Yesterday I did something I swore I wouldn’t do for as long as I lived. I bought some Crypto.
It wasn’t so bad.
My friends Tom and Kate have been egging me on for months. Years, even. I call them the “crypto couple” because at dinner parties and even just when hanging out, cryptocurrency is all they talk about. Not really all I guess, but enough that it seems like it.
Tom has been sending me WhatsApp messages for the past few months about something called “The Merge.” I guess anyone who’s reading this and already knows about crypto knows what this is. But I didn’t. So here’s a little explanation for crypto newbs like me.
Ethereum (symbol: ETH) is the second most popular crypto currency out there and on September 15, they completed a long-awaited change from something called “proof of work” to “proof of stake.” This is basically a major change in the way that the Ethereum system validates transactions on the network. The headline behind the headline is that it also reduces energy consumption by 99%. CNN has an explanation video that gives much more detail.
This whole change has been called “The Merge” by many and it’s been a big deal.
For me, not that big of a deal.
But because Tom and Kate have been discussing it so much lately it got me to start thinking that maybe it was finally time to start thinking about buying some crypto. And that’s what I did this week.
I opened an account at CoinBase, which T and K said was good for beginner crypto buyers like me. After going through a lot of steps for validating my account, I was ready to go. It was annoying at times to provide all the documentation that I am me but I guess they’ve got to do it and it was no more difficult than doing the same thing in person at the bank.
The next thing I did was transfer some money into the account. I’m a little shy when it comes to investing money in anything. You should see how old my car is and don’t get me started on the age of the appliances in my home. I decided to start with $250, which I deposited via credit card. It seemed like the fastest way to dip my toe into the water.
I was immediately disappointed to learn that I wouldn’t be able to buy a whole Ethereum, because even after the “Merge” one single ETH costs about $1,400. I was able to buy a fraction of an Ethereum, however. It cost me around $140 for 0.1 ETH. I was finally a crypto trader!
With the rest of my money, I bought an even smaller amount of Bitcoin. Bitcoin (BTC) costs just under $20,000 per coin, and it’s going to be a long time before I would even dream of owning a whole Bitcoin. But I’ll be happy with my tiny little fraction of a Bitcoin for now.
I considered buying some other cryptos. Some were recommendations from Kate and some were ones that just looked good to me. But because I was a little shy about all of this, I decided to wait. Also, not all of them were available through Coinbase. Tom recommended getting an account on Binance, another exchange that is even bigger, but I’m good with just one for now.
The coins on my maybe list? Well, I looked at something called Polka Dot (DOT) which supposedly helps different blockchains work better together. I’m not even sure what that means, but Kate said it is going to be a big deal in the future. The second one I looked at was called Cardano (ADA) and to be completely honest I have no idea what it does. The last one Tom and Kate hadn’t even heard of. It’s called SNACK and it’s not available on Coinbase. I had seen it on the jerseys of my favorite soccer team and thought it had a great name.
I guess it’s a good idea I’m only spending $250 on cryptocurrency!
So what’s next for me? I think I’m going to just sit back and see what happens with my crypto empire. I’ll be happy if I just don’t lose any money from my Bitcoin and Ethereum purchase. I’m not planning on being a crypto millionaire anytime soon, but it’s nice to have a piece of the action for now.
Later High 