Based on the level of sophistication of the question I'm concerned that it might not be the best investment for you. It's like when people ask me if they should invest in stocks, and the type of returns that they should expect. You should really have an advanced learning of the subject, and at a minimum know the difference between utility token, security tokens, advantages of using blockchains over databases, etc. For the the last example you would then be able to differentiate when a blockchain is truly needed for a project, versus when a database would do just as well or better, but the blockchain component is used exclusively for the purpose of raising money.

Bitcoin or Ethereum are probably the best no brainers to start with. OMG should also be relatively safe. If you are super new I would be cautious when it comes to ICOs, do not rely on Google search for any type of research as its mostly paid listings of scammy coins.

Finance related services followed by health. Imagine prescription drug abuse stopping if all prescriptions were tracked on a national blockchain network. Drugs addicts would no longer be able to go from doctor to doctor shopping for pain killers for non-existent ailments.

My current 2 favorite are Etherparty and Worldcore. Worldcore is an existing product with a large base of users. From non-ICO coins I think Waves and Metal still have room to increase in value.

Ethereum is not that great, but it was a game changer when it hit the scene. I honestly think the problem with the platform is that there's no one on the Ethereum team who is not a hardcore nerd. They need someone who can simplify the interface and make it so that anyone can use it. Why is there not even a login screen on the homepage? That's shocking.

A small minority have a future, the bulk of icos and coins out there are scams and you will not hear of them in a few years. They are going to be relics on yobits with trolls pumping and dumping them.

The key is the find the good ones that have real world businesses.

Invest in companies with real products that have existing customers! This is why I'm an investor of worldcore, they have a product that is used by real paying customers. Avoid any me-too coins, those are coins that are clones of everything else. Avoid coins with names of animals or that make zero sense. Avoid anything that advertises 50% free coins, or anything else outrageous. Use common sense. Ignore trolls.

Litecoin has been around for years and has never really gained any type of traction. It's a good coin to short-term trade, but I don't think it's a great long-term hold, the best gains are behind it. You are better off holding some newer coins that are actually making progress on whatever they are working on.

That being said litecoin is better than dogecoin, or a lot of the dodgy coins out there.

Overall bittrex is the best but I find liqui.io has the best new coins offered the fastest.

Poloniex has a nice interface but waiting a month for a customer service reply is a bit crazy.

Cool concept, honest team behind it, but I am concerned about the business model, not user friendly enough considering all the competition out there. The average user does not care if cloud storage is on the blockchain, they want easy to use.

You can have an unlimited number, but it might get confusing tracking which coins/ICOs are going to which wallet, so I would try to minimize it.

I really like Etherparty and Worldcore. Utrust looked decent as well but the information was conflicting.

It's one of the better portfolios that I have seen on here with MTL, OMG being great. I'm not sure about IOTA as I don't feel like they are doing much. I don't know much about RISE but i have seen them RISE quite a bit recently, so congrats on your gains.

bittrex is the safest exchange and has a large number of legit coins.
liqui.io seems to get the best new coins faster, but I find the software is clumsy and causes me to need to refresh often.
poloniex - It used to be popular but I would stay away as they seem to be a bit dodgy.

If those 3 exchanges do not have the coin you want to exchange your best option is yobit as they have almost every coin out there, just be careful on there as they have a lot of pump n dumps.

It's not illegal at all, it's simply not regulated and therefore not understood. Over the past few months with bitcoins making the covers of Fortune, Forbes, etc. I have seen it become more legitimized in the eyes of common people.

You might have better luck simply earning fiat money and then buying bitcoins from there.

These are the services that I use when I need work done:

peopleperhour.com
fiverr.com
upwork.com

I don't want to look like I am spamming which is why I have not inserted the www.

Honestly most of those websites are scams. If they promise the moon avoid it.

The easiest way is probably to offer loans on poloniex, you just need to login daily to make sure your loans are being given out. This way your bitcoin balance will grow and it is next to no risk. I estimate you can earn 20% a year on your initial bitcoins this way.

I would recommend Coin Base to buy coins if you are based in North America, otherwise you can try using www.btcc.com The chinese version of this is closing down, but the international version will continue to accept clients.

I would avoid using Paypal as it is easy to get frauded that way. Also avoid localbitcoins due to the high risk of fraud.

Best of luck!

This is an interesting project and I look forward to seeing how well it performs.

You can never tell yourself it's too late to enter. Obviously sooner is better. I kept telling myself it was too late to buy Amazon and Apple stock... and look at the price now, obviously 5 years ago it was not too late. The same applies to bitcoin.