How to Enter a Risk-free Gateway to the Blockchain
This in-depth article explains why crypto faucets are not only great sources of free cryptoassets, but the high-quality versions are also fantastic sources of blockchain education. Follow the quick and easy steps below to put free crypto inside a blockchain-secured wallet, every day of the week.
Having been in the crypto space for several years now, I know my way around the blockchain. But it wasn't always that way. I've purchased sh!tcoins and had my share of setbacks. Like the time a centralized exchange claimed my deposit was "burned upon commission" and denied receiving it although I have a digital receipt.
Now, if you're new to the land of cryptocurrencies and blockchain tech, welcome! Yes, the industry technology can be overly complicated, and the jargon may be a little out of control.
And yes, there's plenty of risks involved with certain activities. But wait, there's more. Unfortunately, the blockchain is overflowing with scammers out to take your crypto.
The good news is that most bad actors are easy to avoid when you consider their methods and motives. Did a stranger pop into your Telegram just to say "hi," only to later explain their perfectly concocted money-making scheme? Yeah, that's a scam. If you send 1 ETH to a random address, will you get 5 ETH in return? Oh, hell no, you won't!
Don't let greed influence hasty, irrational decisions. Pay attention to those inner alarm bells... they're trying to warn you about scams like Bitconnect.
Sky-high monthly returns? That's a Ponzi scheme waiting to fall apart like a gravy train with biscuit wheels!
Unless it's a faucet, airdrop, or big-name exchange offering $10-100 BTC for opening an account and performing KYC and making a trade of $100+, nobody's giving out free crypto. Especially if they ask you for a small deposit first, or ask for your private keys or further account details while posing as support.
But enough about the bad! Let's focus on the good. There are plenty of legitimate blockchain projects out there. And thankfully, a small subset will reward you with free crypto just for interacting with their ecosystem.
Before you invest that hard-earned fiat, before using a stack of different technologies that may be foreign to you, it's a good idea to start small. Better still, use someone else's money as you learn a few new skills.
If you're already on Coinbase or Binance or one of the other major centralized exchanges, it's not too late. Those are examples of custodial wallets. In other words, you don't own the private keys, which means, technically, you don't own the funds in the account.
But today, I'll show you how to quickly set up and operate a self-custodial wallet. Not only that, but I'll also teach you how to put funds in it, for free, every 20 hours.
Only a few easy steps are between you and owning digital assets held within a global crypto network. But before we get into specifics, I'll tell you why I feel there's one specific project that's worth your time.
Why Horizen?
If you've claimed an airdrop in the past, you may have thought to yourself, "I'll take the time to accumulate free coins, but I'm not convinced that Seaweed Token's plans to decentralize the world's kelp harvesting operations are going to pan out in the long run."
Horizen doesn't resemble a random project you've never heard of. And if you've ever scrolled through the first page of CoinGecko or CMC, you've no doubt seen Horizen fluctuating between spots 30 through 100 by overall market capitalization.
The project aims to make improvements to the blockchain space at large, namely scalability (via sidechains) and interoperability. Making comparisons in his own words, co-founder and CEO, Rob Viglione, had this to say:
"You can run a smart contracting platform as a Horizen sidechain, but you can also run many other types of systems that don't require that level of complexity or extreme resource utilization."
Here's one reason why I remain bullish on Horizen's future: node proliferation. Although the privacy-focused network began only three years ago—then known as 'Zencash'—it's already enormous. That many nodes indicate a large community—an important metric to consider when evaluating projects.
As of December 2019, the number of nodes running the Horizen blockchain is nearly 2x more than Bitcoin and Ethereum combined!
Boasting 30,679 as of Dec. 2019, the Horizen blockchain has over 13,000 more nodes than Bitcoin + Ethereum
There are two different kinds of nodes you can run. Secure Nodes require 42 ZEN, while Super Nodes need 500 ZEN to operate. Both involve some technical knowhow, and both offer passive staking rewards. The project's documentation is comprehensive:
In-depth Guide to the Entire Horizen Ecosystem
Click the link above if you want to explore the tech or run a node.
But for now, let's stick with the basics and get you all set up with a new wallet...
Going 4 Steps up the Blockchain
Okay, now that you know Horizen's not a fly-by-night project with nothing more than a whitepaper, I'll show you how to get daily freebies:
1) Get a Zen Faucet Account
Required Items: Email and password
I've used quite a few faucets and wallets since beginning my journey down distributed rabbit holes several years ago. On the wallet side, there are plenty out there running high-quality code. From setup to use, most are very similar. And, many are very clean and user-friendly.
But I can't say the same about faucets. Most of them are ad-riddled clustershux full of distracting nonsense. Don't worry—I'm not directing you to any ad-driven operations.
Click here to get a Zen Faucet account
Although setting up an account involves an email and password, Zen Faucet login credentials are not the same as your actual wallet. In other words, the wallet you set up in the next step requires its own set of credentials.
Okay, now that you have a faucet account, it's time to grab a wallet...
2) Create a Wallet
Required Items: Smartphone or laptop or desktop computer
Optional Item: External storage device
Like a physical wallet, coin purse, or digital bank account (Neobank), you need a receptacle in which to add funds. For today's example, I'll walk you through setting up the Windows version of Horizen's Sphere wallet.
You can find the wallet download link within the 'Extra Rewards' tab in the faucet dashboard. But regardless, I'll leave the wallet download link for you here.
Now, your operating system may be different than mine, and you may choose mobile over desktop. But the basic principles of wallet ownership are the same nonetheless. In other words, once I teach you how to use Horizen's wallet, you'll be very comfortable using nearly any wallet in all of crypto.
2a) Save the file on your computer and/or USB storage device
2b) Launch the wallet
The file most likely created a desktop shortcut and opened a new icon down in the taskbar. Unlike other blockchain wallets, Sphere is a lightweight client that doesn't require a full blockchain download. It operates more like a simple app.
However, if you want to use the wallet for private messaging and transactions, 'Full Mode' is available within the settings menu.
Click 'Create an account' to designate your wallet's login details
2c) Create a wallet account
Friendly reminder: your wallet's account name and password are separate from your Zen Faucet account.
3) Keep Your Private Keys Private
Required Items: Pen and paper
Now, here's where you have to be careful. By operating crypto wallets, you're acting as your own bank. And that means YOU are responsible for account security.
Once you first create the wallet, you'll receive a unique string of 24 words.
These 24 words are your 'Private Key' and ANYONE who knows them can use them to access YOUR wallet.
On that note, here are a couple of tips for keeping your keys close to your chest:
Do
-
Write them down at least twice
In addition to storing a physical copy, you can use a .txt file to make a digital duplicate.
-
Go slow & ensure you can read your handwriting before proceeding
It'd be a shame if you locked yourself out of your own wallet because you wrote "dome" instead of "done" when writing down your key.
Don't
-
Take a screenshot and send it to yourself via email
Let's just all keep our private keys off of the Internet, okay? Gmail and the like use centralized, hackable servers to store info. Not the place you want to keep the keys to your private funds!
3a) Make backups
In addition to a local folder, I store copies of crypto wallets on a USB stick. If my laptop fries or the house catches fire, I have a small item I can hopefully grab for future wallet restoration.
Like any other crypto wallet, the Sphere wallet doesn't truly hold your funds. You use the wallet to interact with your funds, but your assets are encoded within the distributed network itself.
Cryptoassets live on the blockchain—crypto wallets merely act as user-friendly gateways to funds.
Another method for storing private keys is the 50/50 method. For example, you could give 12 words to a family member and the other 12 to a different person. Or you could burnish the key into a metal plate. Or you could get a tattoo. But I wouldn't recommend putting one on your forehead.
Bottom line, it's good to have more than one secure copy of private keys.
3b) Make note of your new address
Logging into the wallet lets you send and receive ZEN and check your balance. To use the Zen Faucet, you'll need an address to enter. In other words, you need to tell the faucet where to send your daily claims.
Here's one I created for this article: znSKPxpZkQ2YY648nHrtkub8tkAmm2khACS. Your address should look similar and begin with zn.
Think of your wallet address like a public email address—safe to give out to people you know. In contrast, private keys—like email account passwords—are for your eyes only.
Horizen's Sphere wallet allows unlimited addresses. Simply click the 'Add Address' button and assign a nickname. If you feel uncomfortable giving out an address with a large balance—because anyone can type your address into the Horizen block explorer to check your balance and transaction history—you're always free to make a fresh one.
4) Activate Bonuses
Gamification—the art of adding gaming elements to non-gaming elements—is a popular method app developers use to drive consumer engagement. For example, a digital banking app may let you spin a wheel to win coins spendable only within the app. When something that typically has nothing to do with playing games has you, well, playing games, that's gamification.
When gamification is done right, consumers can't help but interact with an app or website daily. And in the case of the Zen Faucet, gamification is not only practiced but has significantly increased since I first began turning the faucet to the ON position.
As of today, there are five different multipliers.
Here's an example of what they do:
The smaller number in the red box is the original payout—47,239 "Zennies," which, like the Bitcoin network's "Satoshis," are the Horizen network's smallest unit of measurement. This is what would get sent to my wallet if no multipliers are active. But after multiplication, the payout is much higher—over 5x in this case.
4a) Daily login: up to 200%
Everyone is eligible to claim rewards every 20 hours. With every consecutive claim, your daily multiplier increases from 1.2x on day 1, up to 2x on day 5.
4b) Brave Browser: flat 20%
Using the Brave Browser to claim rewards makes your daily payouts jump 1.2x.
4c) Social media: up to 90%
Link your Facebook and/or LinkedIn and/or Twitter for bonuses maxing out at 1.9x.
4d) HODLing: up to 300%
Rumor has it that the term "HODL" originated from a misspelled acronym. Apparently, the original poster meant to type HOLD but transposed two letters, and now the term goes by "Hold On (for) Dear Life." In other words, don't sell your assets unless you absolutely must—they might be worth much more in the future.
4e) Verify your wallet's address: flat 50%
Of all the bonus items, this one's the most technical to set up. Thankfully, you only do it once and then it's locked in. That said, the process is straightforward and a great exercise in wallet operation.
One thing I appreciate about the Horizen project is its thorough documentation. However, just so you don't have to dig up the project's explainer video, I'll walk you through address verification here...
* Copy (Ctrl +C) an address from your wallet
** Log into your faucet account and click on the 'Extra Rewards' tab.
*** Click the 'Verify New Address' button:
**** Paste (Ctrl +V) your wallet address into the popup window:
***** Copy the secret message found within the next popup:
****** Open your wallet and click on the "hand holding pen" icon next to your address's nickname:
******* Clicking the icon reveals a field that accepts the secret message copied from the faucet:
******** Clicking 'Create signature' generates a long string of digits:
********* Copy the signature and paste it into your faucet account:
********** Hit the 'VERIFY' button, and you're all set for a 50% daily bonus!
Bonus Round
A universal attractor within gamification is a wheel to spin. If you've ever watched The Price Is Right on TV, you know how the giant wheel is one of the most exciting elements. Everybody told to "come on down!" can't wait to spin a wheel that's taller than the contestants.
You win more than you lose when spinning this wheel
You won't find Bob Barker or Drew Carey, but you won't need them to spin the wheel, anyhow. Every time you either: a) refer a friend or b) claim rewards for 5x consecutive days, you earn a free spin. Although I've never hit the 'jackpot' of 1 ZEN, the game pays something more often than it displays, "sorry, try again."
To access the bonus round, wait until the ridges illuminate on the 3 coins within the ZEN icon adjacent to the stars. It’s a bit faint, but after 5 consecutive days it will light up and you can spin the wheel.
Conclusion
Back in bitcoin's infancy, a developer's faucet was doling out 50 BTC to anyone willing to create a wallet. Strong hands, held for almost a decade, may have realized a $1M profit. But I guess that for most, $100 or even $1,000 was their tipping point.
Regardless, I'm not expecting a similar situation with the Zen Faucet. But since, compared to late-2017, most altcoin prices are in the gutter, one can only hope for a nice future spike. Collect them now, and hang on until you're ready to sell. After all, when it's free crypto, you have nothing to lose. On the flip side, you gain education as you slowly fill your wallet.
Horizen's faucet is a clever marketing vehicle that draws attention to the project. The upgrades continue to develop—the faucet has been getting better with age. And that forward progress bodes well for the future. I'm not qualified to dish out any investment advice—everyone is always encouraged to conduct independent research—but my crystal ball tells me this project is going places.
