The Best Way to Get Started
Knowledge is key. Doubly for cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin, Ethereum, and BAT all have their differences. If you are going to be trading them, you should know how they work. But there is soo much information when it comes to crypto. Where to start?
How about watching some short videos? How about getting paid to watch short videos? Now that doesn’t sound like a bad start.
Coinbase Earn is a program put on by Coinbase (hence the name). Coinbase is a key gateway for Americans to get into the crypto game. They trade crypto for straight USD and they are FDIC insured. They are a very reputable company that has been around for ages in terms of the crypto space, and they want to help you get educated.
Essentially, they have put together solid videos explaining the Basic Attention Token, Stellar, Zcash, and 0x. Don’t know what those are? Great! Here’s your chance to learn something new and get $72 for the effort.
Watch Videos, Get Crypto
Yes, you really can get that much in crypto from Coinbase Earn. You yourself can get $26 easy, and if you have a life partner nearby, that more than doubles to $72. Here’s how:
- Sign up for a Coinbase account
If you use my referral code, then you can get $10 for signing up (I do too!). If you already have a Coinbase account, that’s ok, the $72 above doesn’t include the referral bonus
- Join the Coinbase Earn Waitlist
It usually takes a day or so for you to get added (they will email you).
- Complete the Courses
Coinbase has a course for the Basic Attention Token (and Brave!), Stellar, Zcash, and 0x. Each course involves watching 3 to 5 videos and you earn $1-$2 instantly for watching the videos (and answering a single [rather easy] question at the end).
The Basic Attention Token course has you download the Brave browser and try it out. The Brave browser is now my personal favorite. Strong privacy protection, crypto based, a fantastic use case, and an unGoogled version of chrome. I seriously have unending good things to say about Brave.
Once you download Brave (for free), then you earn another $7.
Stellar is more social and I am not counting the social aspect in my total. If you invite friends to learn about stellar, then you get $10 for each friend (up to 4 friends). So basically, you earn $10 from videos, and potentially another $40 from friends (Hi Friends!) =)
Assuming you have watched the 3 0x, 3 Zcash, 3 BAT, and 5 Stellar videos, as well as downloaded Brave, you should now have $26 in total in those cryptocurrencies.
If you have a life partner, things get even better
- Have more to talk about at dinner
Have your life buddy sign up. Then use your Stellar friend code and invite your Stellar partner to learn about crypto. Have fun watching videos together.
- Crypto and chill
Protip: have your partner use my referral code. I asked my wife to use mine (only natural) and Coinbase invalidated the code. Something about signing up from the same IP address, same bank account, same street address…. You know, the little things.
So that’s another $26 in videos, $10 for the Stellar referral, and $10 for the Coinbase referral.
Blam. $72. Just like that. And now you are ready to start trading =)
To Trade or Not to Trade
To Trade
Coinbase Pro is a good exchange to trade on. Coinbase is not. Coinbase and Coinbase Pro are the same company, just different websites. Coinbase has crazy high fees, Coinbase Pro has typical fees. Coinbase only let’s you ‘buy and sell’. Coinbase Pro lets you have market, limit and stop loss orders.
Coinbase is good for getting right into. Coinbase Pro is good for trading. Same company, different sites, a little weirdly setup.
Regardless, Coinbase pro is a pretty solid exchange. Trading right for USD has a lot of charm. Being insured is also pretty nice.
Coinbase Pro has also been adding a bunch of other coins that you can trade. They used to have a limited selection, but not now. However, if you want to trade all the altcoins, I would suggest Binance.
Binance is the largest exchange and they have all the cryptos of value. You can’t place short orders, but you can have any cryptocurrency you want.
Not to Trade
If you don’t want to trade, and you just want the cash, you can always log into Coinbase pro, trade everything for USD, and then withdraw it back into your bank account. However, you’re missing out on some great trading fun.
If you want to hodl your crypto and feel a little leery leaving it on an exchange, then I suggest you look into the Trust Wallet. Despite its name, the Trust wallet is decentralized and open sourced. No need to trust it. Your private keys are kept right on the device.
Conclusion
Blockchain technology will only grow in popularity. Is it too useful not to. Cryptocurrencies based on the blockchain are trying to solve real world problems in novel ways. One of the largest roadblocks, however, is adoption. You can have the cure to cancer, but if no one knows about it, then it hasn’t done anything.
Coinbase Earn is a really good attempt to break up some of those roadblocks. It’s also a really good opportunity for any forward thinking person who wants to get in on the crypto action.
Cheers!
