Since the inception of Bitcoin in 2009, digital currencies have come a long way.

Over 8000 coins and tokens have been created in the last few years, slowly but steadily the crypto space is gaining more and more mainstream media coverage and people and companies from all over the world are starting to look at an investment in cryptocurrencies.

If you are new to all this, you might be wondering why there is such a hype about something that originated 12 years ago in some secret corner of the World Wide Web. Well, here is the answer:

Bitcoin was invented as a manner of sending, receiving and storing digital money online and from every place in the world without using a trusted intermediary like a bank. This has some great advantages: It is fast, not limited to normal working hours and there is nobody in charge of your money except a programmed protocol which cannot suddenly shut down, refuse to hand out your cash or see what you have been spending it on. Instead of having a central server where all information is stored, bitcoin transactions are treated by computers all over the world running the protocol and adding them to the blockchain as long strings of letters and numbers. Imagine the blockchain as a shared Google document on which the participants are all working together at the same time.

Two years after the creating of Bitcoin, in 2011, a fork of the blockchain gave light to a new cryptocurrency: Litecoin, which was intended to be a kind of 'light version' of bitcoin.

Over the following years, Ethereum, Zcash and Bitcoin Cash were created, all with the same way of functioning (a blockchain), but with different cryptographic rules to follow, as a matter of adaption to serve certain purposes apart from sending cash.

Then suddenly, in 2017, new cryptocurrencies and blockchains with different ideas and use cases started popping up all over the globe, and this continues to go on since. From online games and apps (Ethereum) to flight and hotel reservations (Travala), advertisement revenue platforms (Brave) or social media platforms that reward for good posts (Publish0x or Steem), use cases for blockchains and distributed ledger systems span basically any use case you can imagine. Name a branch or topic and it probably already has a cryptocurrency platform!

So, now that you know a bit more about Bitcoin and cryptocurrency (or maybe already knew) and have realized that this will be more and more important throughout the coming years.  you have probably wondered how to get your hands on some cryptocoins. Sure, if you have a six-figure bank account, you can go and buy some easily in just a moment.

But you probably don't (neither do I) have a large sum of money to invest, and maybe you haven't started out yet because you think you don't have a budget, the resources, equipment or knowledge to put into it.

I will tell you right now:

THE ONLY THING YOU WILL NEED TO GET YOUR FIRST CRYPTO IS A SMARTPHONE OR COMPUTER WITH INTERNET ACCESS AND YOU'RE READY TO GO!

The first thing I advise you to do is creating your first, very own cryptocurrency wallet. For beginners, I suggest Coinbase because it is easy to use and accepted by nearly all crypto earning sites, exchanges etc. . When you sign up, Coinbase requires a KYC (Know Your Customer) verification which involves uploading a picture of your national identification document. Don't worry, this is very normal in the crypto industry and is a legal measure against money laundering and to ensure that you are a real person. Rest assured that nobody will look at or share your documents.

Coinbase is not only a good wallet for storing your crypto, but also has various possibilities of earning some extra coins on the way, either through Referrals or with Coinbase Earn. Coinbase Earn lets you watch short video tutorials about a newly listed crypto asset and if you answer the quiz question correctly you earn a bit of the asset the video was about. I myself have made around $100 just with the videos and highly recommend it.

Here is my invite link - sign up here if you would like to support me: https://www.coinbase.com/join/didsbu_6?src=android-share (If you do choose to deposit cash, we will both get $10 extra.)

Other Crypto Wallets you can use are Exodus, Coinomi and Blockchain.com - all three of them are good wallets, maybe a little more complicated than Coinbase, but with a lot greater list of assets to choose from. These are the wallets I use and trust, but feel free to try others too.

START A NOTEBOOK IN YOUR PREFERRED FORM TO WRITE DOWN YOUR PASSWORDS, SEED PHRASES AND ANY OTHER IMPORTANT NOTES. NEVER STORE THIS NOTEBOOK ONLINE NOR ON A COMPUTER THAT IS CONNECTED TO THE INTERNET! This way, you can keep track of everything and see the progress you make. It is important to store these notes in a safe place so nobody can intercept your login data and take control of your accounts.

Then, get yourself started with some free earning apps and games. You won't make money overnight, but bit by bit you will earn some crypto which you can later invest to make more crypto...

Here are some cool apps for you to earn that I have found to be very reliable so far:

TipNano: a free application available on Google Play Store and iOs App Store that gives you multiple options for earning μNano, a small part of the Nano cryptocoin (click here for more information about Nano and it's current price. This is a link to coinmarketcap which is my favourite site for looking up information and statistics about nearly any coin existing!). With TipNano, you can earn by claiming the main faucet every few hours (countdown included so keep calm and crypto on ;) ), watching 3 ad videos now and then, completing surveys and installing apps and games, which you will all find in the section "Offerwalls". I personally have only been using the videos, Theorem Reach surveys and faucet claims as well as the bonus for signing in daily and have found it works very smoothly. Easy, perfect withdrawal, I've tried it myself!

If you would like to support me, signup here with my referral link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bdf.tipnano&referrer=la4tSy (This is the Play Store link, I don't know how this would work for iOs. I am not an Apple user. If anyone knows, feel free to explain in the comments section and I will do my best to add...).

Also check out Cointiply https://cointiply.mobi/ASf2, which has similar features but you earn coins which can later be withdrawn as Bitcoin or Dogecoin. Here is my invite 

If you like playing spin and slot games try out FreeLitecoin https://bitcoinaliens.com/?ref=1226376&game=8&pf=2 and FreeBitcoinCash https://bitcoinaliens.com/ref=1226376&game=7&pf=2 by Bitcoin Aliens, which over very little time will add up to quite a few dollars (and if you are very lucky and spin the highest possible win - which is possible, I have had the pleasure to experience this myself - you can earn quite a good sum). You just link the app to your wallet with your public key (if you are not sure how to do this please seek additional information about sending crypto to a wallet before doing so.) and once you reach the payout limit you will receive hour earnings automatically to the wallet address you provided earlier.

If you would like to be one of the first to join a startup currency, then you could become part of my earning team on      Pi: https://minepi.com/zone12. Pi has not yet reached mainnet stage but will do so soon, as they have a very active dev team and community management with clear goals which have proven to accomplish what they plan up until now. Pi aims to bring anyone closer to crypto, regardless of technological possibilities and know-how.

Or get some "Time" with TimeStope, another app that offers free mobile mining that are yet to launch their mainnet: Go to https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.timestope to download the Android app. You will need a so called witness (referrer) to sign up, you can use cryptician which is mine :) 

I also spin the free faucet roll on FreeBitco.in https://freebitco.in/?r=35516783 now and then. This is a website that has an hourly roll of a random number between 1 and 10 000 and depending on the number you roll you can win up to $200. Another feature of FreeBitcoin that I hadn't discovered until recently when I decluttered my email inbox which was getting far too many messages, is a daily email with a free spin with really cool wins. These spins have a time limit of 48 hours so don't notoriously forget to check your emails because you will miss out on them like I have up until now!

These are the ones I have tested most useful until now and are the ones that I stick with. Feel free to explore other opportunities, but remember to do your own research (DYOR, as it is often dubbed in crypto geek jargon) and watch out for scams. The good thing about free offers is that you will never lose money, it is still a P. I T. A. (pain in the you-know-what-I'm-talking-about) because of the time you spent in something that turned out a failure. Sucks, I know!

Once you have these pages set up and are earning your first cryptocoins, you can put them to work either by trading or earning interest on them. Trading is a rather deep subject to explain, a whole topic for itself and only suited to the most ambitious of you as it takes certain emotional strength and A LOT of willingness to learn, but this is one of the things I will talk about in other posts, not this one.

Earning interest however is really easy and a great option to earn passive income on your assets without having to do anything!

In this topic, Nexo is definitely my favourite platform. With Nexo, you earn interest which is paid out every day on the amount of coins you hold in your wallet and there is basically no minimum amount. They also let you borrow cash against the crypto you have in your Nexo account but for more information on this topic I advise you to ask someone who has actually done so and can tell from experience because I haven't tried this feature yet. If I do, I will write about it in another post. Download the app here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nexowallet.

Another cool app in this direction is Celsius. It's advantages over Nexo are that they have a lot more coins to choose from and the interest percentage is adapted every week and can sometimes include some really high interest rates. The interest is paid weekly. They say that there is no minimum amount but I tried with $0.82 worth of DASH and the interest I received was 0.00 so this requires a liiitle bit more. Follow my invite link: https://celsiusnetwork.app.link/127493706d. 

Also check out Blockfi and Crypto.com, but be prepared for minimums of around $100 which is why I am personally not really into them (yet).

If you are looking out to trade or acquire coins that are still very new in the market, check out KuCoin. They constantly list more assets and also have a lot of activities and competitions where you can win cool stuff like the latest crypto coin Airdrops. Sign up as my referral here: https://www.kucoin.com/ucenter/signup?rcode=Ry4xxe. 

Last but not least and a GREAT place to get started with crypto, is Stormgain! https://app.stormgain.com/friend/BNS16892866

This is a fantastic platform for trading beginners, you can mine on your phone without any performance drawbacks and a neat collection of simple video tutorials shows you the steps to your first trade operation. Until you have gathered enough crypto by mining, you can use the integrated DEMO ACCOUNT with $50 000 of fake money to practice your trading skills before you step in with your own money or hard-earned Sats (short for Satoshis, a fraction of a Bitcoin and used like the word "pennies" in crypto jargon).

This is all for now, I hope you enjoyed reading and that these recommendations help you to get started with crypto! Nonetheless, if you have any questions or feedback please let me know in the comments.

Cheers and have a great day! 

Crypticia N