Welcome to Crypto101

UPDATED:

14 May 2017

In this website I will show you how to use the internet and cryptocurrencies to make some extra pocket money. These methods are perfect for those of you who would like to make a little extra to pay for those small luxuries. They have been tried and tested personally. In fact, I visit my very own website more than once a day to earn myself a piece of the pie and it doesn't cost you a penny only a bit of your time. Some of these techniques can actually sustain themselves with very little to no input at all!!

As I go along in my discovery of the cryptocurrency world, I will make sure to add my findings onto this website, so be sure to check back regularly :)

Bitcoin Exchange Rate

What is Cryptocurrency?

Cryptocurrencies are like any regular currencies such as the Dollar, Euro, Pound, Rand etc. but are intended to be used as a medium of exchange over a digital platform. The most common and widely used of all cryptocurrencies at present is Bitcoin. It actually was the very first decentralised currency started back in 2009. These digital currencies use advanced cryptography to secure the transactions and control the creation of new units. This means that there are no central authorities controlling the flow and use of cryptocurrencies and is controlled by the everyday users and miners across globe.

Unlike fiat currencies, cryptocurrencies transaction fees are much lower and faster than if you had to process a similar transaction through a bank.

Bitcoin is also becoming so popular that big international companies such as Microsoft, Dell, Amazon, Virgin and now even Steam are starting to accept Bitcoin as a form of payment. There are even some universities accepting Bitcoin to pay for tuition as you will see in one of the videos below.

Take a look at these videos, they will give you a better understanding of Bitcoin.

What is Bitcon?

Simple and easy to understand explanation of Bitcoin.

This is a nice explanation of cryptocurrency described back in 2014.

A recent story about Bitcoin that aired on the popular South African journalism programme, Carte Blanche.

Selecting Your Wallet

First things first, you are going to need to get yourself a wallet to store your Bitcoin. This will be like your bank account where you will send and receive Bitcoin. Your wallet can be kept on your mobile device, desktop computer, specially designed hardware wallets and online. Here are a few popular ones:

ELECTRUM - Website | Android | Windows | OSX
Electrum's focus is speed and simplicity, with low resource usage. It uses remote servers that handle the most complicated parts of the Bitcoin system, and it allows you to recover your wallet from a secret phrase. They also have an Android app so you can take your Bitcoin with you.
LUNO - Website | Android | iOS
Personal favourite!! They also incorporate an exchange service where you can buy and sell Bitcoin for Rand (ZAR). Enter this promo code (8HAD7) to earn R10.00 once you buy or sell ฿0.10 or more. They also offer an app for Android as well as iOS.
COINBASE - Website | Android | iOS
One of the more popular online wallets where you can buy and sell for US dollars. Unfortunately the buying and selling of US dollars is not available in South Africa at this time. There is an app available for Android and iOS.
XAPO - Website | Android | iOS
Another popular online wallet. It has a nice service of a Bitcoin debit card that you can use to make everyday purchases using Bitcoin. I haven’t tried it yet though. An app for Android and iOS is also available.
BITCOIN WALLET - Android | Blackberry
Bitcoin Wallet is an easy to use, reliable mobile device wallet which is also secure and fast.
COPAY - Website | Android | iOS | Windows Phone | Mac | Windows | Linux
A wallet that can be used across most platforms.
BITCOIN CORE - Website | Windows | Mac | Linux
Bitcoin Core is a full Bitcoin client and builds the backbone of the network. It offers high levels of security, privacy, and stability. However, it has fewer features and it takes a lot of space and memory.

How to Earn Bitcoin & Other Cryptocurrencies

Now the fun part begins :)
There are many ways you can get your hands on this precious digital "commodity". I will go through each one below that I have discovered during my time in the cryptocurrency world. If there are any others I have left out, please feel free to let me know in the contact section above.

Desktop & Laptop Mining

Personally I don't mine Bitcoin any longer as the mining power of laptops and desktops are too low to be productive. If you do have extra money to splash out, you can always look to specialised mining equipment designed to mine Bitcoin. I don't recommend this though as I have heard that this equipment becomes obsolete very quickly. However, there are many other cryptocurrencies out there for you to mine quite successfully with a standard computer.

So far I have only used MinerGate. They offer various altcoins (or alternatives to Bitcoin) you can mine with an easy-to-use app. Once you get yourself some altcoins, you can use an exchange to trade them out for Bitcoin or another currency if you so wish. You can refer to the exchanges section further down for more info on buying and selling altcoins.

MINERGATE - Website

Cloud Mining

This is great way to earn Bitcoin or other altcoins without owning any expensive equipment or outlaying extra money for electricity and bandwidth. The only drawback is that the majority of these services require you to pay for the use of this equipment remotely. The amount you need to pay will depend on the hash rate (processing power) selected and length of time you want to mine.

There are cloud mining sites that do offer once off lifetime packages but generally they charge for a selected amount of time to cover overheads etc. Some offer cloud mining for free but I have yet to receive a pay-out from one of these.

BEWARE OF CLOUD MINING SCAMS!! There are many out there. If you are unsure of one, the best is to check out what other people are saying about them. I have included a link called "List of scam sites to watch out for..." in the resources below where you can start your search. Googling the cloud mining service is also a good way to find out more about them and if they are legitimate.

Let us know of any other good, paying cloud mining methods via the contact section above.

GENESIS MINING - Website
This is probably one of the most popular and well established cloud mining services on the internet. Don't forget to enter promo code: acuXDf when purchasing your package. This will give you a 3% discount... it's a pleasure :)
HASHFLARE - Website
Hashflare is a new kid on the block when it comes to cloud mining. They still need to build up their reputation to that of Genesis Mining.
NICEHASH - Website
Nicehash works a bit differently to Genesis Mining and Hashflare. What they do is link people wanting to sell their mining power to people wanting to buy mining power, basically acting as the middle man. You can make use of their services as a buyer or seller of hashing power. They offer many different algorithms too covering most crypto currencies.

Faucets

This is one of my favourite ways of earning Bitcoin. In fact, I have built a rotator into this website which includes faucets that pay out regularly.

In a nutshell, faucets are websites that pay you just for visiting them and doing small tasks usually completing captchas etc. Basically, the more you visit the more you can earn. There are various types of faucet sites out there but the majority of them have a cool-off period between claims. There are some like Moon Bitcoin that generate Bitcoin for you to collect on a regular bases and others that incorporate a game into their faucets. You can even go as far as to download apps for your phone that earn you Bitcoin.

Faucets use various types of payment methods but the most common are via microwallets such as ePay or FaucetHUB. Microwallets are basically "middlemen" that accept faucet rewards on your behalf. They will accept small amounts of Bitcoin or other altcoins from various sites which use their service, and pay this out to your wallet after a certain minimum has been reached. Other sites like Moon Bitcoin don't use microwallets to make payment but rather pay out directly to your wallet after a minimum amount has been reached and only after a certain time period like once a week.

Faucet sites make their revenue from advertising so click on a sponsor's advert every now and then to show your support and they will reward you in return. You might even find things of interest about cryptocurrencies on some of these adverts like I have.

My goal is to make this website your one-stop-shop for the very best, paying faucets on the internet. I can always use your suggestions of faucets to include, so please send us all your faucets here that I can take look at and include if they are good.

Tip: You can use the bitcoin made from faucets to purchase cloud mining packages.

Tip: It may be a good idea to create a separate email address for your faucets not to clog up your personal email. Generally they don't spam but on the odd occasion, it can sometimes happen.

Tip: Make sure any adblocking software is disabled. This will prevent you from using most of the faucet sites.

Tip: The faucet rotator works best with Google Chrome web browser. The auto-complete feature also remembers your Bitcoin wallet address for most feilds so you don't have to copy/paste for each site.

START EARNING

Exchanges

Here is another favourite way to increase your Bitcoin/altcoin holding. This is the place where you go to buy and sell cryptocurrencies or a Forex market as its known for everyday currencies. If you just want to trade out your altcoins for Bitcoin or you want to play the markets, this is where to go. You can earn quite a bit here if you know what you doing but like any market, the risk is also there to lose everything. I suggest that you don't invest what you cannot afford to lose when using this method. Elsewise this can be quite a fun way to grow your Bitcoins and other altcoins.

It can also be a great way to expand your knowledge and understanding of trading without the cost and outlay of doing it with real world currencies.

Tip: Why not use your Bitcoin / altcoin earnings from faucets and mining to play around on the exchange. This way there is no real risk.

POLONIEX - Website
This is great exchange with a high user base. They offer a huge amount of accepted crypto currencies for trading. You can even loan your cryptocurrency out to other traders on their site in return for a fee. They are one of the best in my opinion.
CHANGELLY - Website
Changelly is simple to use exchange created by the folks of Minergate. You don't get the functionality of a fully-fledged exchange, but this can be used as a great way to exchange a currency that may not be supported by another exchange.
BITTREX - Website
Another exchange that has many different crypto currencies to trade.

BITFINEX - Website
This exchange has functionality to trade USD with the top cryptocurrencies. They don't have many altcoins to trade like Poloniex and Bittrex.

LUNO - Website
The same site as mentioned in the wallet section above. They allow you to trade ZAR for BTC but you need to verify your identity and proof of residence before you can trade. Enter promo code 8HAD7 to earn R10.00 once you buy or sell ฿0.10 or more.

A nice introductory video on how to read candlestick charts for beginners.

Content/Link Sharing

If you have online content that you want to share with people, this can be great way for you to earn Bitcoin while sharing your links and content. They can also give you the functionality to see statistics of the views of each of your links. Here are a few sites offering this service.

COINURL - Website | Example of Link
A site that you can get paid for clicks on your created links. They also offer paid advertising that you can include on your website.

BINBOX - Website | Example of Link
A similar site to CoinURL but this service not only shares links but also any type of text or pastes as links. No advertising service is offered on this website.

BITBIN - Website
This site is pretty much the same as Binbox.

Disclaimer: Always use your own discretion when making a decision to invest in anything. This site only provides guidelines and suggestions, and cannot be held responsible for any decision you make that may result in loss or gain for that matter.

Resources

Here are a few sites you may want to check out to expand your knowledge further:

Bookmark these links as you will be referring to them quite a bit:

ePay - Website
Many faucets use this microtransaction platform to pay your earnings out to. This way you get all your Bitcoin paid as one big lump sums to your wallet and save on transaction fees. Just enter your wallet address to manage your pay out threshold or login for more functionality.
FaucetHUB - Website
You will need to register on this microtransaction site before you are able to receive pay outs from the faucets using this platform.