The basics of crypto + a new Crypto to Know

7th June 2021 | Sam Volkering

I get a lot of feedback into the Frontier Tech Investor inbox. Recently I’ve seen an increasing number of questions about crypto.

I think that’s fantastic.

It means that people like you are taking a greater interest and are growing awareness of a whole new, parallel financial system – one that I believe will be a constant part of our world.

However, it is still all very new, can be very confusing and sometimes is very scary.

As I wrote to you in the last Sam Volkering’s Crypto Network update, you survived your first dip, after a big fall in the fiat money values of most crypto.

We’ve not completely recovered the ground to this year’s highs, but that’s okay. These kinds of price cycles usually take months to play out – and my view is that there’s still a long way to go.

However, if you’re still tiptoeing around the fringes of all this, or you’ve recently taken the plunge in to the world of crypto, there are a few things that I want to remind you of.

Exchanges

You will need to get familiar with having several exchange accounts. There is not a single crypto exchange in existence that lists and has trading pairs for all cryptos.

You will need to have accounts across different exchanges. This might include ones such as Coinbase, Gemini, Binance, Kraken, BitPanda, OKEx, Huobi, Poloniex, Bittrex, Bitfinex and KuCoin.

That’s a small list of the ones you may need. Or you just might need to open a new account when the time comes.

For what it’s worth, I have accounts with all of those, and more, just in case I need to access a token on one that’s not available on another.

That means that you’ll need to also be good at managing passwords, login details and two-factor authentication to maintain access.

How to find a crypto on an exchange

If there’s a crypto you want to find a trading pair for, there’s a few easy steps you can take to find out what is the best exchange to go to:

  1. Go to CoinMarketCap.com or CoinGecko.com
  2. Search for the crypto you’re after
  3. Under the “Markets” tab once you’ve found your crypto, you’ll see all the trading pairs.

That’s it.

You’ll see all the trading pairs and the exchanges they’re listed on. There are also direct links to those trading pairs on those exchanges. It’s a simple way to get right to the spot where you can then buy or trade that crypto.

You’ll also see what exchange you need to have an account with to get that crypto.

Job done.

Wallets

A crypto wallet is a little misleading in name. Your “wallet” really exists on the blockchain it’s designed for. What you’re really doing when you access your wallet is pairing your private key to the public key on that blockchain (or network) to open up your access to your crypto that exist on the blockchain.

Your crypto never actually leaves the blockchain “into” your wallet. Cryptos move from address to address on the blockchain, and you can access them through the control of your private key, and the interface which you use to get there.

So every wallet app and every hardware device is really an interface that contains a private key to unlock your access to your crypto on the relevant blockchain.

It’s important you know this, because it reinforces the importance of private keys and keeping them safe. It also is to reinforce the fact that, in the crypto world, while you may see familiar terms, they don’t always have the same literal meaning as they would in the traditional world.

It’s also why I always suggest revisiting and reviewing our special reports,

These will help to manage your understanding of the space, and also help to cover some of the more beginner-level knowledge needed to operate safely in the crypto world.

New “Crypto to Know”

It’s been a couple of weeks since we last added to our “Crypto to Know” list.

As a reminder, these cryptos are those which we believe you should be looking at with greater detail, researching with the links and resources we provide to understand what they do, and how they operate – as well as  their function in the wider crypto ecosystem.

These aren’t recommendations like we give in Frontier Tech Investor. This is a guide to help you take the steps needed to learn about different cryptos that we believe are important and may serve a critical role in the future of the crypto world generally over the coming years.

If we decide to make defined recommendations, these will be published and broadcast through Frontier Tech Investor and added to the buy list we have there.

Also, as a reminder, we can’t comment specifically on any crypto that you might email us about. We can’t review your holdings or tell you what to do with them. We can’t give personal financial advice, that includes on stocks and crypto.

All views guidance and information on what to looks at, what to do, what recommendations to buy (or sell) will be sent to all subscribers through the Frontier Tech Investor publication and any extras such as this fortnightly broadcast.

Now, onto a new “Crypto to Know”…

Binance Coin (BNB)

Binance Coin is the native token for the Binance exchange and also for the Binance Smart Chain.

Originally Binance started off as a cryptocurrency exchange. It quickly rose to become one of the largest in the space due to a few key factors.

  1. It was super easy to set up an account with Binance
  2. Binance listed everything that was released to the crypto markets.

It’s point 2. that really made Binance what it is today. It has been, and still is notorious for listing just about any crypto out there so long as it has big, juicy trading volumes.

If there was an initial coin offering (ICO) you could bet that it would quickly appear with trading pairs on Binance. In fact, there was a phrase used called the “Binance Effect” which meant a crypto price would jump on the announcement that it would be listed on Binance.

That “Binance Effect” is still in play today. Just last week it announced that NuCypher would be listed on Binance, and while most cryptos were seeing red (i.e. falling in price) for the day, NuCypher jumped around 15% in the opposite direction – upwards.

This is because Binance does over $65 billion in daily trading volume. It is massive, with millions of users, which brings a lot of attention to newly listed cryptos.

However, since its early days of just being an exchange, Binance has evolved into something else that is enormous.

Binance now provides research into crypto. It has a “launchpad” that enables new crypto projects to raise funds via tokens sales on the Binance platform. It also operates a charity and a comprehensive education resource it calls the “academy”.

More recently, Binance also launched its own crypto network, Binance Smart Chain –  as well as a decentralised exchange based on that smart chain.

Smart Chain is a layer one crypto network, with its own blockchain, its own token (BNB) and a number of applications that can be built on top of it.

It is very similar to Ethereum, even so far as copying things like Ethereum’s block explorer and the ability to utilise smart contracts.

But Binance’s Smart Chain has risen in popularity because of the ease of access and the fact that transactions are a fraction of the cost of Ethereum.

In addition, Smart Chain is faster than Ethereum.

This development of Binance has also seen the rise of other huge platforms and applications like PancakeSwap, which is like the “Uniswap for Binance Smart Chain”.

Nonetheless, in the same way that ETH is used on Ethereum’s network, BNB is used on Binance Smart Chain.

And with the development and innovation that Binance brings to the space, in our view you can’t ignore its importance.

Binance is, therefore, certainly a crypto that you need to learn more about.

It is added to our list of “Crypto to Know”.

Crypto to Know

The links are to what we believe, in each case, is the best resource for learning about the crypto in question.

“Crypto to Know” watchlist

Sam Volkering
Editor, Sam Volkering’s Crypto Network

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