Congratulations! Somebody gifted you Bitcoin in the form of 12 words. How the heck are 12 words Bitcoin? And what are you supposed to do with this? That’s exactly what I’ll help you with.
Go to the app store or Google Play store and download Blue Wallet. There are any number of wallets you can use. This tutorial will use Blue Wallet as the example, so that will be the easiest place to start. You can move your bitcoin to a different wallet later.
Congratulations–you’re finally ready to buy your first Bitcoin. I’m going to walk you through the best ways to buy Bitcoin if you live in America.
The cheapest way to buy your first Bitcoin is with Swan Bitcoin. There are no fees on your first $10,000 of Bitcoin buys. This is the best place to start your Bitcoin journey whether you want to dip your toes on a $100 buy, smash buy thousands, or start saving in Bitcoin with a recurring order.
Hyper-bitcoinization is a term used to describe the potential widespread adoption of Bitcoin as a global currency. In this scenario, Bitcoin would become the dominant medium of exchange and store of value, replacing fiat currencies issued by central banks. While this scenario may seem unlikely at present, many proponents of Bitcoin believe that it is a distinct possibility in the coming years.
One of the main advantages of hyper-bitcoinization is that it could lead to greater financial self-sovereignty for individuals. With Bitcoin, users have complete control over their funds, and can transact without needing to rely on intermediaries such as banks. This is because Bitcoin operates on a decentralized network, meaning that no single entity has the power to control or manipulate the currency. As a result, individuals can transact with one another directly, without needing to go through a third party.
Coinbase is one of the most popular and trusted cryptocurrency exchanges, which can give you peace of mind when it comes to the security of your funds. They make it easy to purchase Bitcoin with a variety of payment methods, including bank accounts, credit cards, and debit cards. This means that you can buy Bitcoin … Read more
The past decade has been eventful for Bitcoin. The cryptocurrency, which was once thought to be a fad, has come of age and proven itself as a legitimate asset class. Bitcoin is the best investment because it has the highest potential gains with the lowest downside risk. Since its inception in 2009, Bitcoin has seen … Read more
It’s helpful to separate Bitcoin from all other cryptocurrencies. It is unlike all other coins, and in fact, all other crypto-assets are referred to as “altcoins” precisely because they are not Bitcoin. Then, there are a number of ways to divvy up the rest of the altcoins. There are stable coins (like USDT, USDC, GUSD) … Read more
Most people price everything in U.S. dollars ($USD). Your retirement accounts may have $100k. Your house is worth $300k. And a “10.75 fluid ounce can of Campbell’s condensed tomato soup is $0.85.” As a thought experiment, let’s price everything in Bitcoin (BTC). What happens? The answer is that everything gets cheaper. This is both bad (if you own any assets other than BTC) and great (if you own BTC).
The bitcoin network annually consumes more energy than some small countries. That’s a lot of energy! Now, if you think bitcoin is useless, then you will complain that all of that energy consumption is a waste and that the dirty sources used to create that energy is bad for the environment.
Have you ever complained about how much energy is used to power Christmas decorations and lights every year? Because Christmas lights use more energy than some small countries. Do you complain about the negative environmental impacts of running a clothes dryer to dry your clothes when you could just hang them up outside to dry in the sun? Of course you don’t, because if you dry your clothes with a clothes dryer it’s because you find that use of energy valuable to you. The problem with complaining about Bitcoin using so much energy is that you fundamentally don’t understand the value of Bitcoin.
One of the smartest ways to buy Bitcoin is to dollar cost average (or DCA for short) your money into the asset. This investing strategy can reduce your stress and make investing in Bitcoin automatic. If you participate in a 401(k) plan through your work, you’re probably already using DCA as an investment strategy. Every paycheck, some money is automatically moved into your 401(k) retirement account and buys the mutual funds (or other investments) that you chose when you signed up regardless of the price of those funds. Each month, you buy more and more, and as the investment goes up in price your total value increases. If the asset (index fund, or Bitcoin) drops in value, you get to buy it at a discount!
Let’s take a real life example. The average household income in the US is about $60,000/year. In 2021, Americans are typically saving about 10% of their income. This means that the average American should be able to save about $500/month. Each year, that’s $6,000. Over 5 years, you’d have $30,000 in your savings account.
Now, let’s imagine you had invested that $500/month into a savings account and earned a 1% interest. After 5 years, you’d have $30,749. Had you invested in the S&P 500 over the same time period, you would’ve ended up with $43,097 since the stock market returned around 14%/yr during those 5 years. So, the next question is: how much would your $500/month savings be worth if you had bought Bitcoin (BTC) each month for 5 years?
What’s up with Bitcoin? Why should I buy Bitcoin today? Is it too late to buy Bitcoin? It’s never too late to buy Bitcoin. Like real estate and index funds, the best time to buy was yesterday. The next best time to buy is today. Look at this forum post from July 2010. This person is lamenting that they “missed the bus” because they “have only 600 bitcoins”.
The farther in the future you are, the more compelling this will be. I’m writing this in the Summer of 2021 and Bitcoin’s price has ranged between $30k and $40k. So, in just 11 years (from 2010 to 2021) those 600 bitcoins would’ve gone from being worth $48 to $24,000,000 (yes, $24 million).