How I Helped an Illiterate Person Invest in Bitcoin (Safely & Responsibly)

[odunybiz]

A neighbor of mine at farm which is also my part-term labor worker has demanded my help in investing in Bitcoin. This person in question is an illeterate. He learnt I'm into crypto due to some of my conversation with a friend when we were in farm together.

As a beginner and an illeterate, I only focus on security of his fund. I thought teaching him deeply about Bitcoin may not be of help for him.
What I did?
Firstly, I sensitize him about what he want to invest on. Telling him how volatile Bitcoin market can be. Moreover, I made him understand that Bitcoin isn't a get rich scheme like those Ponzi scheme. I made him know he can only invest in Bitcoin as a long term hodler. I told him what will be needed to hodl Bitcoin (a wallet). So I proceed with the following:
👉👉downloaded trust wallet for him (since he only has a phone)
👉👉write out his seed phrase on paper and gave him with some procedure to secure it)
👉👉I told him to keep this paper in a very save place(i later explain the importance of what is written in the paper to him)
👉👉bought some USDT
👉👉 trade it on exchange to Bitcoin and
 👉👉send it to his trust wallet.
I taught him only how he could assess his fund (just open your phone and navigate to your trust wallet app). I explained the importance of securing his wallet and told him with a little security lapse he can lose his fund. This is my brief physical analogies to explain some basic terms needed.

I bring out a locked box as seen below

👉👉This box represent your wallet
👉👉The cash inside the locked box represent your Bitcoin
👉👉The padlock are some security measures taken to protect your Bitcoin in your wallet
To access fund in the box, the padlock needs to be opened and only the key can open the box. So, if you lost the key,  it means you may lost your fund. This seed phrase and some other security measures represent your key.

Thereafter, I gave him some dos and don't, which was as follows:
👉👉Make sure you keep your wallet seed phrase save and try not to share it  with any untrusted person.
👉👉Try to use a strong password that you can easily remember for your phone(may be one of your child's name along side with some digit) and you shouldn't expose this password to any untrusted person.
👉👉 Avoid giving strangers your phone and accepting help involving your phone from an untrusted person.
👉👉Never make Bitcoin decision without the presence of a trusted person.
👉👉Avoid clicking on any link on social medias or on emails.
This is all I did for him to hodl some coin.

As there are more experience and knowledgeable bitcoiner than me in the forum, I'm making this post to ask if there is any other thing to add to all I have done or anything I didn't do well that needs to be adjusted for him to hodl and secure his Bitcoin.

[Nathrixxx]

him what will be needed to hodl Bitcoin (a wallet). So I proceed with the following:
👉👉downloaded trust wallet for him (since he only has a phone)
👉👉write out his seed phrase on paper and gave him with some procedure to secure it)

Red flag number one

Why trust wallet when there electrum wallet mobile version blue wallet or any other non custodial but open source wallet you could have recommend for use, I see trust wallet as a bounty hunters wallet, not only that it's a closed source.

Still from your second point, when we talk about security and privacy, even you should not have access to the private keys or seed phrase, then why writing it down for her in a paper, when she can do that herself and on her own after putting her through the process and not doing it for her.

👉👉This box represent your wallet
👉👉The cash inside the locked box represent your Bitcoin
👉👉The padlock are some security measures taken to protect your Bitcoin in your wallet
To access fund in the box, the padlock needs to be opened and only the key can open the box. So, if you lost the key,  it means you may lost your fund. This seed phrase and some other security measures represent your key.

Red flag number two

All these illustration you made are not the actual explanation of how the bitcoin and wallet security works, because the Bitcoin you're talking about is not stored in the wallet, instead on the blockchain, which makes the whole narrative not being perfectly illustrated despite the way you try to come down to her level, you could have made the right instances for the explanation that truly explains the process.

[memehunter]

👉👉write out his seed phrase on paper and gave him with some procedure to secure it

[odunybiz]

him what will be needed to hodl Bitcoin (a wallet). So I proceed with the following:
👉👉downloaded trust wallet for him (since he only has a phone)
👉👉write out his seed phrase on paper and gave him with some procedure to secure it)

Red flag number one

Why trust wallet when there electrum wallet mobile version blue wallet or any other non custodial but open source wallet you could have recommend for use, I see trust wallet as a bounty hunters wallet, not only that it's a closed source.

This person is a pure illeterate that doesn't know anything about the space. He just wish to hodl some coin for future purpose. I think using electrum wallet may be complex for him. That is why I used trust wallet for him.

Still from your second point, when we talk about security and privacy, even you should not have access to the private keys or seed phrase, then why writing it down for her in a paper, when she can do that herself and on her own after putting her through the process and not doing it for her.

Well, I made a mistake here. I should have ask him to write it out himself. But I decide to do it to avoid some mistakes in writing it out. Afterall, the the process was done right there in his presence within few minutes.

👉👉This box represent your wallet
👉👉The cash inside the locked box represent your Bitcoin
👉👉The padlock are some security measures taken to protect your Bitcoin in your wallet
To access fund in the box, the padlock needs to be opened and only the key can open the box. So, if you lost the key,  it means you may lost your fund. This seed phrase and some other security measures represent your key.

Red flag number two

All these illustration you made are not the actual explanation of how the bitcoin and wallet security works, because the Bitcoin you're talking about is not stored in the wallet, instead on the blockchain, which makes the whole narrative not being perfectly illustrated despite the way you try to come down to her level, you could have made the right instances for the explanation that truly explains the process.

Just using this illustrated to tell how important the seed phrase is to him so he can keep it safe than just placing it anywhere and anyhow.

Well, all recommendation will be look into and see how I can help him more in the process so as to have a save and secure coin in his wallet.
 
But let's put in mind that this person is an illeterate in all recommendation, waiting for more recommendation and corrections, thanks

[Salahmu]

Op e for fine well well if this thread na were you come ask make people tell you waiting you go do for am than this plenty things way you done show am because I no go lie, you no show am well, seeing the big box with a lock on it is even were that seem very funny because even as big as it is it cannot protect the seed phrase because somebody could hijack the box from his room and he cannot recover it again or maybe they stole everything, people doesn't save anything important key on the box, how would you believe that padlock cannot be open without the key?, is a fragile padlock that cannot take a hit without opening, anybody way get Bitcoin no they feel safe to keep there Bitcoin for that wallet, that company way get the wallet still they face gbege way happen to them.

[mv1986]

👉👉write out his seed phrase on paper and gave him with some procedure to secure it

LOL!

If anyone wants me to set up wallets for them, I do it for free!

[Yablee0]

👉👉write out his seed phrase on paper and gave him with some procedure to secure it

At first it's wrong writing such crucial information like seed phrase or login password in just a papper ,it shouldn't be written down on an ordinary piece of paper for it could be very risky doing that, more over this is some things you intend keeping for years and penning it down with a piece of paper is like exposing your hard earned funds to some kind of life time regret because what if the paper get destroy by rat or water what then will happen to your funds you have worked so hard to build over the years. I think the best place to pen down such information is in either where you save all your important information as in your documents files, and secondly is even best having it both in soft copy Incase you can't find the hardcopy of it.

I bring out a locked box as seen below

👉👉This box represent your wallet
👉👉The cash inside the locked box represent your Bitcoin
👉👉The padlock are some security measures taken to protect your Bitcoin in your wallet
To access fund in the box, the padlock needs to be opened and only the key can open the box. So, if you lost the key,  it means you may lost your fund. This seed phrase and some other security measures represent your key.

I must confess you did a great illustration by this diagram of yours at least to make him understand the whole concept of it even to his own level of understanding as a newbie in the system. Nice one

👉👉Make sure you keep your wallet seed phrase save and try not to share it  with any untrusted person.

This is the most important part of Bitcoin investment and the number One tips he needed as a newbie , however how to save guard your funds should be your number agenda because it could be heart broken after working so much hard over the years then one scammer will just come and reap where he didn't sow. 

[Mate2237]

I want to commend you for your efforts in trying to set up a wallet for someone you considers illiterate but to me the that was not necessary the best thing to do is for sensitization and good lecture of what Bitcoin is. Because this is the most important it's good that you help him but if you can be able to let him know what the do and Don's of what Bitcoin is starting a Bitcoin investment is the least thing that anyone can do . The problem to every successful Bitcoin enthusiast has been lack of sufficient understanding of what they are going into.

Helping to setup someone wallet may not be a good thing because of security reasons because, you can only explain how to setup the wallet not helping to setup the wallet this has made you to know the security keys to the person you are trying to help which is not a very good thing to do.

[Jubilee58]

You have done your best helping your illiterate friend to invest in bitcoin, though the method you used may not be the best and that is the more reason why you asked these questions here, and I think you have gotten some relevant tips and responses from other colleagues from the Naija forum board, so I expect you to go back to your friend and make some relevant modification based on your friend's bitcoin investment.

We are all here to make our contributions concerning bitcoin, ask questions about bitcoin where necessary and take corrections.

[adultcrypto]

You have done everything well but your choice of wallet is bad. Choosing and knowing how to use the right wallet is a basic skill that someone need before getting started with investing in bitcoin. From what I have red, Trustwallet is a bad choice for the reason that it is not open source. Teaching a newbie how to use this is not helping him, instead consider using wallet like Electrum that is open source and even easier and better to use since it has so many functions beside serving as a place of storage. Electrum wallet supports RBF and many other functionalities that are not available in Trustwallet.

[Wiwo]

👉👉write out his seed phrase on paper and gave him with some procedure to secure it

LOL!

If anyone wants me to set up wallets for them, I do it for free!

Find the scenario so unreal and for some reasons the whole method seems wrong to me, should I say from the choice of wallet and the way and manner the seed phrase was handled.

If someone ask me to help them Set up a wallet, I will see them as a suspect who may want to frame me up when they lost control or the coins, referring a good wallet app for them is OK like blue wallet at least.

[Chinesebaby]

👉👉This box represent your wallet
👉👉The cash inside the locked box represent your Bitcoin
👉👉The padlock are some security measures taken to protect your Bitcoin in your wallet
To access fund in the box, the padlock needs to be opened and only the key can open the box. So, if you lost the key,  it means you may lost your fund. This seed phrase and some other security measures represent your key.

Red flag number two

All these illustration you made are not the actual explanation of how the bitcoin and wallet security works, because the Bitcoin you're talking about is not stored in the wallet, instead on the blockchain, which makes the whole narrative not being perfectly illustrated despite the way you try to come down to her level, you could have made the right instances for the explanation that truly explains the process.

I totally disagree with you on what you just said above opposing O.P's illustration about how Bitcoin and wallet works in a lay man's level. because O.P never said Bitcoin is being stored in the wallet in what he said above, but rather what he said was that "the box represents your wallet", and it's true that you do actually need a wallet to be able to send or receive Bitcoin from anyone,  because such is not been done on the blockchain itself, but rather on the Bitcoin wallets, which means Bitcoin wallets in a certain way do plays an important role too. And Judging by the fact, that's the only way a lay man will be able to comprehend.

[Man of peace]

I must commend you on your efforts to bring someone you consider as an illiterate into the crypto space,we all know that it will not be very easy to make such a person to understand the whole thing, it is something that will take the teacher a very long time to get him or her through and that was why you make use of box with padlock for illustration and for better understanding..

So I must commend you for your great effort and time to make one to become part and parcel of this great opportunity that Bitcoin has brought to the whole world to help in liberating poverty,so even though there was any mistake in teaching him or her about this investment,i believe with what you have said so far here, those who knows more can correct you in any areas you made any mistakes, for me i don't know much about cryptocurrency exchanges because I am still a learner..

[SatoPrincess]

write out his seed phrase on paper and gave him with some procedure to secure it)

I told him to keep this paper in a very save place(i later explain the importance of what is written in the paper to him)

I hope you told him to have multiple backups of his seed phrase. Since you taught him well enough on how to use a wallet, I think it’s better he moves his coins to a new wallet. That way, you’re free from any accusations of theft if his wallets somehow gets compromised.

👉👉 bought some USDT
👉👉 trade it on exchange to Bitcoin and
 👉👉send it to his trust wallet.

Just curious, was there a reason why you couldn’t buy bitcoin directly from an exchange?

[Obim34]

I told him to keep this paper in a very save place(i later explain the importance of what is written in the paper to him)

I hope you told him to have multiple backups of his seed phrase. Since you taught him well enough on how to use a wallet, I think it’s better he moves his coins to a new wallet. That way, you’re free from any accusations of theft if his wallets somehow gets compromised.

I don't want to condemn OP effort if all he said was true. Sometimes we might be doing the right things, but in the wrong way that destroys the whole effort put into making it a success.

He could help without taking down the phrases for the person, what is supposed to be kept discrete should be followed in that note.

Secondly, the wallet choice was terrible, we learn from mistakes. OP hasn't learnt much to give out, maybe asking before offering help would have done better job.

[SatoPrincess]

This person is a pure illeterate that doesn't know anything about the space. He just wish to hodl some coin for future purpose. I think using electrum wallet may be complex for him. That is why I used trust wallet for him.

If he fit understand how to use Trust wallet, e go fit understand how to use Unstoppable wallet or Blue wallet.
You keep saying “trusted person” in the OP, you should teach him that he shouldn’t trust so easily. Being your own bank means that you have to take sole responsibility for your funds.

[Cryptomultiplier]

write out his seed phrase on paper and gave him with some procedure to secure it)

I told him to keep this paper in a very save place(i later explain the importance of what is written in the paper to him)

I hope you told him to have multiple backups of his seed phrase. Since you taught him well enough on how to use a wallet, I think it’s better he moves his coins to a new wallet. That way, you’re free from any accusations of theft if his wallets somehow gets compromised.

👉👉 bought some USDT
👉👉 trade it on exchange to Bitcoin and
 👉👉send it to his trust wallet.

Just curious, was there a reason why you couldn’t buy bitcoin directly from an exchange?

There's a lot of questions the illiterate person still has to gain clarity on as he continues to be faithful with his bitcoin investment, because being illiterate means some of the technical terms and upgrades on the exchange or wallet may be confusing and may always need a mentor around to act as guide.

Maybe the Bitcoin could not be bought directly because of some region based exchange they may have used and maybe due to cost of fees the network of choice also.

[Agbe]

You said illiterate? Then why are you teaching him again? You don't have to team an illiterate person to invest in bitcoin instead you invest foe him. You can create a separate wallet for the investment but not to give him the seed phrase but you secure everything for him. And the wallet you opened foe him to invest in bitcoin is not good. You would have used electrum wallet, which is also beginners friendly. Though I encourage you effort of telling people about bitcoin but you have to correct something in your next attempt.

[Btcdeybodi]

Hmmm, I would have loved to know the kind of illiterate that he is, like someone who didn't went to the university or someone who didn't get any form of basic education at all or someone who finished graduated from secondary level. And can this person read and write? My reasons for wanting to know about these information is because if he is a core illiterate then everything you are saying may not make any sense to him and bitcoin has to do with the internet, how well can he handle things of the internet because that is what is going to make sense. Anyways, if he is so much of an illiterate that he cannot even know some little things that matters then you should not waste your time teaching him anything about bitcoin because in little time he may become uninterested because everything will be sounding so strange to him.

[SatoPrincess]

You said illiterate? Then why are you teaching him again? You don't have to team an illiterate person to invest in bitcoin instead you invest foe him. You can create a separate wallet for the investment but not to give him the seed phrase but you secure everything for him.

This advice is worse than what OP did. You might as well take up mv1986 offer.

👉👉 bought some USDT
👉👉 trade it on exchange to Bitcoin and
 👉👉send it to his trust wallet.

Just curious, was there a reason why you couldn’t buy bitcoin directly from an exchange?

Maybe the Bitcoin could not be bought directly because of some region based exchange they may have used and maybe due to cost of fees the network of choice also.

Region based exchange? That doesn’t make any sense. Exchanges way person fit buy bitcoin for Nigeria no hard to find. And cost of fees no fit be the problem. I for like make the OP tell us how everything take happen before we start to speculate.