This being a blog about making money from home, it would be remiss to not cover cryptocurrency (often just called “crypto”) as well. It is after all one of the easiest ways to potentially make money from home (not financial advice) , sometimes a lot of money, as well as of course an easy way to lose a lot of money.
What is exactly is cryptocurrency though? Very basically, it’s a form of (often) decentralised digital currency backed by cryptography, using a blockchain to store transaction data – a cryptographically linked chain of records.
It sounds complicated, and in many ways it is, and there are many variations and forms of crypto… but you don’t need to know them all, just learn a few basics (“do your own research”), and start dabbling. This free course on udemy is a good place to learn the basics.
Bitcoin (BTC)
Probably the most famous crypto coin is of course Bitcoin. The one that everyone wishes they’d bought when it was new and worthless, or held on to if they did buy it back then (many did) since it is now worth a massive amount.. tens of thousands of dollars… maybe in the coming years even hundreds of thousands per coin! Bitcoin has made millionaires and billionaires and those that sold early are now filled with regrets.
Ethereum (ETH)
The next most well known and widely used crypto is Ethereum which was co-founded by a programmer called Vitalik and designed to allow for decentralized applications and even other (“ERC-20”) cryptos to be built on top of it, with executable “smart contracts”. Examples of cryptocurrencies running on Ethereum include Shiba Inu token and Million token, but there are many others.
Dogecoin (DOGE)
Originally created as a bit of a joke, this coin has recently become extremely popular and considerably more valuable than it was for many years, thanks in no small part to Elon Musk talking and tweeting about it. Market cap now is around $40 Billion, which is quite impressive for a joke! It has also since spawned countless “dog coin” copies which have so far not come anywhere near the success for Dogecoin itself, although Shiba Inu has made decent progress.
A multitude of crypto
Besides the big ones such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, there are now countless coins and tokens, often referred to as Altcoins. You may have noticed that I said “coins and tokens” and the reason is that they are not quite the same, although often used interchangeably, so what’s the difference? Basically a coin has its own blockchain (such as Bitcoin and Ethereum), while tokens are built on top of an existing blockchain (such as ERC-20 tokens). Many cryptos these days are ERC-20 tokens running on Ethereum, but others have their own blockchain or run on BSC. A good place to seem them all (or many of them) is coinmarketcap, which currently has over 11k cryptocurrencies listed, and shows the current and previous prices as well as important info about each one including the contract.
Cryptocurrency Exchanges
Where can you buy crypto though? The easiest place is an exchange such as Binance and Coinbase. You just need to signup, complete there KYC process (“Know Your Customer”), and then you can buy crypto with your credit card or other methods they may support, and trade it for other currencies.
Wallets
When you buy crypto, you will need somewhere to keep it. If you buy on an exchange such as Binance, you can keep it there, but generally it is recommended to move it off the exchange and into a wallet that only you control. A wallet can be an app installed on your phone, or a browser plugin, or a safer option is a hardware wallet. Popular wallets include Metamask, Trust Wallet, and Ledger.
Trust No One
There are a lot of scammers out there in the crypto world, partly because it is still so unregulated and anonymity is common.
Your wallet will have a passphrase, typically of 12 or more words – NEVER GIVE THIS TO ANYONE EVER.. NEVER EVER!!! Also – DON’T LOSE IT OR YOU CAN LOSE ACCESS TO YOUR CRYPTO AND WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO RECOVER IT!!
Scammers will try to get your passphrase in various ways, such as pretending to be from customer support. Don’t fall for it.
When adding a token to your wallet or sending/receiving crypto, always check that it is legit, and that you have the right contract and right wallet address.. double and triple check everything!
Better Late Than Never
You may be thinking it’s too late to get into crypto, that the ship has sailed and you’ll never be able to make any money if you get into crypto now, but remember the vast majority of the world population is still not in crypto. There is massive room for growth, and lots of innovation creating new opportunities in crypto (NFTs and blockchain gaming for example). Just keep your ear to the ground, do your research, and go for it!
But remember the first rule of crypto – don’t ever invest what you are not 100% prepared to lose! There’s no shortage of misguided people who threw their life savings into some hot new crypto and then lost it all… don’t be that person.
Chances are you will lose money sometimes or even many times, not everything works out, cryptos can go up today and down tomorrow. They can go down just after you buy them, or if you’re lucky they could go up just after you buy them. Don’t be greedy though, if you see an opportunity to sell for a fat profit, take it.. if you wait longer thinking it might go up more, you could lose all those juicy gains.
Often it is said the best strategy can be just to hold (“HODL”) for the long term. Remember it took years for Bitcoin to take off and reach the massive value it has now. If you bought it cheap and sold early then you missed out, but those who just held for years are now very rich. If you buy a new(ish) coin or token today, don’t be surprised if it goes nowhere for a long time, months or even years. But if you chose wisely (or luckily), a few years from now that crypto could have gone up 10x or even 100x.. or it could have died completely. Such is life in crypto.. it’s a rollercoaster! Have fun along the way, but don’t be stupid with your money – diversify, spread the risk, research everything, trust no one.
I’ll go into more detail on some of the topics mentioned above, as well as others, in future crypto related articles so stay tuned!
Disclaimer: nothing in this article or blog should be taken as financial advice. I am not a financial adviser. Do your own research. Never invest what you are not prepared to lose.
