How Exactly Do You Use Cryptocurrency?

Cryptocurrencies may seem like a popular online fad to many people, but they’re actually a lot more practical than you might think. In addition to Bitcoin, there are actually many cryptocurrency alternatives that are worth a surprising amount of money and are also traded on a daily basis. However, most people wouldn’t know how to actually use cryptocurrency. They might be holding on to their Bitcoin or Ethereum and wait to sell it once the value has gone up again. But how exactly do you “sell” your cryptocurrency? To some people, the idea of even acquiring cryptocurrency is an alien concept.

So in this post, we’re going to take a look at some of the basics around cryptocurrency and how you use it. We’ll be talking about some of the basics and also discuss a couple of ways that you can actually spend your cryptocurrencies.

What cryptocurrency should I use?

Perhaps the very first thing to do is decide on what cryptocurrency you want first. It may help to look at cryptocurrency values to see how much they’ve grown over the past few weeks or months to see if you should buy right now. There are lots of different types of cryptocurrencies to choose from, so there’s sure to be something within your budget. If you are wondering welche Kryptowährung man kaufen sollte, this article should help you make sense of things so that you can make an informed decision.

For beginners, Bitcoin may be the safest choice. This is because it’s the most valuable and also the most well-known. Many people consider it to be the most stable choice out of all the volatile cryptocurrencies, but Bitcoin isn’t perfect and it’s had moments where the price has surged and dropped. Bitcoin is also the most versatile in terms of usage. There are some retailers that even accept Bitcoin and many cryptocurrency exchanges accept Bitcoin when exchanging for items of equal value.

In short, we would highly recommend Bitcoin as your first proper cryptocurrency due to all of the support around it. It’s arguably the most well-known which means you won’t have any trouble obtaining and using it. Litecoin can also be a good second choice and it’s starting to grow in popularity and price.

Obtaining cryptocurrency

There are a couple of ways to obtain cryptocurrency. Perhaps the easiest way is to visit a cryptocurrency exchange and then simply purchase it. It’s a good idea to compare multiple exchanges to see where you can get the best price, and also ensure that the exchange is a reputable one that offers peace of mind. You don’t want to pick an exchange that has just been started because it could raise some warning flags. Exchanges are vulnerable to hackers given the nature of cryptocurrency, so you should take extra care when using different websites to manage or acquire your cryptocurrency.

Another thing to consider is the fees you might need to pay. Generally, exchanges don’t necessarily offer a better service just because they charge higher fees. In fact, the two biggest factors you need to consider is the reputation of the exchange and the lowest fees.

When you sign up to a cryptocurrency exchange you’ll need to set up a trading account. You’ll use some basic information to identify yourself and you’ll likely need to include some form of identification. This is an anti-fraud measure that helps to ensure that everyone using the exchange is legitimate. This may put you off if they ask you to send a government-issued form of identification, but it’s safe as long as the exchange is a reputable one. Once set up, you can then attach a payment method of your regular currency (such as PayPal) which will be used to buy and sell cryptocurrencies.

You can also try to mine cryptocurrency yourself. This is a fairly involved process and it requires some very specific computer hardware to make it somewhat efficient. Keep in mind that you’re not going to be printing money. It takes a very long time to mine Bitcoin or any cryptocurrency. Newer currencies may have extremely volatile prices that make it worth it to mine Bitcoin, but unless you have a lot of money that you’re willing to invest, mining Bitcoin is a waste of money until you can scale up your operations. Keep in mind that some cryptocurrency farmers have entire warehouses of custom-built computers to mine for them. They’re not doing it off a typical home computer!

Spending your cryptocurrency

Now that you’ve set up an account at an exchange and have some cryptocurrency, it’s time to think about spending it. There are a number of different ways to use your cryptocurrency, but you need to ensure that the cryptocurrency you have is supported by the services that you want. Just look out for the corresponding currency logos on the website to see what they support. Here are a couple of ideas on how you can use your cryptocurrency:

• Look for a retailer that supports cryptocurrency purchases. There are actually some retailers that accept cryptocurrency when buying things online. It’ll typically show as an option at checkout, or they’ll have cryptocurrency logos next to bank card logos to show that they accept cryptocurrency. Many retailers accept both well-known cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and also lesser-known currencies such as Litecoin. However, if you want to buy directly from retailers, then Bitcoin is the most widely-used option that a retailer will accept. Some brick and mortar stores also accept Bitcoin, but this is rare compared to online stores.
• Building an investment portfolio using the cryptocurrency you own. Many people choose to hold onto their cryptocurrency instead of spending it. There could be various reasons for this, such as wanting to build up a sizable investment portfolio with their cryptocurrency. If you don’t want to spend your cryptocurrency right now, then it can be a good idea to hold on to it and wait for the value to increase. This is a great strategy to increase your wealth if you’re interested in investing. However, it’s going to take a bit of work until you can diversify your portfolio with a number of different cryptocurrencies.
• Buy gift cards with cryptocurrencies. There are actually a couple of websites like Gyft and Bitrefill that allow you to purchase gift cards and mobile top-ups with cryptocurrency. These are incredibly easy to use and some of them offer discounts and rewards based on the gift cards that you spend on. These may charge a small fee for the convenience, but it’s usually much easier than selling the cryptocurrency first before you decide to buy something. This is the go-to way to use cryptocurrencies for certain people.
• Just sell your cryptocurrency on an exchange. If you’ve been trading the cryptocurrency or want to cash in because the prices are high right now, then you can simply empty your wallet and sell all of your cryptocurrency. This is the simplest way to “spend” your cryptocurrency and essentially trade it for money. This can be done entirely through your exchange, making it a simple and convenient process.

As you can see, there are quite a few ways to obtain and use cryptocurrency. While it’s still not as widely supported as something like PayPal, we expect that more and more people are going to be using cryptocurrency in the future as it gains popularity as a global currency. There are even cryptocurrency cash machines in certain parts of the world where you can make withdrawals using your online wallet. These are extremely convenient for people and they make perfect sense in a world that is slowly adapting to the use of cryptocurrencies.