional functionality to users through the Internet. The most important feature of the system is their decentralized nature – typically provided by the blockchain database system.

Blockchain and "crypto conventions" have become major elements to the global zeitgeist recently; typically as a result of the "price" of Bitcoin skyrocketing. This has lead millions of people to participate in the market, with many of the "Bitcoin exchanges" under massive infrastructure stresses as the demand soared.

The most important point to realize about "crypto" is that although it actually serves a purpose (cross-border transactions through the Internet), it does not provide any other financial benefit. In other words, its "intrinsic value" is staunchly limited to the ability to transact with other people; NOT in the storing / dissolving of value (which is what most people see it as).

The most important thing you need to realize is that "Bitcoin" and the like are payment networks – NOT "contracts". This will be covered more deeply in a second; the most important thing to realize is that "getting rich" with BTC is not a case of giving people any better economic standing – it's simply the process of being able to buy the "coins" for a low price and sell them higher.

To this end, when looking at "crypto", you need to first understand how it actually works, and where its "value" really lies …

Decentralized Payment Networks …

As mentioned, the key thing to remember about "Crypto" is that it's predominately a decentralized payment network . Think Visa / Mastercard without the central processing system.

This is important because it highlights the real reason why people have really began looking into the "Bitcoin" proposition more deeply; it gives you the ability to send / receive money from anyone around the world, so long as they have your Bitcoin wallet address.

The reason why this attributes a "price" to the various "coins" is because of the misconception that "Bitcoin" will somehow give you the ability to make money by virtue of being a "crypto" asset. It does not.

The ONLY way that people have been making money with Bitcoin has been due to the "rise" in its price – buying the "coins" for a low price, and selling them for a MUCH higher one. Whilst it worked well for many people, it was actually based off the "greater fool theory" – essentially finding that if you manage to "sell" the coins, it's to a "greater fool" than you.

This means that if you're looking to get involved with the "crypto" space today, you're basically looking at buying any of the "coins" (even "alt" coins) which are cheap (or inexpensive), and riding them price increases until you sell them off later on. Because none of the "coins" are backed by real-world assets, there is no way to estimate when / if / how this will work.

Future Growth

For all intents-and-purposes, "Bitcoin" is a spent force.

The epic rally of December 2017 indicated mass adoption, and whilst its price will likely continue to grow into the $ 20,000 + range, buying one of the coins today will basically be a huge gamble that this will occur.

The smart money is already looking at the majority of "alt" coins (Ethereum / Ripple etc) which have a relatively small price, but are continuously growing in price and adoption. The key thing to look at in the modern "crypto" space is the way in which the various "platform" systems are actually being used.

Such is the fast-paced "technology" space; Ethereum & Ripple are looking like the next "Bitcoin" – with a focus on the way in which they're able to provide users with the ability to actually utilize "decentralized applications" (DApps) on top of their underlining networks to get functionality to work.

This means that if you're looking at the next level of "crypto" growth, it's almost certainly going to come from the various platforms you're able to identify out there.

How Bitcoin Works

Bitcoins are a decentralized form of crypto currency. Meaning, they are not regulated by a financial institution or the government. As such, unlike a traditional bank account, you do not need a long list a paperwork such as an ID in order for you to establish what's known as a bitcoin wallet. The bitcoin wallet is what you will use to access your bitcoins and to send bitcoins to other individuals.

How To Setup An Account

You can acquire a bitcoin wallet from a bitcoin broker such as Coinbase. When you open up a wallet through a certified broker, you are given a bitcoin address which is a series of numbers and letters, similar to an account number for a bank account and a private key which is a series of numbers and letters as well, which serve as your password.

How Does Bitcoin Work As An Anonymous Payment Processor

You can do 3 things with bitcoins, you can make a purchase, send money anonymously to someone or utilize it as an investment. More and more merchants have been accepting bitcoins as a form of payment. By utilizing bitcoins instead of cash, you are essentially making that purchase anonymously. The same thing goes for sending money, based on the fact that you do not have to submit a mountain of payment in order for you to establish a bitcoin anonymously, essentially you can send money to someone else anonymously.

How Does Bitcoin Work As An Investment

The price of a bitcoin fluctuates from time to time. Just to put things in perspective, back in the beginning of 2013, the average price of a bitcoin was approximately $ 400 per bitcoin, but by the end of 2013, the price for bitcoin rose to over $ 1000. This meant that if you had 2 bitcoins worth $ 800 in the beginning of 2013 and you stored it as an investment by the end of 2013 those two bitcoins would have been worth over $ 2000 instead of $ 800. Many people store bitcoins due to the fact that the value of it fluctuates.

Bitcoin Casino and Poker Sites

Due to the anonymity of bitcoin the gambling industry has taken up bitcoin as a payment method. Both bitcoin casinos and bitcoin poker sites are coming to life and offering their players to make deposits, play with bitcoin at the tables and pull directly to their bitcoin wallet. This means that there's no taxes or possibilities for government control. Much like a regular Nevada casino where do you do not need to register anywhere and all your transactions are anonymous.

How Do You Send Bitcoin

In order for you to pay for goods and services or to send bitcoins to an individual, 3 things are needed. Your bitcoin address, your private key and the individual's bitcoin address. From that point, through your bitcoin wallet, you will put 3 pieces of information, which are: input, balance and output. Input referers to your address, balance reflects to the amount of bitcoins you are going to send and output is the recipient's address.

How to Buy Bitcoins

Everyone is curious as to what bitcoin is and how one gets to earn it and spend it. Bitcoin is the most famous and largest digital currency in the world relating market capitalization and the market share where there are no intermediaries to handle the transactions. Microsoft Co-founder, Bill Gates has a lot of faith in Bitcoin to the point of saying, "Bitcoin is a technological tour de force."

According to Leon Louw, a Nobel Peace Prize nominee, every informed person needs to know at least about bitcoin since it has the potential to become one of the world's most significant developments.

One can buy bitcoins directly from other bitcoin users via marketplaces or through changes, and one pays for them through hard cash, credit or debit cards, electronic wire transfers, other cryptocurrency, PayPal, et al.

How Then Can One Buy Bitcoins?

Get a Bitcoin Wallet

This is the very first step when buying bitcoins since you will require a place to store, receive, and send your bitcoins. Different bitcoin wallets provide varying levels of security, and you can choose the security level that works best for your transactions. The most popular wallet options are

• A wallet software stored on the hard drive of your computer

• A web-based service that is an online wallet

• A multisig wallet that incorporates the use of many different keys to protect the account and keeps your bitcoins safe and offline

The next step is to fund your Bitcoin wallet and start placing orders.

Where to Buy Bitcoins

• Localbitcoins: – This is the primary site for arranging face-to-face transactions and prices negotiated. Its escrow service has made the site popular since it adds an added layer of protection for the buyer and the seller with a trust score of A. you can pay for bitcoins via PayPal, cash, or bank transfers.

• Coinbase: – This is another of the popular bitcoin wallets with one of the simplest ways of buying bitcoin. Upon sign up, one gets a $ 5 bonus. It has a trust score of A +. Use your card or bank transfers to buy bitcoins.

• Wesellcrypto: – This site ranks high, and it is beginner friendly. It has a trust rating of B +, and you can buy bitcoins via your PayPal account.

• Bitquick: – This site is also beginner friendly allowing users to buy and accept payments for bitcoins via hard currency as well as bank transfers. It has a trust rating of B.

With bitcoins, you can anonymously buy merchandise; make cheaper international payments since the Bitcoins are not subject to regulation from any country. The bitcoin market is very volatile and more people are buying them hoping to make a profit when the price goes up.

An Overview of Bitcoin Exchange

Technology is progressing by leaps and bounds. It is introducing new terms and systems for business and communications on a daily basis. Internet has made a large contribution in this advancement; especially when it comes to the field of business. Online trading or online currency trade has recently attracted many traders. One of the common forms on online trading is Bitcoin Exchange.

What is Bitcoin?

Bitcoin exchange is a new system of money for the internet that works on the concept of digital currency. It initializes the peer to peer payment system for individuals having no central authority. A new concept of crypto currency is used that was initially introduced in 1998. Cryptography controls the creation and transactions of digital money. Bitcoin works through a software system and does not have any central controlling authority so it is equally managed and controlled by its users around the globe.

Working of Bitcoin Exchange

One can work with Bitcoin exchange just like it works with any other kind of currency exchange. Just like working with banks, it is easy to make transactions through Bitcoin Exchange. Analogous to physical trade, the user has to pay to purchase Bitcoins. The difference is that the person has to open an account with some Bitcoin Exchanger. The paid asset of the user will be available in the form of digital currency that can be used to purchase any kind of product. Bitcoins can be exchanged with other bitcoin holders too. This system works similar to the money exchanges in the banks.

Making transactions

Almost in all payment systems, the payments can be reversed after making a transaction through PayPal or credit cards. But with Bitcoin, the situation is changed, as after making a transaction, one cannot get it back or reverse it. So be careful while exchanging your bitcoins with currency mediums because you may face chargeback issues. It is preferable to make exchanges with other bitcoin holders near to you.

Benefits of Bitcoin Exchange

Bitcoin currency exchange is quite new. It’s a sort of software base payment system where you make transactions digitally. Here is how it can benefit you:

· Make transactions quicker than other systems

· Always availability for transactions

· Make transactions from anywhere in the world

· Make safer transactions

· Perform transactions without interference of any third party

· Monitor all transactions from home PC or from Smartphone

· Purchase any kind of asset using bitcoin

Drawbacks of Bitcoin

Bitcoin exchange is an innovation in economical systems of the world. When practically used, some drawbacks come forward too. Some of them are as follows:

Ø Acceptance in market

The number of bitcoin users is growing but still it is not a widely used currency or exchange system. Its level of acceptance in financial matters is still low.

Ø Instability

As Bitcoin is not commonly used, it is not a stable currency. However, there is a hope that this instability will reduce as the user list and amount of bitcoins in the market become more readily used.

Ø Partial development

A big problem is that the Bitcoin software is still in its beta phase and there are a number of imperfect features, which still need to be fixed. New modules are under process of development to make bitcoin exchange safer for all.

Good Reasons to Use Crypto-Currency Bitcoin

Bitcoin is a comparatively new type of currency that has just started to strike the mainstream markets.

Critics state that using Bitcoins is unsafe because –

  • They have no authentic value
  • They are not regulated
  • They can be used to make illegal transactions

Still all the major market players talk about Bitcoins. Below are some good reasons why it is worth using this crypto currency.

Quick payments – When payments are made by using banks, the transaction takes some days, similarly wire transfers also take a long time. On the other hand, virtual currency Bitcoin transactions are generally more rapid.

“Zero-confirmation” transactions are instantaneous, where the merchant accepts the risk, which is still not approved by Bitcoin block-chain. If the merchant needs an approval, then the transaction takes 10 minutes. This is much more rapid than any inter-banking transfer.

Inexpensive – Credit or debit card transactions are instant, but you are charged a fee for using this privilege. In the Bitcoin transactions, the fees are usually low, and in some cases, it is free.

No one can take it away – Bitcoin is decentralized, so no central authority can take away percentage from your deposits.

No chargeback – Once you trade Bitcoins, they are gone. You cannot reclaim them without the recipient’s consent. Thus, it becomes difficult to commit the chargeback fraud, which is often experienced by people with credit cards.

People purchase goods and if they find it defective, they contact credit cards agency to make a chargeback, effectively reversing the transaction. The credit card company does it and charges you with costly chargeback fee ranging from $5-$15.

Safe personal details – Credit card numbers get stolen during online payments. A Bitcoin transaction does not need any personal details. You will need to combine your private key and the Bitcoin key together to do a transaction.

You just have to ensure that your private key is not accessed by strangers.

It is not inflationary – Federal Reserve prints more dollars, whenever the economy is sputtering. Government injects the new created money into the economy causing a decrease in currency value, thereby triggering inflation. Inflation decreases people’s power to buy things because prices of goods increase.

Bitcoins are in limited supply. The system was designed to quit mining more Bitcoins on reaching 21 million. This means that inflation will not be an issue, but deflation will be triggered, where prices of goods will fall.

Semi- anonymous operations – Bitcoin is relatively private, but transparent. The Bitcoin address is revealed at the block-chain. Everyone can look in your wallet, but your name will be invisible.

Easy micro-payments – Bitcoins allows you to make micropayments like 22 cents for free.

Substitute of fiat currencies – Bitcoins are good option to hold national currencies experiencing capital controls, and high inflation.

Bitcoins are getting legitimate – Major institutions like the Bank of England and Fed have decided to take Bitcoins for trading. More and more outlets like Reditt, Pizza chains, WordPress, Baidu, and many other small businesses are now accepting Bitcoin payments. Many binary trading and Forex brokers also allow you to trade with the Bitcoins.

Bitcoin is the pioneer of new crypto-currency era, the technology that gives you a peek into future currency.

The Bitcoin: Future Currency?

The Bitcoin is a type of currency designed digitally and encrypted for verification of transactions of assets, and to control creation of currency; the name given to this type of currency is cryptocurrency. This worldwide famous currency was developed in 2009 by Satoshi Nakamoto. This Peer-to-peer electronic cash system was given the symbol XBT for market usage. As any other currency, the Bitcoin has its own unit system which goes from the millibitcoin (0.001) to the satoshi (0.00000001).

The design of the Bitcoin is extremely complex, but very reliable. First, one of the question subjects on this matter is its security. Believe it or not, Bitcoins are more secure than regular currency. The obvious thing is that, it can not be stub physically, and although it can be put electronically the following explanation will show you how hard it is to do this.

I'd like to start talking about the storage of this electronic currency. A cryptocurrency wallet is basically the same as a tangible wallet where you store your money. The electronic wallet works the same as Amazon or any website accounts where you store your credit cards, except that in this case you will be storing money indeed. The way you earn this money is by setting up an address at the time of creating your Bitcoin account. This wallet has a hardware device which looks like a clicker where you will receive notifications on any type of transaction.

The way the wallet was built compliments with the way transactions are made. Transactions are primarily the same as in the present; therefore, you exchange an output for an input. The way the currency is tracked is that The Blockchain broadcasts live movements of the money. Every time a payer sends bitcoins to a payee, the transaction is registered in the blockchain. This blockchain is managed by the programmers of the currency. To avoid duplication, the transactions follow inputs and refer these to previous outputs.

But the secure transactions can not do the whole work of securing the currency, it needs human supervision. The currency is overseen by miners. What these people do is that they keep records of the transaction and through the system they look for inconsistencies. The Blockchain is composed by blocks, each block contains cryptographic hash. Cryptographic hash is a set of data that can be traced. This new block need a proof-of-work in other to be accepted.

Bitcoins are already gaining acceptance worldwide. As now, Bitcoins can be used in over 100,000 institutions around the world and is expected to keep growing. Although the insecure behind the fact that there is no governmental support makes it hard to believe that this will be the currency of the future, but watch out, it might impact the world.

Should Real Estate Wholesalers Accept Bitcoin?

Bitcoin is hot. So should investors wholesaling properties be scrambling to accept bitcoins or is it another major pitfall to avoid?

The buzz about bitcoins seems to only be growing, just as the virtual currency is rocketing in value. So what are the real pros and cons of dealing in this digital currency for those wholesaling houses? Is it a must have or must avoid?

There are actually many benefits of incorporating bitcoins into business for those wholesaling properties.

This includes:

· Making it easier for more individuals to buy from and invest with you

· Cashing in on the dramatic increase in bitcoin price

· Increased press, brand visibility and viral spread

· Attention from tech savvy investors and buyers

Of course many wholesaling CEOs are just discovering what bitcoin is all about. Unfortunately, much of this is in the form of negative media surrounding the recent shut down of Silk Road, arrest of Charlie Shrem and mega-million dollar bitcoin seizure.

On the bright side, those that have followed this news will be aware that this all had little to do with using bitcoins, and everything to do with the illegal activities being bought and sold. In fact, the fact that the government is reportedly selling the digital coins it swiped makes bitcoin legitimate.

It’s becoming very easy to accept bitcoin, and more and more businesses in various industries are adopting it. Right now there is an amazing window of opportunity for riding on the coattails of the currency and press by taking it. For many, it could be their best marketing move of the year, and really help to launch their businesses to the next level. Of course this won’t be a door or opportunity open for long. We are talking weeks and months before the novelty wears off and everyone is doing it.

There are some critical considerations to keep in mind though. Many may prefer spending and accepting bitcoins for privacy. However, while Bitcoin Magazine reports 90% of those in existence are being hoarded, there is the potential for big fluctuations.

Over the last year this has worked in the favor of bitcoin owners and miners. Coins that were worth just a few, or few hundred dollars a year ago are currently trading for hundreds and tens of thousands of dollars. Due to the limited number of people holding them there is a lot of control in a few hands.

So recognize the value of using them in wholesaling properties, but think about the consequences of holding too much in virtual money.

Freelance Web Designer | WordPress Developer | Hong Kong