Which wallet/exchange?

[ulhaq]

I am a newbie in this space but would like to buy some cryptocurrency, perhaps some bitcoin, ether, maybe monero, ripple, ethereum classic, etc. I am seeing different opinions in terms of wallets.

This thread (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1619176.0) suggests NOT to use an online wallet.
A few persons on this thread (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1595960.0) recommend an online wallet.

I would prefer an offline wallet, is there one that I can store different kinds of currencies? How hard is it to make online purchases at exchanges using an offline wallet?

I don't see any reason for me to have to download GBs of data to have an entire blockchain, I'm assuming it is not necessary? I was reading about an ethereum wallet that seemed to require it.

Finally, which exchange should I buy the currency from? It seems that the only way to choose is based on trust. I could pay money to an exchange and not receive any currency in return. Do I have to give personal data to trade, at least for the initial purchase? And after that is it possible for me to trade currencies anonymously?

[Lauda]

I am a newbie in this space but would like to buy some cryptocurrency, perhaps some bitcoin, ether, maybe monero, ripple, ethereum classic, etc. I am seeing different opinions in terms of wallets.

This thread (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1619176.0) suggests NOT to use an online wallet.

Correct. Read this thread as well: [General] Bitcoin Wallets - Which, what, why?.

A few persons on this thread (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1595960.0) recommend an online wallet.

Those are probably signature spammers or don't know what they're talking about. Don't listen to them.

I would prefer an offline wallet, is there one that I can store different kinds of currencies?

I don't think there is one (AFAIK).

How hard is it to make online purchases at exchanges using an offline wallet?

What are 'online purchases' with a 'offline wallet'?

I don't see any reason for me to have to download GBs of data to have an entire blockchain, I'm assuming it is not necessary? I was reading about an ethereum wallet that seemed to require it.

It is recommended to use a full wallet (~100GB of blockchain right now). However, this is not necessary. You can use an SPV wallet such as Electrum.

Finally, which exchange should I buy the currency from?

Depends on which region you're located in and what exactly you want to buy.

[thephill97]

mate is better to use a site like Blockchain.info

[Velkro]

I don't see any reason for me to have to download GBs of data to have an entire blockchain, I'm assuming it is not necessary? I was reading about an ethereum wallet that seemed to require it.

Its not neccesarry. Use SPV client which don't need to do that and only download headers. Clients like that are Multibit and Ethereum that i know.
Exchange im using bitstamp but they are not very popular now, there are more known exchanges.