Please Do Research In what you invest in, Some help for the Starting Investor

[Tubsie]

I would like to warn you about the dangers that exists for new members, that want to invest in any Altcoins, Ico's or Mining service.

I am active on this forum for a long time since 2013-2014, but unfortunatly I lost my old Bitcointalk Forum account in de 2015 hacks.
And since a few weeks ago I got back in to this forum and the whole Cryptoworld, thanks to my Brother and a friend who suddenly had interest for Bitcoin and All the Altcoins/Tokens.

They came to me for some advice and I told them what I found important, when you look at a ICO or Coin to invest in.
And I told them 1 of the most important things is that you have to do really good research before you invest your money.
Well They listened and did some research still not good enough but they still found some good Coins and ICO's.

But then A month later suddenly 2 other friends also wanted to invest and asked if Bitconnect was Trustworthy, But they already invested 200€ and 2000€ without doing any research!
And with a simple google search I found out that Bitconnect was something I would never invest my money in, and I told them but they where convinced that it was legit.
Also because it was running for 2 years already and they had more friends investing in it.

And A week Later Bitconnect closes the lending platform and they lost all their money, and that is such a shame because there are so many better options out there.

I think that there are many people who recently came in to the cryptoworld, for some quick cash and probably have a full time job, and dont have much time left to do extensive research.
And that is 1 thing you need to do because of the many different ICO's Coins, Tokens and Mining Services.

Also a good example of website's that want to scam you (most of the time) are the many online mining websites, they will let you deposit money and in a few month's they are offline again.
I remember me 2 years ago trying out some mining sites, and I saved them in my favorites and they are all offline now,  except for a few.

What I also noticed is that compared to 2 years ago a lot of the ICO's that are being advertised are Tokens and you need to really understand the difference between a Token and A coin.
Especially since a token is build upon a existing Coin Like Ethereum, Neo, Omni.

So Never ever put your money in Coins/Websites that will promise you a insane amount of Interest like 3-5% a day.
Before you invest do Research, If you don't understand what your investment does Dont invest, Do more research First!

• Watch Youtube Video's
• Read the Whitepaper

Very Important

• Do research in to the Team behind it
• Would you Trust those people with your money? for me the team is so Important
• Ask questions and have a discussion on this forum about it

And if you see a Coin or Token with a good idea Check out http://periodictableofcrypto.com/ if there isn't a coin with the same idea and maybe a better one as well.

I just hope I can help some investors/people that are new to all this and will try to update this topic as well with new information!
If someone has something to add to the post dont hesitate to send me a message and I can update the main post!

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[Tubsie]

Oke guys so here I am gonna explain 2 things more in dept!

1: The Difference Between Coins and Tokens
2: What Research you should do!


Lets start with the difference between Altcoins and Tokens:

Altcoins:

Alternative cryptocurrency's are called altcoins or just 'coins'. And Altcoins simply refers to coins that are an alternative to Bitcoin. Most of the Altcoins out there are a variant (Fork) of Bitcoin, and they are built using Bitcoin’s open-sourced, original protocol but with changes to its underlying codes, And because of that creating a entirely new coin with a different set of features.  Examples of Altcoins that are variants of Bitcoins codes are Litecoin, Dogecoin, Namecoin, Peercoin and Auroracoin.

But there are other Altcoins that aren’t copied from Bitcoin’s open-source protocol. Instead, they have created their own Blockchain and protocol that supports their own currency. And examples of these coins are Ethereum, Ripple, Omni, Nxt, Waves and Counterparty.

And what they all have in common is that they each have their own independent blockchain, where transactions for each seperate coin are happening.

Now Tokens:

Tokens are representing a particular asset or utility, that usually exists on top of another Blockchain.
Also Tokens can represent basically any assets that are exchangeable and tradeable, from commodities to loyalty points to even other cryptocurrencies!
And in the Future a lot of real assets and businesses will be tokenized.

Creating tokens is a much easier process because you do not have to modify the codes from a particular protocol or create a blockchain from scratch.
All you have to do is follow a standard template on the blockchain like the Ethereum or Waves platform, and you will be able to create your own tokens easily.
And creating your own tokens is made very easily because of smart contracts,a programmable computer codes that are self executing and do not need anyone else to operate it.

Also Tokens are created and distributed through an (ICO) while most of the coin projects are distributed through mining.

So the main difference between coins and tokens is their structure, altcoins are separate currencies with their own separate blockchain while tokens operate on top of a blockchain that helps with the creation of decentralized applications.


What Research you should do!

First of all Dont cut corners doing research it is the most important part, and the difference between losing your money or making profits!

1: Research the Team
Google their names, Visit their Linkedin's, and you could even Talk to them and ask them questions in the Telegram/Slack group.

2: Read and Analyze the Whitepaper
First of all most of the time the White paper is "the perfect scenario" and most of us wont even understand 50% of it.
But you have to read it, what I sometimes do is, I print the Whitepaper and read it in bed.
Make your own conclusions did they really put a lot of effort in the whitepaper and does everything check out?

Because I hear so many times, 'But I didn’t read the whitepaper' Like how are you going to put hundreds maybe even thousands of dollars into a new Coin or Token and not read their specific purpose explained in the Whitepaper? It will explain how many coins the founders have, how long they must hold the coins after the ICO launch, what platform the Token/Coin will be launched on, the purpose/utility of the coin. Any questions you have should be answered here, or the whitepaper is incomplete!!

3: Understand who the developers are
Google their names, check their previous experiences and have a talk with them in the Telegram or Slack group.
And please just make sure the developers that the ICO claims to be working for their project are indeed participating.

4: Consider Investment strategies
What are you planning to do dump it after it hits the exchange or do you think this solves some real world problems, and could be a long term hold?

5: Analyze the Road Map
Some project still have a lot of time left before they will actually have a Dapp or some exiting developments down the road.
But you have to ask yourself do I really want to be in a project that is two years from launch?


6: Is the Company or Person Already Established?
Did they have any succes in business or crypto before this, or are they some scammer from india that just wants your money?  
Also Companies that are already profitable are great options to host ICOs. They release a utility token most of the time, that serves a purpose to the company.

7: Research
Take a look at the website, make sure the links are functioning, Does the website look professional or is it a wordpress website simply put togheter?
But most scams really can be found by typing the coin’s name into google as someone else may already be investigating scam and fraud claims
Visit Ico ranking services dont fully trust the ranking services, but they rarely have a top ranked Ico scam.

8: Join all Their Social Media
Telegram, Reddit, Facebook, Medium, Twitter, Youtube.

I hope I help some people with this if you guys have any questions let me know!!

[AAIX]

Yes. That was very helpful! I'm a newbie so I'm still researching. I wanted to ask you two questions:

1.How do you determine what type of wallet to put your coins in? I know that if you buy Bitcoin, they would go in a Bitcoin wallet. For example, if I bought Stellar (XLM) coins, what wallet would I put it in? Is there a website that tells you what wallet to use?

2. Is Coinbase an exchange site AND a wallet?

3. If I create an ETH wallet on Coinbase, do I also need to use a "My Ether Wallet"

Thank you!

[Tubsie]

Yes. That was very helpful! I'm a newbie so I'm still researching. I wanted to ask you two questions:

1.How do you determine what type of wallet to put your coins in? I know that if you buy Bitcoin, they would go in a Bitcoin wallet. For example, if I bought Stellar (XLM) coins, what wallet would I put it in? Is there a website that tells you what wallet to use?

2. Is Coinbase an exchange site AND a wallet?

3. If I create an ETH wallet on Coinbase, do I also need to use a "My Ether Wallet"

Thank you!

Ok that is great to hear!!

To answer your questions

1: Wallets are all personal preference, the most important is that they are safe and work!
What I always do if you buy a Altcoin go to the Official website and download the wallet from there.
However there are some multicoin wallets like Exodus, Jax which I hear very good things about.

2: Yes Coinbase is a wallet and you can buy/send/recieve/sell The coins they offer, they are trusted and operate in many countries, but because of that they apply high fees!

3: It is up to you where you keep your Ethereum, What I would do is ask yourself do you want that Ethereum for a long term hold (2-3 years) make a offline myetherwallet and send it there.
Even if you want to spend it or use it often a myetherwallet would be the best choice because you pay way less fees!
You could also check some other wallets for Ethereum I am using Exodus since a week and I really like it, my friend chose Jaxx and likes it as well so its really personal preference where you feel your coins are best kept!

Hope I helped u again 

[siddartha1492]

You have very well explained the concept of token, coin and ICO research in a very simple manner. I am sure Newbies will find this post very useful, mainly because it does not use technical terms, but normal English. So good job done there.

Yes. That was very helpful! I'm a newbie so I'm still researching. I wanted to ask you two questions:

1.How do you determine what type of wallet to put your coins in? I know that if you buy Bitcoin, they would go in a Bitcoin wallet. For example, if I bought Stellar (XLM) coins, what wallet would I put it in? Is there a website that tells you what wallet to use?

2. Is Coinbase an exchange site AND a wallet?

3. If I create an ETH wallet on Coinbase, do I also need to use a "My Ether Wallet"

Thank you!

Tubsie, although you have answered these questions, I would like to re-answer them, as they need more clarity.
1) If it's an ETH token like Lunyr, Mana; usually based on ERC-20 standard, then you can just use Myetherwallet or Metamask (Please use the official sites only). If it is a coin with its own blockchain, then you can either use the official wallet from the website, or if possible then on a hardware wallet like Nano Ledger S. Sometimes there are good online wallets also, where the private keys are owned by you. So you can use them , if you don't want to download and sync a ton of wallets on your computer. For example, you can use toastwallet to store Ripple without having to download the Ripple wallet on your computer.
2) Although Coinbase is a wallet and exchange at the same time, but for most people, it is just a wallet. The reason being, that it does not allow non-US citizens to fund their account with fiat or withdraw in fiat. Same is with its crypto exchange, GDAX.
3) If you want to store tokens based on ETH, then yes you have to use MEW, or Metamask or the official ETH wallet. Coinbase only allows to store ETH, not tokens based on it. Always remember this thing. For example, if you want to transfer some LUNYR tokens from an exchange to your ETH wallet, then don't use Coinbase address. Coinbase won't accept them and your tokens will be lost. Use MEW or metamsk.
Hope it clears your doubts AAIX.

[lero34]

Personally, I have long been investing in altcoins. Specifically in the ephereum and bitcoin cache. I advise you to do the same. Do not get caught by the "new" coins. No one will repeat the fate of bitcoin.

[reyasuo]

Oke guys so here I am gonna explain 2 things more in dept!

1: The Difference Between Coins and Tokens
2: What Research you should do!


Lets start with the difference between Altcoins and Tokens:

Altcoins:

Alternative cryptocurrency's are called altcoins or just 'coins'. And Altcoins simply refers to coins that are an alternative to Bitcoin. Most of the Altcoins out there are a variant (Fork) of Bitcoin, and they are built using Bitcoin’s open-sourced, original protocol but with changes to its underlying codes, And because of that creating a entirely new coin with a different set of features.  Examples of Altcoins that are variants of Bitcoins codes are Litecoin, Dogecoin, Namecoin, Peercoin and Auroracoin.

But there are other Altcoins that aren’t copied from Bitcoin’s open-source protocol. Instead, they have created their own Blockchain and protocol that supports their own currency. And examples of these coins are Ethereum, Ripple, Omni, Nxt, Waves and Counterparty.

And what they all have in common is that they each have their own independent blockchain, where transactions for each seperate coin are happening.

Now Tokens:

Tokens are representing a particular asset or utility, that usually exists on top of another Blockchain.
Also Tokens can represent basically any assets that are exchangeable and tradeable, from commodities to loyalty points to even other cryptocurrencies!
And in the Future a lot of real assets and businesses will be tokenized.

Creating tokens is a much easier process because you do not have to modify the codes from a particular protocol or create a blockchain from scratch.
All you have to do is follow a standard template on the blockchain like the Ethereum or Waves platform, and you will be able to create your own tokens easily.
And creating your own tokens is made very easily because of smart contracts,a programmable computer codes that are self executing and do not need anyone else to operate it.

Also Tokens are created and distributed through an (ICO) while most of the coin projects are distributed through mining.

So the main difference between coins and tokens is their structure, altcoins are separate currencies with their own separate blockchain while tokens operate on top of a blockchain that helps with the creation of decentralized applications.


What Research you should do!

First of all Dont cut corners doing research it is the most important part, and the difference between losing your money or making profits!

1: Research the Team
Google their names, Visit their Linkedin's, and you could even Talk to them and ask them questions in the Telegram/Slack group.

2: Read and Analyze the Whitepaper
First of all most of the time the White paper is "the perfect scenario" and most of us wont even understand 50% of it.
But you have to read it, what I sometimes do is, I print the Whitepaper and read it in bed.
Make your own conclusions did they really put a lot of effort in the whitepaper and does everything check out?

Because I hear so many times, 'But I didn’t read the whitepaper' Like how are you going to put hundreds maybe even thousands of dollars into a new Coin or Token and not read their specific purpose explained in the Whitepaper? It will explain how many coins the founders have, how long they must hold the coins after the ICO launch, what platform the Token/Coin will be launched on, the purpose/utility of the coin. Any questions you have should be answered here, or the whitepaper is incomplete!!

3: Understand who the developers are
Google their names, check their previous experiences and have a talk with them in the Telegram or Slack group.
And please just make sure the developers that the ICO claims to be working for their project are indeed participating.

4: Consider Investment strategies
What are you planning to do dump it after it hits the exchange or do you think this solves some real world problems, and could be a long term hold?

5: Analyze the Road Map
Some project still have a lot of time left before they will actually have a Dapp or some exiting developments down the road.
But you have to ask yourself do I really want to be in a project that is two years from launch?


6: Is the Company or Person Already Established?
Did they have any succes in business or crypto before this, or are they some scammer from india that just wants your money?  
Also Companies that are already profitable are great options to host ICOs. They release a utility token most of the time, that serves a purpose to the company.

7: Research
Take a look at the website, make sure the links are functioning, Does the website look professional or is it a wordpress website simply put togheter?
But most scams really can be found by typing the coin’s name into google as someone else may already be investigating scam and fraud claims
Visit Ico ranking services dont fully trust the ranking services, but they rarely have a top ranked Ico scam.

8: Join all Their Social Media
Telegram, Reddit, Facebook, Medium, Twitter, Youtube.

I hope I help some people with this if you guys have any questions let me know!!

very helpful, I only know little before, and I guess the same between token and coin, I'm new in bitcointalk forum, thank you sir.

[Lilmon]

This is the basic information each and everyone should be having, ICOs are risky affairs, which if not keen can drive you to losses that you might have not anticipated, some come with so much hype and promise that one might think that they are the next big thing only for them to crumble down later on, to the disappointment of many, be careful on where you put your money

[Yudhisthir]

ICO bench-marking sites has became a good place to start with the research. You can take peoples as well as rating sites reviews as suggestions but you should do the final research yourself and conclude. Everyone can be wrong and it's your money that is at risk. Invest wisely.

[rufus59]

I would personally advice anyone to stay away from the market for now; until it becomes bullish again I.e a real bull and not a mini run; cause with this bear market; one would just keep losing more and more

[CopMom]

So many new investors are too lazy to spend time to research about which they're going to invest their money in ). That why ICO rating sites still can earn money by promoting for ICO project. LOL. So many investors out there still believe in ICO rating sites that why they lost so much money because of investing in bad or maybe even scam ICO projects .