RE: How to buy Bitcoin in the Eurozone - Comment acheter du Bitcoin dans la zone euro
Excellent post, Sorin. I was actually thinking - because I see some people on here suggesting Bitcoin as a Christmas present for "normal" friends and family and one of the issues that keeps coming to mind is "okay, I give you this slip of paper with your wallet address. then what?"
Because it seems to me hard to believe that these people previously not interested in the cryptosphere would now be all that willing to invest hours of research to understand how it all works. It seems hard, though of course it's not that difficult. One of the things I've learned since I got here is that there is a lot of information out there readily available. You just have to want it.
I've never gone through Kraken myself (yet), but I love how you explain it all here. It sounds like an excellent starting point.
Merry Xmas!! :)
Thank you, @honeydue. I got spurred by a lengthy phone call with a "normal" friend from Italy who had heard about Bitcoin but had no idea how one can buy it. I have told here my own story ("parcours initiatique") from spring 2017 (alas, far too late!)
I like your question a lot though - whether it's a personal wallet (a piece of paper with some seed words) or an account on an exchange - once one has it, then what?
For Bitcoin at least, I think the answer for a "normal" person is straightforward: "Hodl" - keep it there, it is your key and secret pass to the cryptoverse and you can use it later, whenever you choose, to enter the magical world of blockchain and crypto
For many other cryptos, such as Ether, I don't know the answer for a normal person - Ether is basically for geeks.
I wish Kraken and Bitstamp would list Steem - so I could offer an answer for Steem.
Hmm I think it takes a bit of time to understand the whole concept of HODLing, to really get into it, I mean. I remember when I started and of course, there wasn't much point in taking any crypto out then as the price wasn't skyrocketing, but I don't think I got much of what HODL was about. It just seems like a game, at least to outsiders and the fact that you get a username and password (much like in an online game) only compounds that impression, I think.
But then again, I think it depends a lot on the outsider's perspective, how much they're willing to get into crypto, whether they come at it from a skeptical point of view or not etc.
That would certainly be a huge improvement. See, when I try to explain to someone how exactly one can make money out of Steemit, it's weird to explain that you see, you convert them to bitcoin and then you get your bitcoin into the exchange and....you've already lost them at this point, though it's not that hard in practice. Still, one day. Soon, I hope.