AAAgent's Crypto Journey

[AAAgent]

Fellas, get ready for sleepless nights, and $$$ flowing in (I hope).

This is going to be my own personal blog of how i'm progressing in the crypto space. A lot of information i've already provided in BlueAlpha's original cryptocurrency thread below but I'll try to be a bit more concise and focus posts on certain topics. I am still unsure of how clear I want to be in regards to what I hold, profit, etc. There are some crazy hackers out there and it's better to be safe than sorry. You guys should act the same. I saw a picture of someone putting a bitcoin flag outside their house.....that's just inviting trouble. If you're trying to educate people around you that you know, that might be okay but be smart about how you store your crypto.

http://www.sosuave.net/forum/threads/cryptocurrency.234798/

Please be aware that everything I write is my opinion only and is not financial advice. Act on my information at your own risk as I do the same with the information I gather. Please do not bet your house and make millions or lose your house and blame me. I figured that since I've spent countless months researching crypto and countless years researching value investing, economics, politics, etc. That my knowledge might provide a different perspective than many other individuals on this forum that don't feel comfortable straying from traditional decaying investments and learning new avenues.

Basically, that's what i'm here for. I like to take calculated risks and hopefully it pays off for me and you guys can watch and learn from my journey.

 

[AAAgent]

Once again, I'm not an expert. If I've misspoken, feel free to correct me.

If you're going to be dabbling in crypto, you must first learn Bitcoin (BTC for short). Bitcoin is/will be a universal digital currency. It was created by an individual using the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. No one has been able to identify who this individual is nor has be come out publicly to reveal himself. He mined the first Bitcoins and has never done anything with them.

Bitcoin's foundation is built on blockchain technology which is essentially a public decentralized ledger. This ledger logs EVERY single transaction from when the coin was mined, down to every single transaction that is made with the coin. Because of the decentralization, no CEO, no company, no individual controlling BTC, this ledger has a lot of appeal. Decentralization also means that Bitcoin can't be controlled by any government or entity. That is because there is no one to hand over control to said governments or entities because the blockchain is not structured that way. A lot of people speculate that BTC was created as a result of the 2008 financial crisis by someone who was fed up with how governments and banks manipulate markets and destroy the wealth of the majority of the population through ridiculous regulations and economic policy. We'll just have to wait for the day Satoshi comes out and clarifies this. This decentralization and blockchain technology is very appealing to many techies, economists, and politicians a like. Governments have already tried to control BTC but to no avail and many countries have or are in the process to adopt it as a legalized currency. Other governments are working on creating their own fiat currency built on their own blockchain. Singapore and Canada are just a couple that come to mind.

Although the blockchain itself is decentralized and open for any to view, there are still some parties that make up Bitcoin that are somewhat centralized and that we do need to be wary of.

Developers - These people work on innovating, improving, and optimizing Bitcoin's underlying code and tech. This group of developers is decentralized and all over the place but is funded by VC's and other wealthy people that want BTC to succeed. This group is known as Bitcoin Core (core dev team).

Miners - These are the people that have computers that mine for Bitcoin by running software that solves complex math problems x amount of times until a block of Bitcoins is released. The miners not only mine bitcoin, but they also process your peer to peer BTC transactions. From what I understand, the higher the fees you pay, the faster your transactions get processed. Because of the current code of BTC and current size of the BTC blocks (very small), BTC transactions have been getting backed up. It also doesn't help that there has been a massive influx into the crypto space in the last 6 months. Miners have started to increase fees to capitlize off of this. Also within the miners, there was one company called BitMain (a chinese mining hardware company) that exploited an opportunity it identified in BTC code that allowed them to mine BTC 30% more efficiently than traditional mining. They patented this technology and called it AsicBoost and are the leading supplier of BTC mining rig hardware.

Users - people like me and you who use BTC

Other - companies that produce wallets, exchanges, etc. (other tech developers that aren't working on BTC code but are still working on improving BTC community).

There are some issues with who actually funds the core dev team, and BitMain bullying and holding core dev team hostage (not implementing their developments) because core dev is releasing updates that will render asicboost obsolete. Bitmain is centralizing themselves as the main mining hardware producer and doesn't want it's fees tech rendered obsolete in any update. As they are processing a majority of the worlds BTC transactions and mining a majority of the BTC, it's a pain when they refuse to cooperate.

The maximum number of BTC that will ever be mined will be 21 Million exactly. There are roughly 16 million currently in circulation but an estimated x millions have been lost on old hard drives, destroyed hard drives, people who have died with bitcoin stored away, and people who have just misplaced their bitcoin. The last batch of Bitcoin is estimated to be mined in 2140 or something along that time line.

 

[Xenom0rph]

This is a good thread with some good information. I've always had an interest in this area but I've always feared the eventual crackdown and criminalization of digital currencies..... Diane Feinstein just introduced Senate Bill 1241 which will criminalize the accumulation of monetary assets (and subject to forfeiture) outside of an approved banking institution.

It also expands the definition of monetary instruments to include prepaid phones (burners) and possibly even gift cards and prepaid credit cards...this now requires companies to require identification to buy and accumulate these items...

This bill is worrisome and it definitely needs to get more attention.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="

" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[AAAgent]

Yeah. As long as you pay your taxes on the gains and don't transport take your crypto cross borders, even if this law gets passed, you'll be fine. Just the government trying to find ways to get theirs since they can't control crypto.

On a side note, I found another potential diamond in the rough in Populous. I bought into the pre-sale yesterday and they are almost sold out.

http://populous.co/

I try to find companies that are looking to adding value to the community in the crypto space, in a sector that isn't crowded, that isn't too popularized. They are currently in the pre-sale offering and ICO will start on July 8th or 16th I believe. Pre-sale is going so well that they might sell out completely and skip the ICO phase. Little to no publicity about this so people are covertly buying this one.

 

[PrettyBoyAJ]

Diversifying crypto is a great way to build assets. One of them if not a few have to take off. Thanks for the insight and I'll definitely be in this thread.

 

[AAAgent]

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1866936.400

Populous Pre-sale ICO seems to be maxed out. There most likely will not be an ICO as they've raised the funds they planned on raising in the combined pre-sale and the ICO (will need an official confirmation from Populous staff). Although this was not TenX which sold out in 8 minutes and raised $100m presale and $100m ICO. A very successful ICO nonetheless. I'd rather be part of a low key ICO that has room for growth than one that is already blown-up. Nonetheless TenX will probably do great (sucks that USA couldn't participate).

Will do a post about Cloud mining next.

 

[switch7]

Anyone hear about this the other day?

http://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/22/ethe...exchange-after-multimillion-dollar-trade.html

Ethereum went from $319 to 10 cents in 1 second! LOL. Apparently a big sell order went into the market and hit a cascade of stops which ploughed it further south.

This is the danger with thin markets, it only takes one person to shakeout the entire market and screw everyone lol. Saying that some lucky trader had buy limits set at 10 cents and they made a killing on the bounce. Probably the same person that dropped the market.

 

[AAAgent]

Anyone hear about this the other day?

http://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/22/ethe...exchange-after-multimillion-dollar-trade.html

Ethereum went from $319 to 10 cents in 1 second! LOL. Apparently a big sell order went into the market and hit a cascade of stops which ploughed it further south.

This is the danger with thin markets, it only takes one person to shakeout the entire market and screw everyone lol. Saying that some lucky trader had buy limits set at 10 cents and they made a killing on the bounce. Probably the same person that dropped the market.

Yeah I wrote about the explanation on the previous thread and linked this video that explains what happened from Ivan on Tech. Follow him if you haven't yet.

I personally believe it's larger banks/government type players trying to shake people out. They do not want people to leave failing traditional markets that they manipulate and go into freely traded markets such as the crypto currencies. The only way they can manipulate markets is to physically buy large quantities of crypto and sell. There are no options contracts, no futures contracts, no etf's, etc. Doesn't make sense for anyone to be selling millions of Ethereum. If you're building on Ethereum, you need Ether tokens. If you're holding large amounts of Ether tokens, you're probably using those Ether tokens to invest into other ICO's like I am. There is a massive ICO boom right now with a majority of the companies using the Ethereum platform to build their new company. Those companies raise funds in Ether tokens as they will need that Ether to fund the platform on Ethereum.

Doesn't make any sense for that much Ethereum to be sold plowing through all the buyers in a matter of seconds. You can see that it quickly recovered. Another thought is that they crashed the price to buy in cheaper. Who knows, but Gdax (owned by coinbase) seems to have made whole everyone who got stopped out on GDAX and also honored Eth buys from anyone who was able to buy during the dip.

 

[PrettyBoyAJ]

Eth is down right now. What do you think on the future AAA?

 

[AAAgent]

http://coinmarketcap.com/assets/

Look at the top assets on coinmarketcap and decide yourself where you think ETH is going. I just bought into an ICO with ETH. Status ICO that crashed Eth network was obviously Eth. TenX sold out in 7 minutes raised Eth. Even EOS, the supposed Ethereum killer is for some reason....raising all their capital for AN ENTIRE YEAR by Ethereum.

Veritaseum is built on Ethereum and I used Eth to buy into the ICO.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-06-24/visa-hiring-ethereum-blockchain-engineer

------
Here's some conspiracy Bitcoin talk, gold, and geo-political talk. I obviously don't think it's conspiracy but if you're brainwashed you will. Dex, the Algo Capitalist kills it with this explanation. Took me only 5 years to put the information he goes through in 1 hour.

 

[switch7]

Nice stuff will take a look when I get chance.

 

[PrettyBoyAJ]

So do you plan on investing a little more in Eth while it's down or are you just holding it? I'm sure you are diversified enough in Cryptocurrency.

I'm still doing my research however and I'm still on Coinbase.

 

[AAAgent]

Yes. I mine ethereum everyday. I get about 1 ETH per month from mining currently.

 

[BeTheChange]

Yes. I mine ethereum everyday. I get about 1 ETH per month from mining currently.

How much does mining cost?

This whole market seems a lot like tulips or gold. No real fundamentals. No revenue generating potential.

How much in absolute terms have you made from this and with what level of capital?

 

[AAAgent]

How much does mining cost?

This whole market seems a lot like tulips or gold. No real fundamentals. No revenue generating potential.

How much in absolute terms have you made from this and with what level of capital?

I'm writing a wallet post now. Before I go into mining, you will need to store you coins somewhere as Coinbase doesn't take Eth payouts. I'll write the post on wallets first and then a post on cloud mining.

In terms of how much I make...PM your social security number and I'll PM you back how much profit I've made. Exactly. Let's just say crypto has changed my life.

 

[BeTheChange]

I'm writing a wallet post now. Before I go into mining, you will need to store you coins somewhere as Coinbase doesn't take Eth payouts. I'll write the post on wallets first and then a post on cloud mining.

In terms of how much I make...PM your social security number and I'll PM you back how much profit I've made. Exactly. Let's just say crypto has changed my life.

Not a fair comparison. Im happy to share how much I've made both in absolute terms and ROI from my investments. If crypto is the future and a wild success then shouldn't you be content to share just how successful you've been?

 

[AAAgent]

Wallets:

Basic crypto 101, never store crypto on an exchange for longer than you need to make a trade/transaction. There are tons of people fishing for your passwords and personal information and exchanges will not reimburse you for stolen funds. Take your crypto's off exchanges asap. Please chime in if I missed something or have made an error.

Wallets are basically software, hardware, and or physical storage devices for you to place your crypto somewhere in your control and outside the control of a third party. Every wallet has an address. It is either in barcode form or in the form of various numbers and letters. To find your coinbase wallet address for each type of crypto, go to BTC wallet or ETH wallet or LTC wallet, click on the barcode icon and it will say scan code or my address. Select my address for your address. That address is where can send that respective crypto currency. Do not send the incorrect crypto to the wrong crypto wallet address. I'm actually not sure what happens, but I wouldn't be surprised if that crypto is "lost" forever. Always do small test sends for new wallets. I would recommend sending a small test amount from your exchange wallet, to your off exchange wallet. Once the token/coins arrive, then send the rest. Better safe than sorry. Also, for noobies, you can send ANY amount of crypto you want. You can send 1 full bitcoin, 0.1 BTC, 0.001 BTC, 0.000000001 BTC, etc. Exchanges don't require you to purchase full amounts of crypto and therefore you are not required to send full amounts of crypto. Very different from stocks as you can sell half a stock or 3.43 shares of Apple.

Software wallets on sometimes known as hot wallets that allow you to take you crypto off exchange and onto a secure website and or software you can download. These wallets provide you with private keys and back up code phrases that must be written down, printed, and documented as they will NEVER be provided again. If you forget your private key(password) you can use your back up code phrases that will help you back up your crypto wallet details and get you back in. If you lose or forget your code phrases, the crypto is gone forever. Coinbase has wallets on the exchange itself for your own personal use as well. Those are the least secure of wallets as they only require your password.

(note: always enable Google 2FA and have it done through the app, not texted to your phone)

https://www.exodus.io/

Hardware wallets as wallets that have custom built hardware devices for you to store your crypto offline and in a tech storage device that is heavily encrypted. You basically send your crypto to an external USB like device and unplug it and store it away in a safe. It still requires private keys and back up codes as hot wallets but they can't be broken into until somewhere physically obtains the hardware wallet, is able to extract the private key, and then the back up code. This is also assuming they know how to work these hardware wallet devices. Below are the 2 most popular hardware wallets. The Trezor is a bit more expensive and first to hit the market. Both have a solid reputation and are recommended by many.

https://www.ledgerwallet.com/

https://trezor.io/

Physical/paper wallets are wallets where you print out your crypto in barcode format. If you are opting for the traditional paper wallet, always remember to print on quality paper and store in places that are not susceptible to moisture, excessive heat, or cold. Better safe than sorry right? Also, to protect your crypto further in case someone somehow managers to get a hold of your barcode/paper wallet, the wallet itself will have a private key(passcode). Store that key separately from the paper wallet.

That's all for wallets. Now go and get a wallet and get your crypto off those exchanges and into your own control!

 

[AAAgent]

Not a fair comparison. Im happy to share how much I've made both in absolute terms and ROI from my investments. If crypto is the future and a wild success then shouldn't you be content to share just how successful you've been?

I tell people IRL but I don't document it in writing for the world to see and have the government come back and rape me for it.

I got into the Veritaseum ICO at $6 per token. It's currently somewhere between $80-$200 and is expected to pass Ethereum when it hits larger exchanges.

http://coinmarketcap.com/assets/veritaseum/

I started posting about Bitcoin when it was in the $800-$1000's. I have held and may potentially still hold Dash, Cloak, Populous (when it lists), Veritaseum, ETH, LTC, XMR and BTC. I've dabbled and traded a few others. Remember, the market is unregulated and who knows what the governments plan is with this. They definitely don't want you to carry a mobile wallet overseas and selling your crypto out of US regulation because they can't tax or track that. They currently don't have an issue with crypto if you have it in the US as long as you don't bring it out of the country (they can't stop you if you send it to a foreign wallet but they can stop you if you carry it on your persons if this new bill gets passed). If you buy and sell crypto and report it and pay taxes on it, they are okay with this.

Either way, i'm not announcing to the world my holdings in writing anywhere. Just isn't safe.

 

[BeTheChange]

I tell people IRL but I don't document it in writing for the world to see and have the government come back and rape me for it.

I got into the Veritaseum ICO at $6 per token. It's currently somewhere between $80-$200 and is expected to pass Ethereum when it hits larger exchanges.

http://coinmarketcap.com/assets/veritaseum/

I started posting about Bitcoin when it was in the $800-$1000's. I have held and may potentially still hold Dash, Cloak, Populous (when it lists), Veritaseum, ETH, LTC, XMR and BTC. I've dabbled and traded a few others. Remember, the market is unregulated and who knows what the governments plan is with this. They definitely don't want you to carry a mobile wallet overseas and selling your crypto out of US regulation because they can't tax or track that. They currently don't have an issue with crypto if you have it in the US as long as you don't bring it out of the country (they can't stop you if you send it to a foreign wallet but they can stop you if you carry it on your persons if this new bill gets passed). If you buy and sell crypto and report it and pay taxes on it, they are okay with this.

Either way, i'm not announcing to the world my holdings in writing anywhere. Just isn't safe.

Fair point. You're a grinder and I respect that. You've clearly put a lot of time, effort and research into reaching your position.

Personally, it would take me months to accumulate enough knowledge for me to be comfortable investing a material amount in cryptocurrency and mining software.

As such I'll see it for what it currently is. Speculation driven by optimistic assumptions about the use of cryptocurrency in the 21st century.

Ill put a few hundred dollars into each of the main ones you mentioned and just let it sit there until I educate myself more.

Will be following this thread and adding my own commentary here and there if needed. Let's all get rich together bro

 

[PrettyBoyAJ]

I hear you BeTheChange! I definitely hear you.

So I've actually lost money since investing in Crypto but I still think there is some money to be made. Actually, I know. AAAgent is proof to that. I suggest you guys start investing in Eth. Currently it's at 261 and it's as low as it's been in around two weeks.

With the Coinbase exchange you can only buy BTC, ETH, and LTC. Currently, researching more exchanges that AAAgent mentioned in the other thread.

AAAgent, do you use one exchange to buy the majority of your Crypto or are you just using multiple? I'm actually looking to get into some of these smaller ones hoping they shoot up in price. Have you ever heard of PTOY blockchain? A start up in Atlanta focusing on Healthcare created that blockchain in hopes to simplify the healthcare process. I definitely would've invested but it ended June 03 before I figured out about it.