How to Buy and Keep It— Cryptocurrency has taken the world by storm so it’s important to know how you can get yourself a piece of the action. One of the most obvious ways is through Robinhood, every retail/teenage investor’s favorite (or least favorite depending on how you felt about GME) platform. There you can invest in a limited number of cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Dogecoin, Ethereum, and most of the other major players in the market.
Some other ways that may not be as well known are through new platforms created just for crypto markets. Such platforms include Binance, Kraken, Coinbase, eToro, Bisq, Coinmama, Bisq, Bittrex, and Gemini to name a few. Each of these exchanges come with their own strengths and weaknesses that attract or deter customers.
It is important to note that cryptocurrency wasn’t designed to be an investment but more of a currency for exchange like the US Dollar or the Chinese Yuan.
Although this is the case, there are still a large number of institutions that do not accept cryptocurrency as a legitimate form of payment. This of course will change over time as certain stores and companies have allowed cryptocurrency as payment for goods and services. Tesla, PayPal, and Microsoft to name a few.
There are many forms of storage for crypto as well. Desktop wallets that are installed on your computer and offline, online wallets that are on the cloud and can be accessed from any computer, mobile wallets that can be stored on your smartphone device, and hardware wallets that store your private key on a hardware device such as a USB. The less secure forms of storage are online, while the safest forms of storage include desktop and hardware wallets.
Looking Ahead — Over the past decade, traceable digital currency, also known as cryptocurrency, has become some of the fastest-growing digital species. Due to it being a completely digitally run system, this has helped to make international payments easier and quicker, which most current money-sending platforms will not allow.
In addition, with crypto being fairly new, there are minimal fees and restrictions one would usually encounter using mainstream banking.
While a large percentage of the global population still has its doubts about this new currency, mostly due to the fact that they see the volatility in the fluctuation of price as a risky investment, many others have become accustomed to the practicality and ease that comes with paying through cryptocurrencies.
In regards to the future of crypto, its outlook is still very much in question, but much can be predicted from how it grew these past few years. Its historical growth is closely correlated with the overall advance in global technology, and with more and more of society transitioning towards digitized platforms and way of life, there will be more opportunity to use crypto as a form of trading.
In addition, with millennials’ progressive outlook on life, the applications in which crypto can be used will be limitless as its overall optimism of reformation is evident.
