Let me preface this with who/ how I am: I do not have a financial background and I have little patience and cryptocurrency and blockchains was...and actually still is...a whole new world for me.

This is a blog about my travels in this new world, so join me to learn from my experiences or just to have a laugh about my mistakes :)

So in part 1 of my journey in the Crypto world, you can read about my unsuccessful introduction in trading and that I'm in doubt of starting trading on CoinbasePro.

After some though, I realised I'm just not a trader-type so I looked into other ways to earn free crypto.

I found a great article on it here and like mention in part 1, I'm using Coinbase earn. By the way, all the answers to Coinbase earn can be found here.

But impatient and lazy as I am, I was looking for an easier manner to get free crypto, so in comes the "mining"  business. I'm sure you all know what mining is, but since I don't have a powerful PC/ laptop/ GPU/ etc. you quickly hit the limits of what is possible in mining, but after reading some articles I came across PI-network.

Below some cope-paste text from their website.

The first digital currency you can mine on your phone via a free, energy-light mobile app.

Pi is not a scam. It is a genuine effort by a team of Stanford graduates to give everyday people greater access to cryptocurrency. Pi’s core team is led by two Stanford PhDs and one Stanford MBA, all of whom helped build Stanford’s blockchain community. We cannot guarantee that the project will succeed. However, we do promise to work our hardest to make our shared dreams a reality, while maintaining the highest standards of integrity. You can learn more about us in “Core Team” page in the main menu of the app.

Do I need to leave the app open to mine? Does the app drain my battery or data?

You do not need to leave the app open to mine. Pi does not affect your phone’s performance, drain your battery, or use your network data. Once you hit the lightning button, you can even close the app and you will continue to mine Pi. 

So how can you mine a cryptocurrency without draining your battery or data? Instead of burning energy as proof of work cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin do, Pi secures its ledger when members vouch for each other as trustworthy. This forms a network of interlocking “security circles” that determines who can execute transactions. This novel approach allows crypto mining on your phone by leveraging your existing social connections, with no financial cost, no battery drain and a light footprint on the planet. Read the technical section in our White paper for more accurate and detailed explanation.

 

Is this app a wallet? Will we hold our own private / public keys? And can we use an external wallet to hold our Pi in the future?

Yes, your phones will serve as a cryptocurrency wallet that will be linked to your current accounts (number / Facebook). Like with any other public blockchain, Pi’s blockchain will also allow in-app/external wallets to hold Pi and transact with it, by submitting transactions to the blockchain directly. This is a functionality that we have currently scheduled to be provided on the Phase 3 of the project (expected end of 2021).

As a reminder we finished phase 1 - distribution of the currency -  and are now in phase 2, launcing a Testnet and phase 3 is when our mainnet will be live. During phase 3 of the project, you will also have the option to take full ownership of your private / public keys.
Pi aims to be much more accessible to everyday people which is why we are trying to build this integrated interface. We’ve chosen this phased implementation to make it easier for everyday people to use. We are still in our early days, and are excited for the road ahead of us.

Using the PI app is simple and there is 24/7 customer support in the form of chat rooms that can help you if you are having trouble setting things up.

All you have to do is sign up using my invitation code " CalvinPepper" (you can only sign up upon invitation), verify yourself via phone number of FB and you click a button every 24 hours and then you can close the app. The mining keeps going even when you wipe the app from your phone memory so no RAM or battery usage.

You can also increase your earning rate by adding people to your so called security circle. This is a group of 3-5 people that you trust and that act as a security backup in case you lose in your login credentials or if you want to move to another phone.

Note that PI is not free money as the current monetary value is $0.00, but Pi aims to be a payment system for crypto and in the future you will be able to make payments via Pi-network and with your mined Pi.

I am probable not explaining it correctly, but for the more savvy crypto people here is the white paper with all details.

As of yet it is simple mining and adding people to your security circle is also easy as a lot of people are looking to be added in the chatrooms.

It is mining and having your minions do the dirty work for you :)

So now I'm doing Coinbase earn (once in 2 months), Publish0x (trying to do a post every week) and Pi-network (every 24 hours) . It is all low level effort and that is how I like it

If any of you kind readers have suggestions to earn free crypo with little effort, please comment.

A tip is also appreciated.

Thanks and stay safe !