Tip #3: Register a Coinbase account

NOTE: This forum apparently has a policy against users posting affiliate links. I can understand and respect that. However, if you use my Coinbase affiliate link to open your account, you and I would both receive $10 worth of Bitcoin when you make your first BTC buy or sell. For this reason I don't want you to miss out on that opportunity. If you would like to receive $10 worth of Bitcoin from Coinbase by using my affiliate link to register, you can find it here.

Coinbase is your gateway from Bitcoin, Litecoin, or Ethereum to US Dollars. If you are in the US, it's going to be the easiest gateway for you to use. If you live in a different country, you will need to find out which companies provide gateway services between Bitcoin and your national currency, and instead of opening up a Coinbase account, you open an account with your country's best gateway provider.

The reason Coinbase is a good gateway for US citizens and residents is that it has been around for a number of years and has proven itself to be reliable. It is also very proactive about conducting business in a manner that complies with applicable US laws.

When you register an account with Coinbase, you will be able to link it with your regular bank account as well as one or more credit cards. You can use either your bank account or your credit cards to buy Bitcoin. When you sell Bitcoin on Coinbase, the proceeds will be deposited in your linked bank account several days to a week after you have made the sale. Depending on your bank, the process of linking your checking or savings account to Coinbase can be instant or can take a few days.

Because Coinbase is proactive about complying with applicable US laws, you will need to go through a verification process in order to buy or sell significant amounts of Bitcoin, Ethereum or Litecoin. This process can also take several days.

When you register your Coinbase account, do plan on some time to work through the account verification steps and the process for linking your regular bank account. You will want to have all that set up before you ever attempt to buy or sell any Bitcoin, Litecoin or Ethereum.

Once you are registered in Coinbase, you can obtain addresses for each of the coins that Coinbase supports in the accounts page. You need addresses in order to do anything with those coins. I will be focusing on Bitcoin in the next few tips, so please make sure you have a Bitcoin address so that you can put them into practice. Copy your Bitcoin address from Coinbase and record it in a convenient and accessible location.

Don't forget to use a unique password for your Coinbase account and enter it along with your other log in information in your LastPass or other password manager.

It will be great to have the extra goodies, especially the book. I'm not sure I want to give up the chance to win a Masternode, though I like the idea of everyone being a winner. I guess keep thinking about that one

I've been watching it on CoinMarketcap as well as Coinbase. It's nuts. I haven't seen it actually crack 8000 yet and it seems to be pulling back a little, but it got close.

Tip #2: Treat your BitcoinTalk ID as a valuable asset

That account you're logged into right now is actually an asset. If you're brand new, it may not be much of an asset just yet, but as you learn the ropes, make intelligent posts, and simply allow time to go by, your account will grow in value.

Because your account is an asset you will want to protect it in two ways. The first way is to give it a robust password. If you registered your account using some kind of easy to remember password that you use for half a dozen other accounts, then change it now. You can easily generate a strong password on Passwords Generator or you can use a different random password generating service. Once you've reset your password to a robust one, please record it in your LastPass vault or whichever password management service you use. Make a point to change to a new robust password at regular intervals.

The second way to protect your account is to make sure that you are posting in a way that will reflect well on you and your account. Do not spam threads with posts that do nothing more than promote some product. Do share your relevant opinions as you develop them but do so in a way that is professional, well thought out, and courteous. Be willing to consider other people's viewpoints as well. Avoid flaming of any kind. At the beginning posting intelligent posts is going to mean asking good questions and then taking the time to read through the replies. At the very beginning you can expect to be doing a lot more reading than writing.

Your account gains status on this forum through a combination of the passage of time and your post count. There is no way to quickly move up levels by simply posting a lot, so don't do that. You can make an effort to log in and post something once a day, but only if you have something to say. If you don't have something to say, then keep reading and educating yourself.

There isn't a magic formula or anything, but in general, people here feel more comfortable doing business with accounts that have been around for a while and which carry higher ranks. Account status makes enough of a difference that miscreants do attempt to hack into high status accounts and lock the original owner out of them, and then try to post as that original owner. This is why a robust password is so important.

Whether or not you own any Bitcoin at this time, you do have your BitcoinTalk account. Treat is as the valuable asset that it is. It may well turn out to be your most important crypto-asset

Good to know. Thank you for sharing. I haven't seen one in my inbox but it probably just went to spam.

I think Ethereum is going to crash and burn sooner or later. It has way too many problems with its smart contract system.

Truly good cryptocoins will eventually overtake Bitcoin because they have solved some of the problems inherent in the Bitcoin design, such as lack of scalability, massive power consumption, slow block time, etc. Some truly promising cryptocurrencies I know about are Diamond coin (DMD), DNotes, and NEM. Another promising block chain ecosystem to watch for is VIVA. Also pay attention to STEEM and its social media based platform.

I don't think Bitcoin is going to end up as the cryptocurrency everyone uses. The main reason I say this is that there are other cryptocoins that function better and will actually be able to scale up to more mainstream adoption. Bitcoin right now has the first mover advantage, but eventually that will give way to something that simply works better, is more user friendly, etc.

With that said, I do not think one particular cryptocoin is going to dominate. I think about half a dozen or so will rise to the top, all being widely used, each one having its own niche. For example, a coin like DNotes or NEM will be good for plain ease of use and fungibility--stuff can still be priced in whole units. NEM will also overtake Ethereum as the go to wallet for smart contracts. Diamond coin will be known as the store of wealth and a reliable way to grow wealth. Steem will probably always be the social media rewards coin. In other words, when there is mainstream adoption it will include a variety of coins which do the job better than Bitcoin.

But Bitcoin will always have a place as the first.

That's AWESOME! I'm looking forward to reading about how it goes. I'm thinking I better stock up on some more DNotes before the big event

Isn't that the truth! How Ethereum manages to still be worth hundreds is a great mystery...

I'm glad to start seeing people issuing tokens on the NEM block chain.

That is so true. I remember when I first got involved the price swings seemed so dramatic. Now that I've been watching it for a long time as well as participating, the price swings seem normal and in some cases even predictable. Sometimes I can just watch what Bitcoin is doing on Coinmarketcap for a day or two and get a real feel for what's going to happen next, even without knowing any current news. There's just something in the way the price is moving that I guess I've seen before. I've been able to cash out on the high the last couple times. I don't always hit it right but I do now at least some of the time. So yes, relax, and take the time to really get a feel for it.

With all the good news coming down the pipe I'd look at the current sluggishness in the NEM market as a great buying opportunity. I have a decent position already, but could sure use a few more

This is totally why I love cryptos so much too. I too have been priced out of being able to make investments that might have actually made my life better because like you I wasn't already rich. But with crypto, I got to try out some of the things that in the fiat world only rich people get to do. I've loaned to margin traders, I've invested in microloans all over the world, I've bought speculative coins, I've participated in ICOs, and probably a few other things I'm forgetting about. I've also gotten to interact directly with industry leaders like Dyna and really learn the ropes. And I never ever had to put up any more money than I could risk given my financial state. On paper I've lost thousands and also gained thousands more. I would consider myself to have been successful with crypto, and just to give you an example I'm seriously considering sending my son to one of those exclusive Montessori schools that a few years ago would have been impossible due to the high tuition. Now, it's like, OK, what do I have to sell to make this work? But more important than the financial success is the fact that I have been able to learn so much about finances and how it works through the hands-on playground that is crypto. You can't put a price tag on that.

I'd like to know too. Also, if my number got picked for the Masternode giveaway

There's plenty of information online about that. You can start with the Last Pass blog and then also read independent online reviews. My personal opinion/experience is that the service does a decent job with security, including addressing issues in a timely fashion. I personally use two factor authentication and also store my LastPass password on an encrypted disk.

A good password manager has to be both convenient and secure. There is the very real risk of you losing access to your funds because you lost the private key to the wallet or some other non-recoverable password. You're probably more likely to lose your funds that way than by the actions of a hacker, but hacking does happen, so you have to balance both. How to handle password management is a personal decision

I plan to provide a new tip several times a week, at least until I get the basics covered. You are right to focus first on learning. At this stage, putting a small amount of money into it can help with the learning, but look at it as "tuition" for your crypto-education. Even if you lose some, you will have gained knowledge and that makes a huge difference down the road.


I've heard that about KeePass. It's considered more secure but less convenient. That brings up a good point which is that you have to balance out convenience and security when it comes to securing your private information. You can totally encrypt your information with multiple layers and no one can possibly crack it. But the downside is that it's so inconvenient for you to access the info when you need it that you'll subvert it by taking short cuts. Or, you could even lock yourself out of the information. So you have to find the level of security that will keep your data safe but still allow you to get to it at a level of convenience that works for you.

I shared the password manager that has worked for me for a number of years as an example, but there are other ones out there.

Here is a review article about the top ranked paid services (some of which have free versions).

Here is a review article about the top ranked free services.

I found those two articles by doing a Google search using the key words:  list of best password managers. You can do this too.

Which password manager you use, along with all the other tips I provide, is up to you, and you need to do your homework. I provide tips as a way for you to know the basic steps you need to take, this one being get a good password manager and figure out how to use it

Tip #1: Get a good password manager

You will be registering accounts and logging into numerous websites. You will also have wallets with private keys and passwords on your computer. And you need to have a unique password for each one of them. In other words, you do not use the same password for more than one website.

LastPass is a great online service for keeping track of online account user IDs and passwords. It has a basic free as well as premium service. I've never upgraded as the free service meets my needs. There are other online providers as well. You could also build your own password storage vault using a spreadsheet or something similar. Whatever you use, get a good system in place now and start recording your private account information in it. Then keep it secure, while making sure you yourself can access the data.

You can go here for a more detailed tutorial on LastPass.

I've been involved in this industry for nearly five years and have been successful with it. In the interest of helping those new to the industry to also succeed I'm going to share a different "getting started" tip in this thread several times a week. I'll also update the top post as I add new tips.

Enjoy the steep learning curve. Do plenty of research and take responsibility to educate yourself, but be sure to also relax and have fun with it.

And now, the tips...

1. Get a good password manager.
2. Treat your BitcoinTalk ID as a valuable asset.
3. Register a Coinbase account.
4. Register a Free Bitcoin account.
5. Register a Moon Bitcoin account.
6. Start keeping records.
7. Understand there's more besides Bitcoin.
8. Organize your forums and other communication channels.
9. Know what makes a good altcoin.

NOTE: This forum apparently has a policy against users posting affiliate links. I can understand and respect that. However, if you use my Coinbase affiliate link to open your account, you and I would both receive $10 worth of Bitcoin when you make your first BTC buy or sell. For this reason I don't want you to miss out on that opportunity. If you would like to receive $10 worth of Bitcoin from Coinbase by using my affiliate link to register, you can find it here.

Can you provide the URL for that information? Is it this: https://masternodes.online/currencies/dmd/ ?

I think the way that cryptocurrencies will move into education is if people who are currently successful in the industry take it upon themselves to educate other people. Some people have already developed online classes. Local community colleges often are more than happy to offer special courses if someone comes forward and offers to teach one. If you happen to be a parent of children in school, and you know something about cryptocurrencies, you could contact your children's teachers and see if you could come in and give a short workshop on Bitcoin to the class. A lot of teachers would probably welcome that, so just ask.