Bitcoin Forum

Airdrop? Bounty? ICO?

None of the above. The first thing you should do is read... a LOT.

I'd recommend starting here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1689727.0 and follow the various links.

General recommendations:
- Make sure you have a good understanding of the forum rules and basic etiquette before you attempt to participate in any "bounties" (I really hate that term :-\) It'll help you avoid troubles with "negative trust".
- Make sure you understand how wallets work, the difference between BTC and ETH networks and how ERC20 tokens work. It'll help you avoid troubles with "lost" tokens and/or coins when participating in ICOs or getting payouts from campaigns.
- Make sure you do your due diligence when considering which ICOs to invest in. It might save you from getting scammed.

What HCP said.

If you went here to bitcointalk solely for the money, then you might as well quit now. You won't be making much without knowledge. If your plan is just to pretty much sell your personal information to bounty programs, then go ahead. But if you want to go to the correct route, study.

https://www.coindesk.com/information/

Also, don't forget to read the pinned topics.

I think what HCP said is good! Make sure you understand what crypto is about, don't just see it as some investment.
Crypto is the next big thing! First we had computers, then the internet, and then came crypto(decentralization, trustless, no single entity).
Investing time into learning and understanding it, will give you a head start for the future.


And finally, "Airdrop, ICO and Bounty" are the three least important things!
Airdrops are just a generally small amount of tokens tied to a newly started project, which means it's not worth much, might be in the future - however, an airdrop likely won't mean much anyway.
ICOs are like investing in a company startup, and in return, you get tokens. This is a gamble, because 90% of startups fail, and that surely applies in crypto aswell. (get the odds on your side by doing your research)
Bounties is the same idea as airdrops, but you have to do stuff to get the tokens. I hear people can earn a fair share of money on that.

ICOs also logically will take a good while to take off, since they're in their startup phase when you invest.
Either way, it's your research that matters - if you trust what a random person says about an ICO/coin/an investment in general, then you are bound to lose sooner or later.
Research everything, the project, the team, is the team legit? is the project good? is there a reason for it to exist (as a coin/token)?
What's the coin economy like, how many coins are created, how many are held by the team, when are new coins put in circulation,
where does the value come from, etc etc - the more you research, the better you can trust your investment.
(this applies to all investments, not only ICOs)

If you have a small amount of money to invest, ICO's could be a good way to go about it,
or find an already launched, but early stage project, and invest in it.

Whatever you do, be certain you are 100% trusting your investment, otherwise you will likely end up panic selling or making a bad decision in general related to your investment.
If you are just holding, you need to be able to hold through the bad times.
You can try trading, but it's easy to lose.

If you have a good amount of money, you could put it in to one of the larger and more established crypto's, for a smaller risk.

Either way, there's literally thousands of various coins/tokens/blockchain-related projects out there.
(a bit like the IT bubble), sooner or later, the large majority of those projects will be gone.
Who'll be the next (crypto equivalent of) Google, Microsoft, Amazon, etc? do your research and you might find out!

Ultimately, it's up to you -
assume that when a stranger on the internet tells you about a project, he is in some way gaining from it, otherwise, why would he take his time/why would he want to give the knowledge away, instead of accumulating himself?
Referring to people saying buy this ICO, buy this superlow market cap coin, and such
Sure, people saying "buy btc" won't gain anything from a couple of hundred/thousand bucks going in, so those you could trust.
Still, make sure you know why you invest in bitcoin, don't just do it because someone told you it's cool and good.

You are in charge of your crypto(if you hold it in a wallet), therefore, you are the only point of failure(99,9%).
No bank can help you if you lose your funds. It's up to you how much time you put into ensuring you understand what you're doing.

You are in charge of your investment, if you give away your money to a bad investment, it's gone.
If you lose access to your crypto, send it to someone wrongly, give away your private key, get hacked etc - it's gone.
(I have some tips for security in my link at the bottom)

That's the beauty of crypto in my opinion!

and really, do look up crypto in general - don't just put some money in Coinbase and buy ETH and go afk -
read about it, understand why it exists, what it enables - it's very fascinating.

I also made a guide explaining some wallet/safety stuff, but you probably don't understand much if you read it right now, you need to learn the basics (wallets, blockchains etc as HCP said)
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3576100

Much appreciated HCP.. I believed reading is a step we newbies miss and suffer from it later. Most newbies are guilty of it..newbies just want to earn as fast as possible

Patience is first step  :) .
We all want big money over night,but that not easy.

I think doing bounty would be the best option. Most of the airdrops are trashcoins, plus it'll just waste your time, or possibly get your info in exchange for a trashcoin. ICO would be a great option if you can and want to put out some cash, but most newbies don't really want to since they're new. They still need proof if crypto is legit or not. Bounty would be the best option if you don't really want to put out some cash. Besides, while you're doing bounty, you'll be reading posts, threads, and topics from here. Not only you'll gain profit, you'll also gain knowledge.

Very well said! It feels like you're not a newbie at all. I think i have given you merit before for the GOT reference post? Not sure why it's deleted. But keep it up, and you'll receive more. i'll be watching you! Best of luck!

Thank you for your kind words! I'm a newbie, it's just that i've read some posts here before and got an idea and answer to tell. Oh?! the "you know nothing jon snow" lol, thank you for the merit sir! till next time  ;)

Is everyone specifically talking about bounty here because we are on this forum, or why? I mean, OP didn't say he didn't have money or could invest.
To start earning in crypto is hardly done by relying on bounties? (It's a question!)

As everyone else has said HCP gave you a solid starting point for sure. Everytime someone asks me how they should get their start in cryptocurrency, the first suggestion I give to them is to read the original Bitcoin whitepaper. You can go here to read it - https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf . Now something else that I always suggest to people is to go back and read through the original email threads that Satoshi went back and forth with developers and interested parties; they've asked just about every question you can think of and it will save you a lot of time in understanding Bitcoin. https://satoshi.nakamotoinstitute.org/emails/cryptography/ That website in general is a wealth of information to get some fundamentals down. I can't stress enough how important it is to understand the original intentions, principals and plans.

As a newbie, the first thing that he should do is to invest his time in learning what crypto world is all about and how it works. It is not a get quick rich scheme or anything like that. Bitcoin is a payment system and another form of money which has some more benefits as compared to that of the traditional payment system. Do not waste your time in looking for free Bitcoins, gain as much knowledge as you can by investing your time in reading valuable topics.

As a newbie the best thing will be a lot of reading and learning about crypto, after that you need some knowledge by investing in some coins which can allow you to get some experience about investing and getting profit from it, if it won't be enought for you that mean you need to learn how to trade and again get some experience or just participate in some campaigns or drops.

unfortunately, for most people, In crypto a lot of people tend to rush things and make mistakes. Taking time and doing careful study of the industry is key to succeeding in this space

 While those things might be worth looking into, it would be advisable to start on a smaller scale.
You can start with a user friendly interface such as Coinbase, buy some of the main coins and watch how their markets move. Educate yourself on trading vs. holding, and see which is best for you. We have a "getting started" guide you can check out here:

Bit.ly/Bitcoin101Guide

Stay informed on scams so you can avoid being a victim. Start off smart and keep up with his forum to avoid mistakes that can cause you to lose money.

Good luck  :)

Another important thing is who to follow, I mean a mentor that can lead one, especially from the start so newbies don't end up making mistakes or invariably falling to the hands of desperate scammers

Could you by any chance link the email threads you are referring to? I tried searching 'satoshi email threads' but didn't find anything,
sounds very interesting, and thank you for those links!

First and the most necessary thing for you (from ex newbie to the newbie) - desearch.com
Don't give me thank you ;D
This is a search engine about crypto. Really useful platform for any questions, knowing prices and so on. It is based on Blockchain, so you will be satisfied, I think, by the lack of advertising and the quality of the answers to your search queries
Enjoy and ask any questions!

You need to learn about Crypto currency more before you go for either of these three. You need to learn through reading. I mean you or any newbie need to read a lot more before they choose they way of their investment (money or time or both). When you do that, you will know what would be the best thing you should do. But this doesn't mean all your readings about the other things are nothing, they have values, they will help through out your journey. All the best.

Interesting link.. Will forward this to other newcomers on the cryptosystem so they can also be informed to avert mistakes that can be  avoided. Most newbies see crypto as a ponzi and that's the tragedy for them. Orientation is really needed. Thanks

I have a link for you :  The one thread to link them all (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1217042.0). It almost has everything that you'd possibly need to know. Don't be a dumbwit and you shall survive just fine.

None of the above. Investors always consider risks whenever they are investing into a project. I will not invest in something that I do not really understand so i think the first thing to do as a newbie is to get a lot of education on the crypto world.

None of the above. The first thing you should do is read... a LOT.

I'd recommend starting here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1689727.0 and follow the various links.

General recommendations:
- Make sure you have a good understanding of the forum rules and basic etiquette before you attempt to participate in any "bounties" (I really hate that term Undecided) It'll help you avoid troubles with "negative trust".
- Make sure you understand how wallets work, the difference between BTC and ETH networks and how ERC20 tokens work. It'll help you avoid troubles with "lost" tokens and/or coins when participating in ICOs or getting payouts from campaigns.
- Make sure you do your due diligence when considering which ICOs to invest in. It might save you from getting scammed.

--  Yes!!!  This is what I'm looking for, someone to advice us, newbies, on how to acquire knowledge it starting up here. Thanks for the links you provided.  From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much Sirs, especially HCP.

There's a lot of great advice here. Don't be in too much of a hurry to earn. Learn first. I'd recommend you spend some quality time on DNotesEDU.com It's a financial and cryptocurrency education site with a wealth of knowledge presented in a way that makes sense.

I would recommend to get some understanding about what you're gonna do. Learn about crypto and blockchain in general and read this forum when you have time.
you can start here https://blockgeeks.com/guides/
I liked those guides when I started. Good understanding will help you to choose good ICOs and coins and reduce chances of falling for a scam

You can start from all this programms. Firstly, of course, you should learn information about cryptocurrency, read rules on this forum. Good bounty projects you can find on altcoins/marketplace/bounties

Thanks.. Still in that line, I came across cryptoImprovementFund an educational platform on blockchain that educates one on crypto and block chain tech based in Canada. Their articles are very helpful, especially for newbies

In the end, getting a viable bounty is a problem. The scams are getting much by the day and in wonder what the future is for such giveaways. For newbies, the understandings of genuine bounty to participate in is even more difficult.

first thing is to invest $100 & monitor the price foir couple of weeks / months and study crypto n blockchain...

A whole lot of newbie are here in crypto with not even $10 to invest in any project. So I don t think doing an ICO as a way to study he market is the way to go for a newbie.

Very good advice already from many people. I would add to those:

- learn the terminology
- follow a couple of projects that have a good amount of followers in Telegram - you will learn a lot by comparing what they are doing similarly and differently
- start for example by participating in an airdrop, you will learn a lot and get a good insight into the project
- never invest more than what you are ready to lose

Good luck to you mate!

First thing to do is to study cryptocurrency so that you can prepare yourself your mindset before doing any action like investing,trading and bounty hunting.

If you are newbie in crypto and want to take your journey serious as a real job then the best is ICO or trading, but all you need education and experience. If you don't have the necessary capital to begin with then start with bounties, using your social media accounts or blogging. Airdrop is a waste of time and I see it as a lazy man's job.

I'm a newbie too. I am so excited to learn this crypto thing. I heard a lot of good feedback that they earn extra income out of it. I need to learn the ways to earn here.

Nice answer but for me he need to pick bounty first cause thanks to that he can learn a  lot more informations about crypto world and that will allow him enter any airdrop or even invest in some crypto in future.