New to bitcoin. Need advice/answers before investing in it

[Impulseboy]

I have been hanging out in this forum for quite some time now, trying to learn about bitcoin and cryptocurrency but I admit sometimes it is overwhelming. So my question is: 1. is there a minimum amount required to buy bitcoin? 2. if it's like any form of online payments, can it be used/withdrawn to an actual money or just online? Thanks! Any advice/tips will help.

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[NeuroticFish]

I have been hanging out in this forum for quite some time now, trying to learn about bitcoin and cryptocurrency but I admit sometimes it is overwhelming. So my question is: 1. is there a minimum amount required to buy bitcoin? 2. if it's like any form of online payments, can it be used/withdrawn to an actual money or just online? Thanks! Any advice/tips will help.

1.
In theory you should be able to buy even 1 satoshi, which is still way under one cent. In reality you have some restrictions:
* The exchange you'll use for buying Bitcoin may have a minimum amount for transactions. I've read here that Coinbase has a minimum of 2$.
* Bitcoin network will not let you transfer less than a certain amount, I think it's 0.00005500BTC (0.36$)
* Bitcoin network requires you pay a fee for the transaction to be processed. Minimum is 1 satoshi/byte, which nowadays is about one cent per transaction, if you are not in a hurry.
* The exchange you are buying from may require a "withdraw fee"  (they usually pay more for the network fee for fast processing and may also keep some for themselves). This depends from exchange to exchange and may be even 8$ at current Bitcoin prices.

All in all I don't recommend you buy less than 10$ worth of Bitcoin and if you plan to buy "tomorrow" some more, try to withdraw to your own wallet in batches.


2.
There are services where you can pay directly with Bitcoin. There are exchanges that will change your Bitcoin back to $ which you can transfer to your bank account. There are debit cards where you convert Bitcoin into $ and spend or withdraw the dollars (or your local currency) from them. There are businesses which convert your Bitcoin into PayPal, Western Union and many other means of transfer money.

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Whatever you do, ask around first about the exchange/business you work with since we talk here about money and some businesses are scams. As a result, a reputation check / a feedback from a couple of users never hurts.

[Tynianee]

1. There is no minimum amount to purchase Bitcoin, you can purchase as little as you want, however, depending on the exchanges, some of them apply specific exchange fees/rates when purchasing Bitcoin with other cryptocurrencies, so you might get an error that the minimum amount should be no less than some number.

2. Bitcoin is a digital currency so it does not have a physical presence. You can convert it to actual money by exchanging it with fiat currencies online. Also, some wallets offer prepaid bitcoin cards which you can use to pay for your goods in physical stores, so that's the only possible way of using bitcoin in a physical presence and not as an online payment.

Do you learn about cryptocurrencies by just browsing this forum? This forum is great and has a lot of useful information, but it's sometimes easy to get lost while browsing through various topics. What I personally used to build up my knowledge of crytpocurrencies is reading various articles, tutorials and watching YouTube videos. My most favorite source is Bitdegree, but I don't want to push it to you so you can find a lot of beginner guides by just googling. Good luck!

[Impulseboy]

Do you learn about cryptocurrencies by just browsing this forum? This forum is great and has a lot of useful information, but it's sometimes easy to get lost while browsing through various topics. What I personally used to build up my knowledge of crytpocurrencies is reading various articles, tutorials and watching YouTube videos. My most favorite source is Bitdegree, but I don't want to push it to you so you can find a lot of beginner guides by just googling. Good luck!

Yes, this is the first website I went to for cryptocurrencies and bitcoin, and I am still trying to learn about it but I am quite adamant to push forward just yet because I don't know how and where to start. But this website has been fairly helpful, it's just a bit challenging because of the rules.

[Impulseboy]

1.
In theory you should be able to buy even 1 satoshi, which is still way under one cent. In reality you have some restrictions:
* The exchange you'll use for buying Bitcoin may have a minimum amount for transactions. I've read here that Coinbase has a minimum of 2$.
* Bitcoin network will not let you transfer less than a certain amount, I think it's 0.00005500BTC (0.36$)
* Bitcoin network requires you pay a fee for the transaction to be processed. Minimum is 1 satoshi/byte, which nowadays is about one cent per transaction, if you are not in a hurry.
* The exchange you are buying from may require a "withdraw fee"  (they usually pay more for the network fee for fast processing and may also keep some for themselves). This depends from exchange to exchange and may be even 8$ at current Bitcoin prices.

All in all I don't recommend you buy less than 10$ worth of Bitcoin and if you plan to buy "tomorrow" some more, try to withdraw to your own wallet in batches.


2.
There are services where you can pay directly with Bitcoin. There are exchanges that will change your Bitcoin back to $ which you can transfer to your bank account. There are debit cards where you convert Bitcoin into $ and spend or withdraw the dollars (or your local currency) from them. There are businesses which convert your Bitcoin into PayPal, Western Union and many other means of transfer money.

---------
Whatever you do, ask around first about the exchange/business you work with since we talk here about money and some businesses are scams. As a result, a reputation check / a feedback from a couple of users never hurts.

Thank you, this is very helpful. Part of why I am adamant to start is because of the scams. I do not want to lose any amount I spend because of scams because I didn't read about cryptocurrency thoroughly.

[NeuroticFish]

Thank you, this is very helpful. Part of why I am adamant to start is because of the scams. I do not want to lose any amount I spend because of scams because I didn't read about cryptocurrency thoroughly.

Well, this is easy to overcome.
1. Keep your wallet ... yours. Install it on your computer/laptop if possible (but make sure it's free of viruses). Electrum is pretty easy to work with.
Just save the initial seed words offline, onto paper.
You don't need 2FA in it and you should protect it well with a good password.

2. Whenever you use a business, ask. It's no shame of not knowing. "Is coinbase legit?" "Is Kraken better than coinbase, which you guys suggest?" are pretty clear questions. Make sure you lock the thread after getting a couple of answers, to avoid spam.

3. If something is unclear, whether it's about the exchange or the wallet, ask. People will help. If you don't understand, ask for images. Posting Bitcoin address or transaction ID is OK and will help people give you answers. But you should never post private keys or wallet seeds.

[SuiMikira]

The knowledge of Bitcoin and blockchain is really big and hard to learn all. If you want to invest so first learn about how to create a wallet, crypto exchange account, how to send - receive coin. After that, learn about how to secure and protect your funds. As a beginner, you should start with small amount first, then when have some experience with the cryptocurrency market, you can think about investing big funds.

[Impulseboy]

Well, this is easy to overcome.
1. Keep your wallet ... yours. Install it on your computer/laptop if possible (but make sure it's free of viruses). Electrum is pretty easy to work with.
Just save the initial seed words offline, onto paper.
You don't need 2FA in it and you should protect it well with a good password.

2. Whenever you use a business, ask. It's no shame of not knowing. "Is coinbase legit?" "Is Kraken better than coinbase, which you guys suggest?" are pretty clear questions. Make sure you lock the thread after getting a couple of answers, to avoid spam.

3. If something is unclear, whether it's about the exchange or the wallet, ask. People will help. If you don't understand, ask for images. Posting Bitcoin address or transaction ID is OK and will help people give you answers. But you should never post private keys or wallet seeds.

Exactly. Learning about cryptocurrency and bitcoin is actually a little overwhelming. So many things to learn, to understand, which is why I haven't even actually started doing anything. It is slowly sinking in, but I know there is still a lot I have to learn. I never thought about asking for images, so that's a really good advice. Thank you!

[Impulseboy]

The knowledge of Bitcoin and blockchain is really big and hard to learn all. If you want to invest so first learn about how to create a wallet, crypto exchange account, how to send - receive coin. After that, learn about how to secure and protect your funds. As a beginner, you should start with small amount first, then when have some experience with the cryptocurrency market, you can think about investing big funds.

Thanks! It is hard to learn all about it. There is just so much to learn! Can you suggest the best way to secure and protect my funds?

[NeuroticFish]

Can you suggest the best way to secure and protect my funds?

This was discussed over and over again. Sometimes you should use the search, else you may make people angry.
One example is this thread, which covers some basic directions for first steps in Bitcoin, including security.