hello friends! new(ish)!
Cryptocurrency
NOTE: Begging for cryptocurrency is against the rules! It's also annoying as fuck!
Cryptocurrencies or crypto refer to a number of protocols which can be used to store financial information over the internet without the need for a central arbitration or regulatory service such as a bank or government. This is possible using public/private key cryptography, P2P communication, and a public, distributed ledger called the blockchain. Current (March 2021) top cryptocurrencies include Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, Monero, Chainlink, and Ripple.
How it works
All cryptocurrencies work on a distributed, P2P network. Each person on the network acts as a sort of teller. Their computers that they give to the network process a fraction of all transactions. For doing this, many cryptocurrencies reward users with some of the currency. Bitcoin gave 20 bitcoins to all users who ran the network on each successful transfer. This number dropped to 15 due to the progression of time and is expected to drop again in 2020.
Originally, people would use CPUs in their Laptops and Desktop computers to complete a transaction render. Soon after, it was discovered that using a GPU was much more efficent. This led to entire bitcoin mining rigs being made out of GPU chips.
Afterwards, CPU and GPU-based rigs were deprecated by FPGAs and ultimately, ASICs.
So how do I get some?
Getting crypto is simple! You can either mine some (not recommended if it's bitcoin anyway), or you can use an online crypto exchange to buy some, such as Coinbase, which is one of many popular online exchanges as seen below.
Now, after you create a wallet, you can receive bitcoins through two methods. Your email address, or your Bitcoin number ID. An example of what a Bitcoin number ID looks like is as follows: 1H3gZJnZbraG6Nsg8QodB9CUBEPhjhrVUt
. This is what you need to make public. Through this number ID, it is possible to easily send and receive bitcoins.
NOTE: WHILE IT IS COMMONLY PERCEIVED AS SUCH, BITCOIN AND RELATED CRYPTO-CURRENCIES ARE NOT MEANT TO BE ANONYMOUS. THEY ARE ONLY CALLED THAT BY IDIOT JOURNALISTS BECAUSE ANONYMOUS SITES LIKE SILK ROAD THAT OPERATE OVER TOR USE THEM. DO NOT USE BITCOINS IF YOU ARE PLANNING TO DO SOMETHING THAT IS REQUIRED TO BE ANONYMOUS OR SOME OTHER SHIT.
Where You Can Buy
These days most of the exchanges where you buy crypto ask you for ID verification like your drivers license or passport so that the government can associate those coins with you and the exchange can check that you aren't underage b&, these are referred to as Know Your Customer exchanges (KYC). There are still non-KYC exchanges available and there are alternative methods like crypto ATMs or you can buy crypto from someone in person with cash.
KYC exchanges
Non KYC Methods
- Bisq Decentralized exchange that uses Tor
- Crypto ATMs
- https://localcryptos.com/
- https://www.kucoin.com/
Check https://kycnot.me/ for more
Notable Cryptocurrencies
- Bitcoin (BTC)
- Bitcoin Cash (BCH)
- Chainlink (LINK) (/biz/ meme coin)
- Ethereum (ETH)
- Litecoin (LTC)
- Ripple (XRP)
Privacy-focused
- Monero (XMR) (What the media and normies think Bitcoin is)
- Dash (DASH)
- Wownero (WOW)
- Quantum Resistant Ledger (QRL)
Scam/Meme Coins
- BitConnect (BCC)
- Dogecoin (DOGE) (Elon Musk pump and dump)
Places you can spend it
Bitcoin is accepted at thousands of stores on the internet and in person and is increasingly gaining notoriety. Here are some of the most popular stores:
- http://www.overstock.com -- Tons of products in different categories
- http://www.tigerdirect.com/ -- Computer hardware and electronics
- https://www.humblebundle.com/ -- Cheap games
- https://www.namecheap.com/ -- Domain names and hosting
Other cryptocurrencies are accepted at much fewer stores.
Unsorted Links
- https://www.bitstamp.net/ -- World largest bitcoin exchange
- https://litecoin.info/Mining_hardware_comparison
- https://coinmarketcap.com/