So, there I was. In the middle of a pandemic, way too late to get on the Bitcoin gravy train, with (as I wrote in this post) nothing to lose. With (lots) of time on my hands, due to stay-at-home orders, I read about crypto and blockchain, understanding, maybe, 60% of what I read, but being unexpectedly stoked by the 40% I did grok.
Ultimately, I'm an experiential learner; if I was going to conquer the 60% gibberish, I was going to have to get my hands dirty.
I was going to have to mess about with crypto.
Now, I knew I could straight up buy some. No shame in that. But, like any good gambler, it's smarter to play with the house's money...even a modest amount. And I knew, from my reading, that airdrops, faucets, bounties, and sh1tc0ins exist, though rife with scams, and would be the most accessible way to get some coin (or, rather, fractions of fractions of coins).
I decided that would be the start.
I mean, even I know enough math to get that fractions of fractions plus fractions of fractions eventually add up to a whole number. I set myself some parameters, and a goal: I'd make ~$50 USD in crypto, and I'd spend as little, if nothing, to get it.
It took me a...minute, but I did it. And here's the story of my first fifty (part 1).
If you want to follow along at home, for all my steps, here's what you'll need:
Time (required)
Patience (required)
Low expectations (nice to have)
An old phone that has wifi access (nice to have)
An email especially for crypto stuff (nice to have)
$13 (USD) to spend (not strictly necessary)
Material needs for stuff you can buy online (everyone has)
Zero to $20: The COIN App
After a bit of dithering, I started with the COIN app. There is a LOT out there already on this app, so I won't re-work the wheel, but for those of you who haven't heard of the COIN app, it's a project by XY The Persistent Company in which individual users geomine their location data.
The COIN app essentially trades your location for small amounts of COIN (an app-specific digital asset that you can trade in for the company's crypto, XYO). The app displays a map of your real world locale, divided into small blocks that can be "mined." As you pass over (or sit still) on a location, a small amount of COIN is credited to your account.
It's a legit project, with an interesting enough premise -- create a decentralized location network to replace GPS -- and payouts are real. And for me, it was a decent place to start.
The community around the app, especially the reddit, is super-duper friendly to questions.
I used the app for about 4 months, and made approximately $20. It was fun enough, but I deleted it* after I hit $33 ($20 to play with, and $13** to recoup a small investment).
I used their free plan. They push hard on paid plans. Don't do it. I know it's tempting. Unless you're a long-haul truck driver, there's no way to make the math work in your favor.
I did spend that aforementioned $13** to get a sentinel, a small, cute bluetooth object which increased the amount of COIN I received for each "mine."
The sentinel wasn't necessary, exactly...I could have ultimately made the same amount of COIN without it, only I'm hella impatient, and the sentinel paid for itself pretty quickly.
I also did participate in some surveys and some other little functions offered in the app to earn extra COIN. I had, like I mentioned, the time, and these often earned me as much, or more, as a whole day of "mining."
As soon as I had enough COIN to hit the withdrawal threshold, I did so. You can redeem your COIN directly for Bitcoin or Ethereum, but the threshold is realllllly high. Instead, I followed their well-documented instructions to move the COIN (now XYO) to a TrustWallet.
I used TrustWallet because they have a partnership with COIN app that allows you to hodl and earn "interest" on your balance.
And, pretty much the second I had XYO equivalent to ~$35, I followed the (also well documented) directions to transfer my XYO to Kucoin and convert it to another crypto.
I converted my XYO to Ethereum...wound up with $20.15 USD's worth of Ethereum (in a future post, I'll explain why Ethereum vs anything else, probably).
I was on my way.
So, I hear you asking, if this was all jam and toast, why did I delete* the app as soon as I made anything? Why not keep going and going?
Simple answer: I was burning out my phone.
The COIN app, especially on the free plan, has to be on and active to earn. You do get a bit of COIN with the app closed, but it's limited. And running the app ate battery and ran my (crap, but only one I have) phone so hot that I was mildly worried that I'd kill my phone.
This is the reason I recommend having an old, wifi enabled phone to follow along at home. Running the COIN app on a phone that's already lived its life, dedicated as a lil "mining rig" would be 100% worth it. When I eventually do get a new phone, I'll probably do exactly that, and reinstall the app.
But learn from my bumbling forward: don't geomine on a delicate flower of a phone, and definitely don't be surprised if your phone feels like a hot pocket all the time.
Next step: turn that $20 into...more. Part 2, coming soon.
Thanks for reading! If you liked what you saw, I appreciate your tips. I also love comments, questions, compliments, puns, and whatever else you've got.
