Getting Started with Bitcoin

Getting Started with Bitcoin

Using Bitcoin to pay and get paid is easy and accessible to everyone. 

Bitcoin is different than what you know and use every day. Before you start using Bitcoin, there are a few things that you need to know in order to use it securely and avoid common pitfalls. If you are about to explore Bitcoin, there are a few things you should know.

•  Getting a Bitcoin Wallet.

•  Getting Bitcoins or Funding Your Bitcoin Wallet (Buying Bitcoins). 

•  Spending your Bitcoins.

• Converting your Bitcoins in your Local Currency (Selling your Bitcoins).

Bitcoin lets you exchange money in a different way than with usual banks. As such, you should take time to inform yourself before using Bitcoin for any serious transaction. Bitcoin should be treated with the same care as your regular wallet, or even more in some cases! 

There are several Bitcoin wallet providers all over the world.

Getting a Bitcoin wallet 

This is a list of for-profit companies with notable commercial activities related to bitcoin.

They are; 37Coins, Airbitz, Bitreserve, Blockchain.info, Block.io Circle, Coins.ph, Xapo, etc [Just to name a few] 

But Let's go deeper to what we are talking about... 

How to open a Bitcoin wallet. But I will start with Blockchain.info and will later talk about that of Block.io [Very Important and Multi-faceted wallet provider]

BLOCKCHAIN

Blockchain manages all transactions that occur in the Bitcoin world, and they are also the ones that determines

• The worth of Bitcoin in the online community

• The amount of Bitcoin in circulation

• Mining rights to participants

However, Blockchain also runs a wallet, thus give the best Wallet Experience and most investment platforms prefer you to have an account with them. So to open a Blockchain account, follow the pictorial step by step guide below 

STEB BY STEP GUIDE ON HOW TO OPEN FREE BITCOIN WALLET ACCOUNT ON BLOCKCHAIN

1. Proceed to https://blockchain.info/wallet/#/signup, the image below would come up; 

Enter your e-mail address and a unique password for your blockchain wallet. 

[Use a strong password like Capital letter, followed by small letter, followed by signs like #=@ and use numbers as well (i.e. Joseph@2017)]

After you have done this successfully, check your e-mail and you will receive a message from Blockchain that looks like the one below; 

Congratulations!!! Your Blockchain wallet had been created. But you have to know and do something very important, and that is;   

• You will discover that you are automatically logged in to your wallet, as you can  see at the background of the popped up box. 

• You will also discover the write-up in the pop up box after your registration which reads; "Visit our SECURITY CENTER and keep your wallet safe." This is where you will do few things to secure your account. Just click on the blue rectangular box which has the write-up - "Get Started". 

• Verifying their email which they sent to you. To do so, just login to your email (which you provided when you signed up) and click on the new email from Blockchain. When it opens, click on the Blue rectangular box there, which reads- "Yes, This my Email". Also you will see your Wallet ID. The Wallet identifier (Wallet ID) is what you will use to login to your Blockchain wallet, keep it safe and do not share it with anybody. You should also keep your password safe. Do not forget it. 

Since you're already logged in, go straight to the "SECURITY CENTER" at the top left side of the page. Click on it and you will see;

Level 1 - Prevent losing access to your fund, with Verify Email, Backup Recovery Phrase and Create Password Hint on that category. 

Click on "Verify Email". Before then, you must have received an email from Blockchain. Please open the email and follow the instructions to complete your wallet setup. 

Secondly, at the SECURITY CENTER is the "Backup Recovery Phrase". This is a word (precisely a "PHRASE"), which you can remember easily which can help you access your wallet, even when you forget your password. 

Write down your Recovery Phrase and keep it somewhere very safe and secure. Your Recovery Phrase allows you or anyone else with access to it, to restore your wallet and access your funds if you forget your password, or if our service is unavailable. 

All these are to keep your wallet very secured against hackers and stealing your Bitcoin. 

Finally, you can also create a password hint by clicking on the "Create Password Hint", and save. 

Level 2 - Prevent unauthorized access to your wallet, with Link Mobile Number and Enable Two Step in that category. 

To Link Mobile Number, you will put your mobile number for a more secured verification. You will use your mobile phone to receive a one-time-password after a login attempt. Add your mobile number at the space provided and click save. 

Then Enable Two Step, which is 2-Step Verification, helps prevent unauthorized access to your wallet by requiring a one-time password after every login attempt. Enabling this option helps keep unauthorized users from being able to access your wallet. 

Finally, Level 3 - Advanced Security Options to harden your wallet. 

Here, you will prevent IP Addresses that are known to be part of the Tor Anonymizing network from accessing your wallet. Tor Browser is used by hackers to break into Blockchain users wallet. So by Blocking Tor, you stop this from happening to your wallet. As you can see, I have already blocked Tor from my own wallet. 

Now peradventure you were logged out of your wallet, due to inactivity for some minutes, kindly login again using your Wallet ID, and your Password. When you had logged in successfully, your wallet image should look like this; 

Now you are ready to follow the next important information you would need. The next image will explain what some things mean in your wallet. 

On the image of your wallet page above, you will see the numbering of some information in a box. 

1. The Bitcoin rate as at when the article was written. Bitcoin price fluctuates, so when you might do this, you may see a different amount of Bitcoin rate. 
2. Your wallet balance when you created your wallet, until you fund your wallet, then the amount will change, depending on the amount you funded your wallet with. Note that the corresponding dollar equivalent will automatically show below it. 
3. This is the first place to click on to get your first Bitcoin wallet address. Meanwhile, you can have as many addresses as possible. 
4. Like in 3. above you can also click on "Receive" to get your wallet address, and you can copy it or save it somewhere. The address you copied here is what you can give to someone you want to pay Bitcoin to your wallet. This is like your bank account number. Below is the image you will see when you want to receive Bitcoin. 
5. At this tab, you can send bitcoin to anyone so long you have person's (recipient's) wallet address. You also add the amount of Bitcoin you want to sent the person and click send. 

Next article will be that of Block.io