Mercury Protocol

This is a transitional piece, much like the "working on a project" scene of a movie and it was written over time as I was working on this project. One of my bucket list items was to invest and mine cryptocurrencies. There is a lack out substantial understanding about cryptocurrencies and I have been curious for a while about them, so I decided to invest in a couple and get an understanding of what I am doing.

Disclaimer: This is where I feel obligated to state that I am discussing investment and investments have risks. Never invest more than you are willing and able to lose. I am not a financial advisor nor classified as a savvy investor and this is largely an experiment. All information contained herein is personal research and not financial advice. I hope this pays off for me, but this is only an experiment.

This piece has a time limit for me. I have been seeing the date of April 27, 2018 come up a lot surrounding a "big announcement" scheduled for Amazon and many bloggers are stating that they will either be accepting cryptocurrencies or creating their own cryptocurrency. This may not be true and if it's not, my investment will not increase the way I hope it does. If this is accurate, I personally believe that it will send a ripple effect through the entire industry. There are no guarantees, however and I am excited to see what happens. My investment is based on the speculation of others and this entire piece is being written over the course of the month prior to that April 27th date. Either way, at this point, I do not see investment in cryptocurrencies as a bad investment and during this time, all cryptocurrencies are on a downturn.

 

The following table is a list of the currencies I have invested in and how much my investment was. Normally I wouldn't talk about money and gains or losses, but this is to place emphasis on the potential for either increases or decreases and I am setting the graph up prior so the reader can see that potential. The graph will be updated as I buy or sell assets, but I won't see anything other than "amount paid" and "number of coins purchased." As people read this piece over time, it will show my ups or downs and all I can control is the initial investment, so it's neither bragging about wins or whining about losses.

Trident

There is an obvious trident required for cryptocurrencies to function; creators, miners, and users. Creators create the design of the cryptocurrency and lay out all the perimeters for its existence. Miners are the people with computers that mine the product. Miners have to invest in equipment and energy to mine cryptocurrency so a new coin needs to be advantageous to mine for. Lastly there needs to be an end user of both buyers and sellers or people accepting the coin and trading it. This creates the basis for the digital coin to work much like hard money works. 

Economics

Cryptocurrencies still use the age old economics of supply and demand. As demand for the coin increases and supply decreases, the price goes up and the inverse is true as well. New coins are created for every purchase of new coins and those coins stay active thus requiring an ever increasing demand for the product to maintain the value of the coin. Cryptocurrencies are designed at their creation to only have a finite number of coins available at the end and when that number is reached, they will no longer create new coins. Ince this critical mass is reached, the coin price will now have less market volatility and stabilize as a means of trade.

Cryptocurrency Security

A. Name. What is the name? Is it a stupid name or a name that's totally typecast? Some of the currencies work directly with legal marijuana sales as their primary focus and while I am not opposed to state legalization, a currency with the ticker symbol of "DOPE" is not one that would be taken seriously among all industries.

 

B. Pennies. We have all heard about penny stocks, but I am interested in penny currencies. Though I am not ruling out some of the higher priced currencies, I wanted to focus on lower priced and undiscovered currencies; the next BitCoin.

 

C. Website. Does the currency have a website that is functional and informative?

 

D. Business. Is the the currency directly associated with a business? This doesn't disqualify the currency in my opinion, but it it is an interesting topic since cryptocurrency creation can benefit the creators and fund projects (BuzzCoin (BUZZ) has a program to help save honey bees as a not for profit).

 

E. Ease. How easy is it to obtain the currency? Can I buy it directly from CoinBase (a currency exchange that only lists four currencies and accepts a direct link to your checking account) or do I first have to buy BitCoin (BIT) and exchange BitCoin for the new currency? The latter is much more common and the former rare.

 

F. Value. Specifically, is the cryptocurrency undervalued and how do I determine undervaluation? This is the hardest determination to make with a lack of lengthy histories like a stock so it's difficult to be the equivalent "value trader" in the stock market.

At this point, I want to reiterate the point that I am a total novice at this and I am trying to use what I see a logical system to potential investment in cryptocurrency. So now we have a good, possibly strong list of the criteria I used. What's next? I actually went through looking for names (refer back up to A, my first piece of criteria). There's a lot of stupid ones out there. Instead of eliminating bad sounding currencies, I went through and found good sounding names. I was under the impression that marketing to people is so simple that even a person with a degree in marketing can do it.

Glossary

Most glossaries are in the end of a writing, but I feel I need to include it up front for fast and easy reference of some key words and terms not many people may know off the bat.

TorCoin (TOR) - As I do the research, I am reading some information calling TOR a scam coin that doesn't really exist. One writer said it's noting more than a Ponzi scam and upon further research, their website points back to an Apache Server Node site and there is no data from the creators of the cryptocurrency. I initially felt this would become a good darkweb currency since it's name ("tor") is the same as the main access browser to darkweb websites and based on potential marketing to that segment of society, it seemed like a potentially good investment regardless of the ethics of those involved in its usage. As of this writing, TOR has not had a twitter post in roughly one year and I am now eliminating them as contenders.

 

LiteCoinUltra (LTCU) - LiteCoinUltra uses the adoption of Proof Of Stake and Proof Of Work random superblocks. This adds to both the security and easy of mining of the currency. Every other aspect is identical to LiteCoin and it was, in fact, developed by fans of LiteCoin. It is also (according to their website) four times faster than BitCoin and reduces bottlenecks of transaction processing. In my opinion, this is a strong maybe.

 

Neuro (NRO) - For some reason, I like this one. They do a great job of social media outreach, which is important in acceptance of any currency and they have a historical high of between 2 and 3 cents a coin, but are valued at the time of this writing, considerably lower. I think this is a great rebound buy for a mid term hold and if I am wrong, I will be out what, $10? This is going into my yes list for sure since I think they have a potentially strong network.

 

Californium (CF) - Californium is a radioactive element that was first synthesized at the University of California in Berkley in 1950 and the Periodic Table's name for it is Cf...so someone named a cryptocurrency after it. That's kind of cool! They have a lack of social media, which means the social outreach is rather limited and I think limits the potential for adaptation of the cryptocurrency and they are only represented on one exchange, YoBit, which I read so much negative about that I didn't even bother reviewing them. Aside from an awesome name that COULD be popular, I see nothing else to indicate a reason to buy this currency.

 

KushCoin (KUSH) - This one was added as a comparison piece. As I stated earlier, I was choosing them based on name and this one had a great name...for potheads. I may be wrong in the long-term, but I don't see this cryptocurrency going anywhere. For a small cap cryptocurrency, they do have a surprisingly stable track record and seemingly average ups and downs with the industry as a whole. Also their website didn't actually work. They are a no with some reservations because I think they could do a lot more if they really wanted to as a way to increase value.

 

Ethereum Dark (ETHD) - This cryptocurrency has had a steady decline faster than the market as a whole. In that, I believe, based on user-friendliness of the website for the cryptocurrency that it is unfounded and undervalued. They are, at the time of this writing, in a transitional phase it seems and I think this cryptocurrency stands to be watched harder. With that said, they are not on any of the exchanges I researched and there is a higher degree of difficulty in the purchase of ETHD. Though I tend to like this cryptocurrency as it sits, I am going to have to pass.

 

Truckcoin (TRK) - Through my initial investigation, this cryptocurrency really stands out. Look at their website and you can see that, including an investor relations page. Though a name reminiscent of "breaker, breaker 1-9" truck drivers, it has an impressive layout. They are a corporate-built cryptocurrency to prop up their primary business and this adds a certain amount of stability in my estimation. As I write this, it is trading for one-tenth of a penny per coin and today's volume has been $87. With all that, gut instinct tells me it's a small cap buy. I see undervaluation based on their external circumstances and I hope to see a market correction.

 

Tag Coin (TAG) - I like this cryptocurrency because it actively works to grow. Directly from their website, they state, "One of the primary users of Tagcoin is Tagcash which is a Payments & Rewards platform, based in Manila, Philippines. Tagcash is part of the TAG Group (http://tagcash.org), which also makes other apps (Tagwild: a geotagging digital scavenger game and Tagbond: Asset Management & Tracking). Tagcoin is given out as rewards for purchases and actions within TAG applications. Tagcoin given as rewards can then be spent or traded with merchants who want to buy them to give them back out as rewards for more purchases or actions. However, any business can use Tagcoin independently, using the public blockchain." If I am able to purchase TAG, I am will buy. It shows stability and rides the wave as other cryptocurrencies do. The downside is that it is traded and mined mostly in China so access may be limited.

 

Phoenixcoin (PXC) - This cryptocurrency is one of the original cryptocurrencies (OC) and has a decent track record, though they do not independently have a wallet yet. They host an updated Facebook page, which many don't and they actively interact with people asking questions. They are a low cap cryptocurrency but had a recent spike and fall as most have and at roughly the same point in time. They are as of this writing, about a quarter of their previous high roughly two months back, which seems typical. Though a fractional dollar amount, they ran very steady for most of their lifespan until a spike and then drop two months ago. I believe once the cryptocurrency market increases, they are a solid buy for a small cap.

 

BiblePay (BBP) - This cryptocurrency touts themselves as "The Cryptocurrency for Christians" and on their website, they are rather heavy-handed on their Christian-based marketing...and it's kind of genius. To be frank, God sells better than anything else. All cryptocurrencies make money for existing from people buying into them and this one uses 10% of its profits to help impoverished children in Africa through orphanage sponsorships. They also require 75% of the donations to be used to directly support the child and only a 25% overhead. In essence, they believe in something and work for it. I really like that. They are one-sixth of their all time high, but like Phoenixcoin, I see this as an undervalued cryptocurrency and they have been around for less than one year as I write this so I feel this has strong potential. In the near future, I would like to see christian sellers (bookstores etc.) start accepting this currency as well as an easy direct tithing method for churches. Those would make me feel better about this coin, but it is still going in my "buy" list.

 

TeslaCoin (TES) - This cryptocurrency uses proceeds, according to its website, to help grow sustainable energy usage. They have the goal of creating a crowdfunding system for these sustainable energy startups and projects and I can't say saving Mother Earth is a bad thing. Aside from that, they are designed for peer to peer (P2P) transactions and from what I read on their website, I see no true plans to expand beyond personal use. They, like many others, seem to be riding the standard tide of the other market waves with the same ups and downs and the same percentages. Because of their lack of current acceptance, planned acceptance, or potential widespread acceptance in businesses; I am adding this to the maybe column for now.

 

Zero (ZER) - This coin touts that they are totally anonymous, secure, and fast and those three things mean a lot with cryptocurrencies. The website states, "Zero project was made by an unknown creator called zerocurrency early February 2017 as an experimental project to solve many inherent weaknesses of previous crypto-currencies. A truly evolved project with multiple features that accomplishes to cover the needs of the many like no other. Since its inception and before it takes off and hits the markets Zero became an orphan and the unknown creator has been mysteriously disappeared. Nobody knows what happened to him but the created Zero project somehow refused to perish and appeared to have a conscious of its own. Moved by this formidable power of will to live on, a small but vibrant community that knows no boundaries in race or gender composed by citizens of the world has decided to help Zero project grow, reach its true potential and become what was initially intended or more. WE are the ZERO community and we are now many. We grow relentlessly each day continuously supporting this project because we believe in it and what it can offer to the people. And Zero project believes in us." This sounds like a Libertarian Party manifesto sub-topic and for cryptocurrencies, that is a good selling point. The mining of Zero seems designed to be equalized to not give big mining operations an advantage, so it is easier to mine with smaller devices only out of  a design of fairness. This really is a coin of the people. The price was roughly eight times higher a few months ago during a spike that happened among many cryptocurrencies. This is in the "buy" column.

 

Mercury Protocol (GMT) - Technologically speaking, Mercury Protocol seems to be on point and they work with their investors pretty well, including an undisclosed bonus for early adopters of the coin (I dod not look to see what that bonus was, but usually it's a coin bonus for people who buy in pre Initial Coin Offering (ICO). From my reading, they appear to be focusing on communications that use blockchain technology and it looks like they are funding that aspect of their business with the coin sales. They keep an active Twitter page, which means a lot. They are trading at about a penny a coin right now and have a high from January (three months ago) of twenty four cents a coin. My problem with them is a short history. They jumped a lot when they opened up and then fell to between one-twelfth and one-twenty-fourth it's value. A high open then fast drop over a few days puts GMT in the maybe column. I cannot suggest a buy but I can't say not to buy it either. It may be a surprising small cap investment and there is a possibility that it is undervalued.

 

Quark (QRK) - Quark has issued an interesting comparison to Bitcoin HERE. They seem to have a good design and they don't put a bunch of flash on their homepage of superfluous information. They tell you how to buy, how to mine, and talk about its technology then back up everything with links. From their market history, I feel they have potential to spike. I don't know if they will be a good long-term investment, but they seem like a maybe for short-term, small cap investment.

 

BuzzCoin (BUZZ) - Save the bees!!! This is another not for profit cryptocurrency that uses their investment returns for a cause. Their cause is saving honeybees and since we need them to pollinate so our food grows, I can't really be anti bee. I learned a lot form their website and from their method of not naming the names of the design team they include on the site "to protect their privacy," I have trouble taking them seriously. From the outside looking in, I see a group of activists that care about their pet project more than their funding source, which at this point is the cryptocurrency I would consider investing in. I believe in activism but I have trouble justifying parting with my money to invest in something that looks to care about their activism more than their profitability. They were once two tenths of a penny and now they are three one-hundredths or so. I can't even calculate that. Aside from a cool, flash website that talks about bees, I can't see making an investment in this product. That's unfortunate based on my last name because I really wanted to own some. I recommend not buying.

 

Monkey Project (MONK) - This coin, at the time of this writing, is about one-fourth or one-fifth where it stood just three months ago. Looking a bit harder, you notice the graph showing the decline is not as deep as almost every other coin I have looked at thus far. I think that speaks a lot for this cryptocurrency, plus it had a few spikes that popped it back up near to that January high, which is unique. For a token that has been around only six months at this point, they are impressive. They have a daily volume of around $10,000, which most cryptocurrencies could only dream of and the website has a lot of information on the currency. I didn't investigate the odd name, but I can see where it may be catchy to some. I actually putting this in the "yes" column.

 

EuropeCoin (ERC) - The ease of mining this cryptocurrency is a big plus since they use a low cost Raspberry Pi as the interface, which the coin maker will gladly sell you with the software to mine their coins. That makes things easy. The website says a lot of nothing, as I have seen many of them do, but it does have some good looking technical data on their whitesheets. They do actually list business partners, which is a plus that most don't or can't do. Depending on the exchange that you can buy from, it may be a decent option for ease, but I notice Bittrex is the primary exchange they have listed. As of this writing, they were over a dollar at one point and just shy of thirty cents right now, which is about the standard quarter of what it was in January like the others. I am going to put them in the "maybe" column because of their lack of obvious social media outreach (which I may just have not found upfront). Social media use usually means a willingness to market themselves so I am cautious.

 

GoldCoin (GLD) - This token actually shows on their website a team of people from around the world working on the development of the project, including representatives to various countries and continents...you know...like an actual business. The website claims that it's built on the original cryptocurrency protocols and the name will perk up everyone's ears as gold is the historical standard for money. They seem to have taken a harder drop since their January high than many, but I am overlooking that as I see a potential for big gains and feel, from initial research, that they are undervalued. They are in the "yes" column.

 

HollyWoodCoin (HWC) - This is an interesting cryptocurrency that I am skeptical about. It has a great looking website thats flashy and I would build for them if I was so inclined (and paid), but it really doesn’t say much. They seem to want to help use currency sales to assist in funding a payment portal, movie viewing portal, and kickstarted-like program; all designed to work within the movie industry. Keep in mind, we have all seen low-budget films and I would bet the movies produced would be such. Their coin trades for $3.81 at the time of this writing and that is the standard 25% of the high a few months ago. I am placing this one in the “maybe” column for now and it could go either way in the end.

 

Neutron (NTRN) - According to the coin creator’s website, “We’re a stable, safe & self-funded proof of stake cryptocurrency that allows you to generate automatic interest (up to 60%/yr) based on the amount you hold. Our team has created the world’s first decentralized education platform to improve crypto learning rate, support teaching & help demystify and spread cryptocurrency culture.” They also seem to have a lot of information and it looks like they try teaching their currency holders about the whole system. They are one-eighth their high from a few months ago, but I like them, I am adding them to my “Buy” column.

 

Polis (POLIS) - The day I was doing research on this company, their website failed to open though it is listed on Google in the search results and the description said the name is Greek for “community.” After finally opening it, they have a flashy website.That feels a little too made up like a college project. They are in the normal margin of decline as others have been  and they have a $4 price tag. I will keep an eye on them. I like that they have a real dollar amount, but I am not comfortable with the lack of functioning website. I am throwing this in the “no” column for now, but needs watched. They have a 25 million capacity, which is strongly low. I’d like to keep my eye on them if for nothing other than a comparative piece later on.

 

REBL (REBL) - I believe this is the definition of undervaluation for cryptocurrency. They are only 10% their all-time high of 30 cents, but I think, from what their website claims, they are poised for growth because of the simple POS structure they have designed. Once cryptocurrency becomes more mainstream, I see them rising if they are easy to accept in stores. This is a yes.

 

Elixir (ELIX) - This token has a build-in micro loan program too, which is interesting, thus allowing potential users to make and get small loans.  They also run a kickstarter-like system. i can see this company taking off. They also run at one-tenth their January high, which is in the normal range. They also get added to the yes column.

 

Polybius (PLBT) - After reading “Polybius is not yet a licensed financial institution nor is it yet offering any financial services. We are working hard on getting there though,” I am putting them in the “no” category.

 

Quantum (QAU) - According to their website, “Quantum tokens are bought back, sent to the black hole address and cryptographically destroyed on a monthly basis. This process causes the amount of units in existence to decrease every month and makes Quantum stand out in the world of money printing and inflationary currencies! Since there are less Quantums available as the time goes by, the remaining units still held by investors gain in value as the destruction process puts constant upward pressure on the price. We put all bitcoins received from the sale of Quantum tokens into a pool of funds that we call Liquidity Pool. These bitcoins are then put to work and generate interest from lending to exchanges for margin trading, making markets, arbitraging price differences between different exchanges and other forms of possible low risk income generation. All income from these activities is then used to buy back Quantum tokens on the market and send them to a black hole address. At the end of the month we take all Quantums in the black hole address and cryptographically destroy them by using a smart contract on the Ethereum network.” I like this! A lot!!! I am putting them in the “yes” category. if of no other reason they are only a dime per coin at the time of this writing.

 

DubaiCoin (DBIX) - DubaiCoin is trading in whole dollar amounts, which is a positive. Coupled with some big future plans and a stable design, I am rather impressed. I tend to trust businesses out of Dubai for stability since they have a well-backed financial system in that part of the world. They also have an actual company they are part of, not just a coin startup. Being only 10% of their January high puts them in the area of most digital currencies. I am calling them a “cautious buy,” but I am interested.

 

Oxycoin (OXY) - OXY uses a nice interface that runs mobile app to buy, sell, and trade. It looks pretty good and they offer some decent information on their website. I don't see much information on the mining process for the cryptocurrency though, which is disappointing. But, they have a great system for techies to make apps that work with the coin, which is pretty cool. They are also only down one-third from their high at the time of this writing, so that is very encouraging. They are in my “yes” column.”

 

HempCoin (THC) - According to the HempCoin website, “At HempCoin, our end goal is not just to become a payment option during the purchase of cannabis but a primary payment method. In 2018 we aim to offer three payment methods: HempPAY™ Mobile, HempPAY™ Card and HempPAY™Online. HempCoin will to work together with dispensaries to create incentives for cannabis buyers to choose cryptocurrency as a form of payment over fiat. With our HempPAY™ Mobile and HempPAY™ Card options. HempCoin is also working with e-commerce solutions such as WooCommerce, Magento, OpenCart, PrestaShop and OSCommerce to provide customers with the option to pay in THC.” Since US regulations won’t allow state legal dispensaries to put money in banks from the sale of legal marijuana, I see this as a good solution. Unlike other marijuana based industry coins, this one is rather professional and I appreciate that a lot. They had the normal from since January, so I feel that only means that this is a buy point. If they interface to purchase is easy to use, I will call them a strong buy and hold as a future investment. So I am calling this a long-term yes.

 

BlackCoin (BLK) - Per the norm, this coin is 25% of their January high. So that is some good news. The bad news is their website was down while gathering information on them, which is not a good thing. I, perhaps incorrectly, operate under the assumption that the same people who handle the technology to create a coin also build and maintain the website so with that failure, I am calling it a “no.”

 

Datum (DAT) - Their website’s homepage has too much promotion on it. It looks like they use a PR syndicator and the coin may not be their primary focus.It’s a little bit too perfect. I am placing them as a “no” buy.

 

Aeon (AEON) - I believe that coins with a good mobile interface will be the game changer and they have it here. Add that to future plans for upgrades and I like them. A price hovering around $1.50 and it has the standard drop in coin pricing since January. I am putting them in the “yes” column.

 

NavCoin (NAV) - For me, this is the coin that started it all. I read an article that declared it undervalued and it peeked my interest. I am still interested. Their website looks like a PR company built it for them. It says a lot but doesn’t give in depth information. They are within my normal tolerances for price variation, but whats bothering me is their app. They submitted an app to iTunes that has been rejected. That makes me feel a little iffy about them. They are now in my “maybe” column though they were originally a “yes.”

 

Monero (XMR) - Lets make it simple…they are stable. They are trading now for around what they traded for in January and some points higher. They are a strong buy for me but they are pricy so I will not buy many.

 

Ripple (XRP) - Another cryptocurrency that is supported by a company wanting to create various payment solutions for cryptocurrencies. Their numbers fall within the standard tolerance for the last four months so I see this as a “yes” column entry and they are low enough priced right now that you can buy pretty low. I think, based on their payment processing, that they are undervalued.

 

Dash (DASH) - As I am writing this, Dash is selling for over $300 per coin and in my estimation, they are the most technologically advanced cryptocurrency on the market today. They did take a 25% dip like a lot did after January, but I see huge upside potential with Dash. This is a yes.

 

LiteCoin (LTC) - This is one I have gleefully been watching fall for a bit and I will be buying, at least, one single coin. They are $114 as I write this and I feel will quadruple in the next six months based on a few articles I have read and the design of their wallet. I honestly think this cryptocurrency could overtake Bitcoin (BTC) in the future. I would buy and hold.

These are only my initial ideas decisions. Anything in the "no" column is not going to be bought at least at this time. Currencies in the "yes" will be looked at further and I will try purchasing them assuming there is limited difficulty. Cryptocurrencies in the "maybe" column are not automatic buys, but they have, in my opinion, potential.

YES

Maybe

Neuro

LiteCoinUltra

Truckcoin

TeslaCoin

TagCoin

Quark

Phoenixcoin

EuropeCoin

BiblePay

HollyWoodCoin

Zero

NavCoin

Monkey Project

GoldCoin

Neutron

REBL

Elixir

Quantum

DubaiCoin

Oxycoin

HempCoin

Aeon

Monero

Ripple

Dash

LiteCoin

Just because I have listed the names above in the "yes" column does not mean I am for sure buying them. That will depend on the exchanges and how easy I can make the purchases.

Monero, Dash, and LiteCoin are extremely stable and will I think are good options. They have solid track records and they fluctuate less violently with the market changes. Neuro is a good choice for a small cap investment. They are the equivalent of a penny stock and there isn’t a big risk. I would look at a small investment. Truckcoin is going into that same category. TagCoin has potential to go back towards its previous high, which though not impressive, is still a ten fold increase as I write this. Because of the ease of mining it, I think Phoenixcoinhas a good chance of increasing. One of the big things a cryptocurrency needs to do is create a good core of people willing to mine the coin and in that, buy mining equipment. I don’t know if they have a good group of willing miners, but they do have an ease to mining that works with lower end equipment. Zero is fully anonymous, which isn’t as much of an issue for me, but some individuals may wish to hide assets and this would be a good currency to assist them in that. Hovering at about $1 a coin, I think it’s a good choice right now. Neutron puts 3% of its income towards advancing their digital infrastructure directly to support the coin, which means continual improvements. Though Quantumhas dropped a lot, they seem to be more industry recession-resistant than most other low cap coins, which is interesting to me if nothing else. HempCoin, though low, has made significant percentage  increases since I first started my research into the industry as a whole that others have not seen. Note: I kind of have to buy this on 4-20. Aeon keeps a stability like Bitcoin or Monaro and less like a penny cryptocurrency. NavCoin continues to intrigue me. It’s almost intuitive that I want to buy into this one. I know feelings should not enter into investment purchases, but this one just hits me the right way. It has been resistant to the largest potential drops and it seems easy to mine. They keep an active community. I like it though.   Now 36 are 13 on my buy list.

Now that I have isolated which cryptocurrencies I want to buy, I am left with the question of where do I buy them? This, in turn, required even more research on my part and I soon discovered that they have exchanges just like the stock market, though considerably less regulated if at all.

 

There are two types of exchanges, one that changes real money for cryptocurrency and one that exchanges cryptocurrency (many times BitCoin and Ethereum) for other cryptocurrencies. These are called a Fiat Exchange and a Cryptocurrency to Cryptocurrency Exchanges (CCE) respectively.

 

Each exchange is different so please do your research on which is best for you as I have here for myself. I will point out that it will be neccissary to use a combination of exchange types to buy lesser known types of currency since the fiat exchanges only (usually) deal with just the big and most popular cryptocurrencies and the CCE's will require (usually just) BitCoin to exchange for the "lesser" cryptocurrencies.

Coinbase - Coinbase is the most beginner friendly exchange from my research. It ss headquarters are in San Francisco, California. Coinbase allows its users to make recurring purchases when investing in various cryptocurrencies. Coinbase charges 1.49% fees on bank purchases and 3.99% fees on credit and debit purchases.

 

Coinmama - Coinmama is, like Coinbase, beginner friendly and focuses on credit and debit card purchases (the easiest way to turn cash into coin). They have instant delivery and are able to sell Bitcoin and Ethereum to almost all U.S. States, and most countries. Coinmama’s fees are a bit on the higher end at 5.5%, so that is an issue, but in comparison to a stock broker for other types of investments, this isn't horrible in smaller amounts ($200 or less at a time) and comparable to E*Trade fee amounts on single trades.

 

Bitpanda - Bitpanda is based in European and that sells a Bitcoin, BCash, Dash, Ethereum, Litecoin and Ripple for Euros. It has several payment methods such as bank transfers, credit cards, debit cards,Neteller,Skrill, and others. Bitpanda has 5% fees on all credit and debit card purchases, which is pretty high for this type of exchange.

 

Kraken - Kraken is one of the best Bitcoin/ cryptocurrency exchanges. It provides reliability, high security environment, and some legal compliance. I have been seeing difficulty in verifying my account on the different computers and mobile devices I have attempted so I may need to try a PC instead of a Mac. It also offers high liquidity, low fees, fast funding, margin trading, etc. It has uptime problems occasionally. It was founded in 2011. It is headquartered in San Francisco, California. While setting up my account, they said they have a backlog of accounts to be verified, so we will wait and see and I wont put all my eggs in this basket.

 

CEX.IO - CEX.IO offers great security measures and high liquidity. It also offers lower fees, margin trading, and nearly 100% uptime. It is headquartered in London, UK. It was affected by a small hack quite a while ago. It maintains a high number of verified accounts, which shows stability in the face of a previous hack. The fact that it had a previous hack, however personally disqualifies it for me.

 

LocalBitcoins -LocalBitcoins offers a peer-to-peer (P2P) exchange. It allows users to trade among themselves individually. It offers lower fees. It allows users to post a quick buy or quick sell advertisement on the exchange platform. It is one of the best cryptocurrency exchanges for peer to peer trading. I am not sold on the idea of P2P exchanges. The Libertarian in me likes the idea of "power to the people" and that, but I do believe in some form of regulation of sales of currency.

 

Bitstamp -Bitstamp is a cryptocurrency exchange with very high trading volume which gives you more liquidity. It was founded in 2011 and has its headquarters in Luxembourg. They have a .25% on all trades.

 

Gemini Exchange - Gemini Exchange is an exchange based in New York City. It only trades three currencies: US dollars, Bitcoin, and Ethereum. It has low fees. It offers high security and compliance, ultra modern cold storage system that stores information offline, access controls, and multi-factor authentication.

Binance  - Binance is one of the newer exchanges with an impressive design. They have some of the highest volume on several of their trading pairs and large amounts of coins available for purchase. It is based in Hong Kong, with offices located in several other countries. It is available to all countries and all U.S. states.

 

Bittrex - Bittrex is based in Las Vegas and actually a regulated exchange, though most likely very losly. It offers trading in a lot of  cryptocurrencies, tokens and newer coins. In all, it supports more than 190 cryptocurrencies. It offers speedy transactions, high stability, and follows some risk management practices as per regulations. Bittrex’s fees are .25%.

 

BitFinex - BitFinex is one of the larger cryptocurrency in terms of volume and users. It is based in Hong Kong, and has trading fees of .1% for cryptocurrency creators, and .2% for buyers. BitFinex does not allow United States users to sign up to their exchange, so this one is automatically out of the question for me.

 

Kucoin - Kucoin is a newer cryptocurrency exchange based in South Korea, that has a big selection of cryptocurrency offerings. It has its own token similar to Binance known as Kucoin shares, that award its holders a percentage of the exchanges total trading fees. Kucoin’s trading fee is .1%.

 

Cryptopia - Cryptopia is based in New Zealand and has a bunch of cryptocurrencies available. It features Bitcoin, Litecoin and Tether trading pairs. Cryptopia’s serves all countries and has trading fees of .2%.

 

Poloniex - Poloniex is based in the United States and available in all countries and states. It was recently purchased by Circle and has a huge selection of cryptocurrencies. Poloniex has .15% fees for cryptocurrency creators, and .25% fees for buyers.

Both types of exchanges have pros and cons so PLEASE do your own research and what YOU feel is best for you.

I am leaning strongest towards Coinbase and Kraken with further investigation into LocalBitcoins for fiat exchanges as well as Poloniex and Bittrex for cryptocurrency to cryptocurrency exchanges.

This section has been changed as of 12-26-2020. The original list of holdings has given me some problems over the last two years and the widgets I was using are not currently working. Also, over time, I am bought, sold, and bought more; so I don't believe my current holdings would be indicative of the point of the article originally.

Now it’s time to buy some stuff. Instead of a retrospective, I am actually writing this sentence by sentence as I make my purchases. Since most currencies require Bitcoin to buy them instead of cash, I am going to buy just $10 of Bitcoin using Coin Base. I used the iPhone app. The one problem I noticed immediately with this first purchase is the time. I put $10 in, but it takes seven days to process and I don’t think it locks in your initial investment price. So on April 27th, I hope Bitcoin is down in the market. I went through my exchange list and most sucked upon actual review, so I landed on Poloniex. Now I am waiting for them to review my account. They gave no timeframe for the review after I submitted my drivers license. Purchasing cryptocurrency is significantly harder than I thought it would be. From the research I did, the exchanges I listed all suck to actually make a purchase. None of them are user-intuitive and I can’t just take cash and turn it into a cryptocurrency today. Of my experience today, Coinbase is the best option, but limited to only four currencies: Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Ethereum (ETH), and Litecoin (LTC). Thus far, I have accomplished buying $10 of both Bitcoin and Litecoin, both of which will take roughly one week to complete. When using Coinbase, the price is locked in to the price stated at the time of the agreement, so that’s a plus. One slight piece of good news is that Coinbase will be expanding their purchase assets offered so they will have other cryptocurrencies in their wallet soon.

 

I thought I caught a break when I discovered Bithumb. Bithumb is the number one exchange in South Korea and super simple to use, but like most others, requires Bitcoin to purchase other currencies. There was one shining light, however. Upon signing up, I received 3,000 of their internal tokens (basically $2) so I bought fifty Tron (TRX). According to an article I read, anyone owning 0.1 Ethereum (ETH) or higher will be part of a 30 million Tron airdrop at the end of May to ease tensions between the heads of the two companies. I see this as a temporary devaluation, but REALLY good advertising so I went with it as a quick free purchase so I now own 50 TRX. Once this airdrop goes through, I foresee a drop in Tron value (trading at 5 cents a coin as I write this a month prior to the airdrop date). Freeing up that much currency will devalue the existing coins but bring notoriety to it, thus increasing it. This is not on my list of currency buys because it is timely only to the writing of this piece and I cannot see into a crystal ball for long-term sustainability of the coin. Another problem with Bithumb is they value their trades against the South Korean Won (KRW) and not the US Dollar, which is great if you’re from South Korea but since they made for nine cents a piece, I had to use a currency converter app to see how much I was buying. If they had more English on the page, I would add Bithumb to my list of exchanges. I am back to square one with the search to just buy lesser known cryptocurrencies.

This really isn’t s failure, but a delay. Since cryptocurrencies on exchanges other than Coinbase require a trade of Bitcoin, I am not currently able to purchase other currencies until my Bitcoin buy order through Coinbase is fulfilled on April 27th. When this happens, I will be able to transition amounts of Bitcoin from Coinbase to any exchange of my choosing and purchase other coins with it. 

My goal was to get a list of cryptocurrencies to buy and make investments into them. Though I have invested in some, I wasn’t able to buy a diverse number of the coins I listed and that is OK for now. Moving forward, I will and I will create a followup piece detailing my subsequent investments and the use of one of the exchanges, likely, listed. Another goal was to publish this piece ahead of the proposed April 27th Amazon announcement regarding cryptocurrencies. That was successful as you are reading it and it is on or after April 27th. While working through my bucket list, this is technically a success so...I hit another one.

 

I believe, though a volatile market, cryptocurrencies have a huge upside potential as investment and will, in the future, become a much higher volume market, but they will have a lot of growing pains along the way. It’s still early so there will be ups and downs and in the end, I see this being a competitor for international cash trades for goods.

Bellow I have added some links to other websites to gather more information on specific topics on cryptocurrencies. These are all sites I have used in my research, though I have not necessarily expanded directly on the topics in this piece. This is also not an exhaustive list of everything I researched, but it is a good foundation of knowledge.

Website Name

Linked Title or Page

Cryptocurrency Facts

How to Buy into an ICO (Initial Coin Offering)

Cryptocurrency Facts

How to Get Free Cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrency Market Cap

Cryptocurrency Market Cap

Disclaimer: Michael Beebe is not a financial advisor and all research is for his own purposes. He is simply sharing the research with the readers of this or other blogs and makes no claims to be an expert in finance or any forms of investment.

Thank you for reading this piece from Michael Beebe. For more about Michael, please visit TheMichaelBeebe.com