Bitcoin, Blockchain, Cockblock All the Same Right?

We take on the majestic world of bitcoin through a demonstration by art world darling Angelina Dreem, and while you’re at it check out some of the items you might need to pretend that Robinhood is the Matrix.

“As a child of the recession, the banks got the bail out and we didn’t, I got out of college with nothing. I want to help people understand money more as I am understanding it and learning it. I think the only way we will be getting back the power from these stupid billionaires is by understanding their tactics. I just want to help everybody understand this silly world of money.”

A self-described artist freak who loves information and revolutionary systems, bitcoin being all the above. Her interest began in 2011 when bitcoin first came onto the scene. She started seriously investing in 2016 buying and selling most around 2018 during the peak. Now we are at the point where the institutions and technology has caught up with what is possible: the potential to fuck big banks. Below she provides  Tips to confidently open Robinhood and break the simulatrix *shout out @signepierce. 

The Brief History

In 2008/2009 this open-source software came on the web and promised to decentralize Digital currency based on a peer-to-peer network, meaning no middle man. Blocks are stacked with two parties witnessing the transaction then it is time stamped and locked into the cryptographic box. That block adds to the block of all the histories staying connected and ensuring tight security, that is why it is cryptographic making it so no one can edit an old block eliminating the need for oversight organizations like banks. The information locked in can be anything. Also, why it is called crypto for short. From this technology other coins have emerged such as Ether or Lightcoin.   

The coins are the product of “mining” which is essentially when computers are crunching the algorithm and when they solve it the outcome is a coin. That is why it is held under the revolutionary umbrella of Fintech (Financial technology is the technology and innovation that aims to compete with traditional financial methods in the delivery of financial services.) The fintech revolution started with PayPal revolutionizing the fact that you don’t need a bank, Venmo as well. Basically, not relying on centralized system, kind of anarchist. The people that know and the financial institutions are catching up to this tech as a means of securing and sharing information.

Right now, it is being treated like an asset, like a stock, bond or a house. Something you ‘hold’ and hope gains in value. It is exciting! For broke creatives, it is not too late to invest as no one really knows the true potential of where it is going. Projections have remarked that the price of a coin may reach $50,000 by 2021. A lot of work since 2016 has been in legitimizing this new paradigm. 

In the buying and selling there has been a lot of controversy. What are you buying and selling? Bitcoin is assigned to an address called a KEY. Apps like Coinbase, Gemini, Binance, or hard case keys, will create a private key for you as your address. A string of 17 numbers and letters. If you are purchasing into the 1000s a key is a must for the ownership. If the web goes out it has stopped people from cashing out. 

In total the amount of bitcoin produced by miners 18.5 million mined right now. With 20% lost to various happenings like people losing their keys creating obsolete bitcoins. We are potentially close to cap mining, creating scarcity which drives up the cost. There are risks, the future is unwritten. There could be changes in FCC rules, but the reward is to least have some skin in the future that we all wish to see and believing that future is worth the effort of learning how to buy bitcoin.  

How to buy Bitcoin

I don’t have 30k how can I buy bitcoin? You can buy fractions, which is cool. The 3 options I would like to discuss are assuming you aren’t day trading bitcoin and are on a more casual path involving buying and holding.

Robinhood is a free app and has no commission, but you actually don’t own it because you don’t get a private key, the 17 number and letters. You can’t send bitcoin, essentially can’t use it, it is only an investment portfolio set up. Which is fine if you treat it like an asset. It’s really easy and has a great graphic design, so you kind of feel like futuristic dystopic bitcoin seller hacker chick, which makes it fun. Money should be fun. Easy and sexy looking, you can sell it for dollars.

The second way to buy bitcoin which just launched is through PayPal you can buy sell and hold on PayPal. They have a fee structure based on the percentage of how much you buy. If you buy $101 it is a penny less than if you but $100 of bitcoin. The risk as with Robinhood is what if you get hacked since PayPal would be an excellent target but, but PayPal is also really secure, more so than Robinhood. You cannot send any of your coins to the Key. If you are actually going to invest some real money, this wouldn’t be the recommended way. By real money I mean $1000 or more.

If you just want to buy bitcoin to hold it within the $1000 range, I will just go with Robinhood, it’s just so easy, sexy, and cool. PayPal is corny, PayPal is Peter Thiel, PayPal is trying to be the cool kid, but they are not, but its PayPal, they are integrated with everything. They don’t allow you to buy items with it yet. But I think they are probably just working out some FCC stuff.

Lastly the most popular way to buy bitcoin is using Coinbase App. They are really cool they used to be janky in 2016. It’s great for learning about other coins. Finding out what is next. It’s cheapest if you use you ACH transfer, similar to the accounting and routing number. You get a private key and are able to buy, sell and convert coin to other coins. They also have a lot of educational information on their app and are the OG’s of online trading. The downside is logging in with their two-step authentication system can be confusing and many people panic getting locked out. Their support system is NOT helpful so try to write every password and system down before hand.