General disclaimer: Nothing in this article should be interpreted as financial advice. Reading a whitepaper and article should be only the beginning of your own research, and nowhere near the entirety of it. Assume that the author owns every asset discussed in this article.
April 1st, 2022 marks the 4 year anniversary of the Memecoin Banano. As a fork of Nano, both currencies focus on fast, free, and eco-friendly payments, and to say that they do it well is an understatement. Banano has branched out to several other projects as well, with the most important one being assisting medical research. It's also notorious for having a nice and laid-back community that encourages random donations. It's even been endorsed by Dogecoin creator Billy Markus. Its meme-filled "Yellow Paper" is also very short and easy to read, making it perhaps one of the most beginner-friendly cryptocurrencies to start your journey with. As with all cryptos, you absolutely should read it before continuing further.
https://banano.cc/yellowpaper/
Getting Started: To get started you will need a wallet. Banano Vault is a web-based client, while Kalium (meaning potassium) is a mobile wallet available on both iOS and Android devices. Both work just fine, and links to both can be found below. You even get an adorable monkey avatar generated with your address.
https://vault.banano.cc/
https://kalium.banano.cc/
WARNING: NEVER GIVE AWAY YOUR PRIVATE KEYS/SEED PHRASE! If you ever do so, the funds in your wallet are forever at risk of being stolen and you will need a new wallet immediately. To avoid confusion, know that it is perfectly okay to post your wallet address or change the representative of your wallet. These are commonly requested when linking your wallet to another site in order to prove ownership of it, and will not compromise the wallet in any way.
One of the easiest ways to freely obtain initial funds to test the network out is through faucets. They are not designed to be money-makers, so do not waste your time trying to treat them as such. To obtain Banano from a faucet, you will enter your wallet address, complete a quick capcha, and then be amazed at how quickly you received your Banano. One of the most up to date lists can be found below, all thanks to a kind Redditor.
https://www.reddit.com/r/banano/comments/nyb4ch/faucet_list/?
You will also see that their list has other free ways to earn, such as through games (and even includes Nano methods as well). If this list helps you, then you can donate to their wallet address here:
ban_3c8969bdyud39cum5pob99q7jzguzdqxbc1jabd9ezxfbkfm5mrqgsro5mek
Now that you’re properly introduced to the network, let’s take a look at a very unique distribution method that Banano utilizes over at https://jungletv.live/
Jungle TV: Here, people can pay Banano to add a YouTube video to the queue, and they can earn Banano by watching videos others have added. Once you add your wallet, you may withdraw your earnings at any time. Alternatively, you can automatically get paid either every time you reach 10 Banano, or 24 hours after your last earnings activity. The cost to queue depends on the length of the video, as well as the priority that you give the video. Many 2-4 minute videos with no priority will cost roughly 10 Ban or less, and is worth trying out at least once. By actively participating in the chat or by submitting videos that others enjoy, you may even receive random Banano donations. Every Tuesday, they also have a “Tunesday” event in which they pick a musical theme for the community to contribute videos to. You can earn 25 Banano for being one of the first 150 videos in queue, up to a maximum of 3 times per event.
"Mining" Banano: Rather than mining for a currency in the traditional sense, with Banano you instead lend your CPU and GPU power to medical researchers combating diseases such as Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, Cancer, Alzheimer’s and more. With Folding@Home, your computing power assists with protein folding simulations, and you will receive Banano based on your contributions. Powerplant web miner was once another option, but it has since shut down.
https://foldingathome.org/?lng=en
Earning via social media: Pretty much every social media platform that Banano partakes in has some way in which you can receive free Banano. Reddit for example has weekly giveaway threads, and a tip bot that you can send and receive Banano from. Upon receiving your first tip, an address gets added to your account automatically. You can send to Banano to other users, or withdraw it to your primary wallet.
NFTs: By utilizing the carbon-neutral Wax blockchain, Banano has created Cryptomonkey NFTs that you can obtain. These are distributed fairly and for free. More information about how to obtain them and the perks of owning one can be found below.
https://cryptomonkeys.cc/
Market Overview: Finally let's take a look at Banano’s overall performance at https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/banano
The total supply was originally 3,402,823,669.20 BAN, but coins were burnt on several occasions (with another one expected to happen for the 4th birthday). This leaves the total supply at 1,919,420,069 BAN with 1,345,261,103.47 BAN actively in circulation. Its all time high was at $0.054044 USD on May 08, 2021, while its all time low was $0.00008989 on Apr 13, 2020. Among the vast world of memecoins that tank after the initial hype and altcoins that don’t survive a bear market, Banano is not performing terribly at all. Of course, it’s performance is not exceptionally spectacular either.
Update: The 4th birthday burn has officially happened. After burning 300 million Banano in 2019, 192 million in 2020, and 973 million in 2021, the developers burned a whopping 19 Banano for 2022. Not 19 million, but 19 (which is the atomic number for potassium in case you were unaware). Very well played. The new total supply is now 1,919,420,050 BAN
Here are some final key factors to consider before deciding if Banano is a coin for you to look further into:
- In addition to the Dogecoin creator, Nano founder Colin LeMahieu has also stated that he likes Banano. A video of him saying this is even in that yellowpaper that you didn’t read.
- Many, if not most users utilize free distribution methods to obtain Banano, which can potentially keep prices low even after tokens are burnt or if adoption increases.
-There are far less exchanges to buy, sell, or swap Banano on compared to other popular coins, which can also keep prices lower.
- Banano can not natively be staked, but liquidity pool options exist for wrapped versions of Banano on the Binance, Matic, and Fantom networks
- Simply having a wallet means that you may wake up with random Banano. It’s not uncommon for people to donate to random addresses for no reason.
- Folding@Home is not profitable at all, but that is not the point of it.
- Banano is generally more of a community that has a crypto, and does not take itself too seriously. They are very transparent about the true (low) value of the coin and generally frown upon the “to the moon!” types of shilling.
- Although stated earlier, the “fast and free transactions” part of Nano and Banano should be heavily emphasized.
- You can watch Jungle TV on the Brave browser to earn another crypto simultaneously (Whether Brave is worth it or not will be another write up for another day)
- Banano has more members on its official social media groups than many other mainstream cryptocurrencies and tokens
- Conversion rate: 1 Ban = 1 Ban
Additional resources:
- Blockchain explorer: https://creeper.banano.cc/
- Wiki: https://banano.fandom.com/wiki/Banano_Wiki
- Reddit FAQ: https://www.reddit.com/r/banano/comments/mfzi6n/new_to_banano_get_started_here_faq_2021_edition/
- Official Banano Publish0x: https://www.publish0x.com/banano
-Github: https://github.com/BananoCoin/banano
If this article helped you, my Banano address can be donated to here:
ban_3orqrp7wthznz5nrmatofy9jzcuhrs97g4ojpauy9iky6eb5x8izjpioxkp4
This is my first post, so expect the article to be edited to adjust formatting and pictures to fit the Publish0x layout.
Feedback helps! If you are brand new to this coin and still have basic questions about it, ask them so I can adjust the article for future readers. Expect future articles to be posted at inconsistent rates.
