Why it matters the most, and should learn about it?
Hey readers, I hope you are doing well in these tough times and am sending a lot of hugs and positivity to all of you. The world is evolving fast; I mean there’s a huge technological advancement right from room-sized computers to the mini-computers that fit in our pockets to even things getting automated, and of course the rise of the Internet has paved the way for new opportunities. I consider it as a golden era of good times. It has also shaped the way we think and work, and has also shaped the industries and have given birth to new industries. So, the question is,
What industries have been shaped up with the rise of the Internet?
Short answer, many industries have been shaped up with the rise of the Internet. Right from the Retail sector to the manufacturing sector to even the advertising sector and the financial sector. But again, getting back to the topic that we’ll be talking about, there’s been a huge change, especially in the financial sector, as things have become so easy right from banking to trading stocks. But this has birth to a very special financial instrument that is Cryptocurrency. Before we dive deep further, let’s just understand the basics,
What is Cryptocurrency?
Well, Cryptocurrency is the type of financial instrument or a type of currency that is completely virtual and is online completely. It’s a type of digital asset that’s designed to work as a medium of exchange wherein individual coin ownership records are stored in a ledger existing in the form of a computerized database using cryptography to secure transactionally records, to control the creation of additional coins, and to verify the transfer of coin ownership.
It’s completely decentralized as it’s not like traditional currencies where there’s a central bank that centralizes the currency. And that’s the best part about cryptocurrency as there are no middlemen; it makes things easier and the transactions too. It doesn’t create much hassle. That’s what excited me as a person to know more about it. Still learning about it and educating myself.
Origin:-
Cryptocurrency dates back to the early 2000s, or in fact, its roots back to 1983 where a cryptographic system called eCash was created. Twelve years later, another cryptographic system called DigiCash, was created to make economic transactions confidential and private.
But it was in the early 2000s that things started to join the dots, with the introduction of Bitcoin that was created in 2008 by an unknown person or unknown group of people named Satoshi Nakomoto in Japan. Then in 2009, the currency was used as implementation as it was released as open-source software.
It opened the path of a new currency, as it was started to be used for financial transactions. And it also opened the path for new cryptocurrencies as more and more cryptocurrencies were introduced to compete with Bitcoin like Ethereum, Chiliz, Filecoin, Cardono, Dogecoin, and many more.
Why should you invest in Cryptocurrencies?
There are many advantages to invest in this valuable asset, as it’s the future of financial transactions and will be shaping up the world economy. You should take an interest in cryptocurrencies and should invest as it is:-
- It’ll be the main currency in the future:- Yes, this will change the way we do our financial transaction like buying and selling products or services and will be an ultimate financial instrument which can be traded in the exchanges just like stocks and it’s happening.
- It’ll change the way we think about the internet:- Cryptocurrencies are the future of the internet and technological advancement as it’s shaping up the financial instrument as you can see it’s being used for buying and selling goods and is being used as an investment just like stocks, so you should get yourself educated as it’s really important to know about it.
- You’ll find more opportunities in this space:- Sure, it can be used to trade goods and services and can be saved, but the golden opportunity lies when you start investing in it, just like stocks where you buy stocks from your trading account and you receive the stocks in the Demat account, the same sort of methodology is applied for cryptocurrencies too. It’s better to know about the cryptocurrencies that are trading currently and start to analyze them. If you had invested in Bitcoin back in 2015, its value would have been Rs 42,14,597.87($57,225.50). That’s what it’s currently priced at. Times are changing readers, so make the most out of it.
- You’ll be safe from inflation:- The biggest problem with traditional money that it’s always going down in value, this isn’t by accidents the governments and the central banks do by cutting/increasing the interest rates, especially in uncertain times, the best example of this is the pandemic that’s going on currently at times like these there’s the shortage of money, so the governments print more money, this is where the Federal Reserve in the US pumped in $2 Trillion into the economy. But the problem is the value of the money goes down as it doesn’t catch up with the prizes of goods and services. And this phenomenon is called Inflation. This is where smart people invest in gold as it holds its value even during the financial crisis, and so do cryptocurrencies; just like gold is not created as short-term fixed financial problems, that means that cryptos also hold their value and its inflation-proof.
- It’s really easy to get into the world of cryptocurrencies; all you need is a smartphone or a laptop with an internet connection; it’s way easier to get into as compared to any other traditional investments as it has high liquidity and there isn’t any high threshold to get into it, whereas in stocks or bonds you need a high amount of money to get started, but with crypto, you can start with less amount of money too, as you don’t need much paperwork and no middleman involved just get an account, get a wallet, and track your assets. It’s so easy and hassle-free.
- No one controls your money:- That’s the beauty of cryptocurrency, it’s decentralized, and that’s what I like about it as it’s controlled by nobody and everybody. Whereas traditional money is centralized and it’s controlled by the governments and central banks. An example of it is Bitcoin as its codes are stored in 1000 nodes, and tens of thousands of people voluntarily run bitcoin software on their computers and that’s where the actual beauty lies as there’s no central authority behind it, and all users can effectively retain control, and it’s in everyone’s interest to keep the network active and healthy and running this way has all the advantages over banks, like banks, are open only on business hours, whereas blockchains technologies are opened 24X7 all the time. Bank transactions take 48 hours, whereas blockchain technologies transactions take around 15 minutes to an hour. Superfast.
So, readers, you might be thinking, how should I start investing in cryptocurrencies and which platform is suitable for it, well no worries, I have come across a trading platform where you can buy and sell cryptos, and it’s really easy to get started, and it’s called Binance.
What is Binance?
Binance is an exchange that provides a trading platform for cryptocurrencies with various tools and options where you can buy and sell your cryptocurrencies. Just like stocks, where you can buy or sell the stocks in an exchange via Demat & Trading account. Similarly, even the crypto space has a trading platform just like stocks.
As of 2018, it had a market capitalization of $1.3 Trillion. And as of April 2021, Binance is the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world in terms of trading volume. There are about 2 Billion trade volumes every day and a transaction of about 1,400,000+ every second. They also have certain features like,
- Binance Academy:-
That trains people and educates them about cryptocurrencies, how to get started, and how to buy and sell cryptocurrencies using the Binance platform. They have really fun and animated videos on cryptocurrencies. And it’s free for every cryptocurrency enthusiastic.
2. Binance Charity:-
An interesting feature of Binance where you can donate to various charities not by using traditional money but by using cryptocurrencies. They have this feature called the Binance Charity Wallet, where it tracks the flow of financial transactions with transparency. There were around 533 donations that were made and a total of 1679.689 BTC=$96,061,432.72 crypto donations.
3. Binance Info:-
It’s the Wikipedia of cryptocurrency on the Binance platform. It gives some amazing information on cryptocurrencies like their price, returns in the last 7 days, market cap, volume, 24hrs percentage of return, and the circulating supply, as in how many coins were distributed in the market. A great tool that gives insights into the cryptocurrency markets.
4. Binance Labs:-
It’s a tool or a platform that impact fund and an initiative to incubate, invest in, and empower blockchain projects.
5. Binance Launchpad:-
It’s a platform where entrepreneurs can launch their crypto projects, and this platform provides all kinds of services, right from advisory services from before the token is even issued to post-listing and marketing support. The goal is to allow project teams to build projects and make them into a product and while they handle the marketing side of it.
6. Binance Research:-
This again is a great feature platform that provides insights about the cryptocurrency space, it provides research reports about various cryptocurrencies and makes the investor aware of it, and also provides a detailed analysis report of the digital currency industry.
7. Trust Wallet:-
It’s a great tool and the official wallet of Binance, as it’s one of the most secured and trusted crypto wallets where you can buy, store, collect NFTs, and exchange & earn cryptos. There are over 5 million+ active users.
8. Binance Chain:-
It’s an online community-driven blockchain software system with developers and contributors from all over the world. Binance DEX is a decentralized exchange feature that’s developed on the top of the Binance Chain. It’s a transactional indicator that gives insights or info like how many cryptocurrencies were bought, sold, placed orders, and canceled orders.
Readers aren’t this platform great, as it’s one of the most useful platforms out there to get started and embark on the journey of investing in cryptos. So, if you want to get started and want to explore more and get into the cryptocurrency world, then Binance is the platform for you. All you have to do is simply go to www.binance.com and register within a minute or a 2 and start your journey.
What are the trading fees?
Binance has an affordable fee of 0.1% for most trading activities. You also get an additional 25% discount if you pay for your trading fees using Binance coin. And also, you can trade in the derivatives market by using Binance. Like if you want to trade in the derivatives segment, then the fee is around 0.02%, and you get an additional 10% discount if you pay for your trading fees using Binance coin. Yes, there’s a derivative trading segment, just like you have a derivative segment in the stock market, where you can trade in futures, options, and forwards; this feature is also there in the cryptocurrency space too. The world of finance is really interesting and exciting as there are many ways to make money. Plus, it also provides margin and leverage. Before we dive further, let’s understand,
What is Binance Coin?
Binance coin is a cryptocurrency created by Binance. Binance funded its initial operations through an ICO, a crowdfunded mechanism where every investor received tokens known as Binance Coin or BNB, and it was used for trading other cryptocurrencies or used to receive discounts on Binance’s trading fees. Currently, the Binance Coin is trading at $667.13, but when the ICO of the Binance coin was launched, it opened at a price of $0.01. The reason why the Binance coin was launched is that Binance wanted more funds, and they found the best way to get funding is via ICO. ICOs are like the IPOs in the stock market, where they take the company public, and in ICO, the cryptocurrency goes public so that investors can invest in the cryptocurrency market. Even you can launch your own cryptocurrency, and it’s a pretty lengthy process, where a lot of research, coding are required to build a cryptocurrency.
Is Binance there in India?
The Government of India is concerned about Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies; it becomes a legal tender, then it might depreciate the rupee. India is yet to take a decision on cryptocurrencies being a legal tender as the government is still skeptical about it. Changpeng Zhao, the CEO of Binance, has said that,
“Banning the use of cryptocurrencies as a currency is impossible.”
Cryptocurrency as a legal tender in India will take time. You can’t directly buy cryptocurrency using Binance, but you can invest in cryptocurrency indirectly with the help of WazirX. In 2019, Binance acquired WazirX, India’s most trusted Bitcoin exchange, to make crypto accessible to Indian users. It’s very easy all you have to do is,
- Create an account on Binance and WazirX.
- Then log in to Binance.
- On the home page, select wallet and then choose WazirX.
- Then click Connect WazirX on the pop-up window that shows up.
- Click login via Binance on the webpage that shows after the previous step.
- Your email id on Binance will be used to access WazirX. Click continue.
That’s it you are done with it, and you can buy bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies using INR, where you don’t have to hassle much and don’t have to use USD. It’s so simple and easy to use. And if you don’t have a WazirX account, then you have to log in to your Binance account and then visit Binance-WazirX wallet connect.
Reviews of Binance:-
Overall the Binance platform is a really good platform to trade cryptocurrencies and provides good service. They provide exchanges like Binance Exchange that allows users to exchange fiat for Bitcoin or other coins, then there’s P2P trading that connects the buyers and sellers of cryptocurrency directly, and it facilitates fiat payments with a wide variety of payment options that depend on the user’s preference. And also has a great debit/credit card service, where they have partnered with Simplex to supply a brokerage service via debit or credit card, and it allows to buy 31 different cryptocurrencies with a credit card, but this service comes with a high price of 3.5% fee for USD purchases.
Binance provides a really good trading platform where you can easily buy and sell cryptocurrencies, and it’s user-friendly. And it has an impressive cryptocurrency selection available for trading in conjunction with Bitcoin, Ether, BNB, XRP, and Tether trading pairs. It has spot trading where users can select between three different interfaces based on their experience level. It allows a quick view of the market and trading pairs, making it easier to switch pairs. The advanced pair gives users access to advanced charting tools. Margin trading is also there in the Binance platform, where you can trade with leverage up to 10x on some coins. Users can choose between cross margin, which risks your entire margin account balance, and isolated margin, which restricts your potential losses to a single trading pair.
There’s an option of trading in the derivatives segment where you can trade in futures and options, where you can leverage up to 125x, which means that traders can multiply their profits by 125, which is more than any other platform. You can trade futures and options on various cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ripple, and many more. The trading fee for futures and options on Binance is 0.04% on any trade.
Binance also provides leverage; as I have mentioned before, it includes this option called Binance Smart Pool, which allows the miners to contribute to a larger mining group that splits rewards. And also provides users with hands-free optimization. It also provides loans called Crypto Loans that offer loans to the users in the form of BUSD and USDT, which is collateralized with BTC, or ETH. It’s one of the easy ways to get your hands on stable coins while maintaining exposure to your cryptocurrency holdings and avoiding the taxable event of selling the crypto. Isn’t this platform interesting readers.
Conclusion:-
In short, the Binance platform is really good and a user-friendly platform for beginners. So if you are planning to embark on the journey of cryptocurrency, then I recommend you to create an account on Binance as it doesn’t require much paperwork, and it’s hassle-free. And if you are an experienced trader or a cryptocurrency investor, then this platform is for you too, as there are options like derivatives segment and leverage.
But if you are a beginner and want to invest in cryptocurrencies, then the first thing I would recommend you guys is learning about it, read blogs on cryptocurrency and blockchain, read books on cryptocurrency, educate yourself about it, and then start analyzing the crypto markets, before you put your money into it, because there are people who have not only made money from cryptocurrencies but have lost money too.
So, I highly recommend, learn about it as much as possible. And wishing you all the best. And I also recommend two books that you should read to understand cryptocurrencies; the first one is The Internet of Money by Andreas Antonopoulos, and the second one is Blockchain Revolution:- How the technology behind bitcoin is changing money, business, and the world by Don Tapscott.