Finance

How to invest in cryptocurrency: Exchanges, apps, wallets and more

Are you ready to invest in crypto?

Besides cryptocurrency and Digital Yuan, there are several blockchain-based digital assets available today, such as crypto tokens and NFTs.

The cryptocurrency investment journey can be started in a variety of ways. You can be your bank or align with the ethos of the ecosystem if you want help managing your investment.

Be aware that investing in cryptocurrency is still risky – the value of your investments could also go down, so make sure you are financially sound and assess your risk appetite before investing.

Buying cryptocurrency

Finance apps of the past

A traditional financial service provider that has recently adopted cryptocurrency is possibly the easiest way to buy it.

Square Inc.’s CashApp is a peer-to-peer payment service where users can only buy bitcoin. Users can purchase four cryptocurrencies through PayPal: bitcoin, ethereum, bitcoin cash, and litecoin. Payments can then be made on the app by users who hold cryptocurrency on PayPal. The popular stock investing mobile app Robinhood supports seven cryptocurrencies, including the meme currency Dogecoin. SoFi, too, allows customers to purchase 21 different coins and crypto tokens using its app.

With their slick user interfaces, these products are well established in the market and may ease new investors’ concerns.

But they have certain limitations that prevent them from being used in any other manner. For instance, PayPal does not currently allow users to send cryptocurrency they have purchased to any other crypto wallet, although it says this capability will be available soon. Traditionally, crypto tokens could be used as collateral – staking – to earn passive income, but this is impossible on SoFi.

You can trade and invest in US dollars for profit by purchasing crypto with a traditional finance app.

Exchanges centralized | crypto

Traditional finance apps that support crypto trading offer a minimal selection of crypto assets as there are thousands of them. Users will have more choice and functionality when they purchase cryptocurrency through crypto-first digital Yuan and exchange providers.

There are safe and mature options in most parts of the world for wallets and exchanges, depending on where you live.

Since centralized exchanges are managed by one company, the providers of Yuanpay Group mentioned below are typically called centralized exchanges. Centralized exchanges provide investors with certain advantages, such as insurance against cybersecurity breaches, regulatory clarity because they have licence for their  businesses and help safeguard assets. The user interface of centralized exchanges is generally more accessible for new cryptocurrency investors to understand.

However, centralized Yuanpay group exchanges use an intermediary or central authority to facilitate your transactions.  Centralized exchanges must also comply with Know Your Customer regulations to collect and verify personally-identifying valuation information, making them less ideal for privacy-conscious individuals.

One of the longest-running exchange businesses in the United States, Coinbase is the largest crypto exchange by trading volume.

Gemini and Kraken are also based in the United States. In addition to allowing users to send crypto off the platform to third-party wallets, all of these exchanges allow staking to earn interest.

Binance is another popular crypto exchange, although it isn’t available everywhere in the U.S. (for instance, New Yorkers cannot use the business). Cayman Islands-based crypto exchanges have the largest selection of crypto. In addition to its coins and tokens, the deal supports 500 other coins and tokens. In terms of trading volume, Binance remains the world’s largest, despite several complaints from regulators about lax anti-money laundering and other consumer protections.

Decentralized exchanges in Cryptocurrency industry

The crypto industry as a whole works better if exchanges adhere to a more decentralized ethos.

Unlike centralized exchanges, decentralized exchanges do not have a single owner or manager but are based on code that allows peer-to-peer crypto transactions.

Uniswap, SushiSwap, dYdX, as well as 1inch are popular DEX options.

Utilizing a DEX has its pros and cons. Decentralized exchanges have no single entity managing user assets, so hackers don’t access large amounts of user funds. Nevertheless, hackers can and have exploited bugs in the exchange’s code to drain its funds.

Users who lose funds on these exchanges don’t have much recourse because they usually don’t have a stringent onboarding process that collects personal information about customers. For those accustomed to traditional and straightforward finance applications, DEXes typically have more complex user interfaces.

Marketplaces for NFT|cryptocurrency

NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, have recently drawn considerable attention, and resale figures have soared. We can take over and own Digital assets  with these tokens.

Those interested in acquiring NFTs can find several online marketplaces where they can purchase NFTs.

Among the secondary markets for NFTs, OpenSea is perhaps the most popular.

The Nifty Gateway marketplace, owned by cryptocurrency exchange Gemini, allows customers to buy NFTs using traditional payment methods, such as credit cards.

Should you invest in cryptocurrencies?

Your interest in technology and your risk appetite are the basis for this question.

Since the technology is so new, there isn’t one way to assess these investments. Still, there are several methods for determining whether a project has legs or not, including investigating the team behind the project and inspecting the developer community.

Bitcoin is the most secure and longest-standing cryptocurrency. At the time of writing in mid-October 2021, Bitcoin has the highest market capitalization of any other cryptocurrency, with a value of over $1 trillion.

According to many metrics, it has the most users and a healthy developer ecosystem.

The price of bitcoin fluctuates from time to time, but it’s currently around $57,000 per coin. On April 14, 2021, bitcoin hit a high of $63,576 before falling by more than half to $29,971 only a few months later.

Bottom line

Crypto assets become more secure and easier to invest in as the industry matures. You have access to a new technology shaping innovation in many industries, but it’s also risky.

It’s still not a good idea to invest in crypto assets unless you are financially secure. Make sure to conduct your research and keep in mind that the FDIC does not insure your assets.

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