I became interested in bitcoin early in 2017. At the time, it was at around $900 but still a viable asset. This came after reading about the Silk Road, but it was even more intriguing because I could actually purchase a ton of bitcoins.
I would soon learn that it was much more complex than just exchanging dollars for bitcoins.
When I was still studying in Switzerland, I tried to purchase $5,000 worth of bitcoins. Unfortunately, the request was declined.
I am unsure if this was because it was my first time or if there was some level of required paperwork, but I assumed that the government made this difficult for a reason.
I would later discover that this isn’t the only reason you may be unable to purchase bitcoins in many countries. Regardless, this inspired me to learn more about bitcoin.
I was mainly focused on educating myself on what bitcoin was, how it works, and how to make money with it.
What is bitcoin?
Bitcoin (BTC) is the cryptocurrency introduced to the world in 2009 by someone using the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto.
Bitcoin was born in the wake of the financial crisis of 2008. When governments failed to regulate their financial system and the bubble eventually burst, the fiat system was left in tatters. We witnessed the emergence of Bitcoin as an alternative investment.
As I stated above, Bitcoin was introduced to the world as a means of exchange to avoid the undue volatility of the existing financial system. That’s why Bitcoin currently trades at almost $5,000 (3 December 2018), but at the time of writing, the price is $4,529 (14 December 2018).
This price gain has been achieved through a massive influx of Bitcoin people in the past few years. In my opinion, Bitcoin’s rapid rise is because of the work of Bitgo founder Will O’Brien.
The price of Bitcoin is literally the total of thousands of people spending money, businesses accepting Bitcoin, and Bitcoin supporting merchants accepting Bitcoin for payment.
This is why this article is focused on how to get started in the Bitcoin ecosystem.
How to buy bitcoin
The simplest way to buy Bitcoin (COIN) is to go to any major cryptocurrency exchanges like Coinbase, Gemini and Gemini, GDAX.
Each exchange has its own layout with different services and payment processors. Here’s the overview of each of the exchanges.
How I started using bitcoin
Initially, I used a basic platform called Coinbase.com. It was simple and convenient, and I was able to purchase bitcoin within a few minutes.
Soon I started to make purchases with bitcoin. A few years ago, Coinbase allowed you to exchange bitcoin for dollars, but soon it switched to supporting major currencies like GBP and USD.
In my opinion, Coinbase still has a great deal to offer because it was great to learn how to purchase bitcoin quickly. However, when I tried to buy bitcoin in the United States, I was redirected to Coinbase.com, and I was then redirected to their new affiliate program.
Here I was redirected to BitAngels.com. I started to learn more about BitAngels.com, which partnered with Coinbase.com to promote its affiliate program. From what I understand, the affiliate program wasn’t taking too many customers.
I read some bad reviews from people who purchased bitcoin from BitAngels, and the worst of all was that they didn’t accept my USD.
I understand that there are some issues regarding its affiliate program. There are affiliate programs in other countries that can accept dollars, but BitAngels didn’t seem to want to allow me to purchase bitcoin in USD.
I couldn’t believe that I was redirected to a website that didn’t accept the U.S. dollar. I have never seen a company that seemed so resistant to accepting a major currency.
The makings of my own website
I decided to create my own website with a similar purpose to BitAngels.com. My main concern was that I wanted to make a living with bitcoin.
It is a good idea to get at least some income from bitcoins, but you also need to understand that many people are skeptical about it, and it may take a few years for this trend to mature.
I created a website called BTC REVENUE FOR HOUSES which allows individuals to earn money by purchasing bitcoin. Bitcoin revenues are referred to as revenue for houses.
This site is not affiliated with any other affiliate programs. I decided to use the same platform as BitAngels and Coinbase, which is Coinbase.com.
I can’t say that my site is optimized for traffic. It appears only to have a few hundred monthly visitors, which isn’t very impressive.
However, it does show that there is a demand for it, so I am not complaining. I get paid per visitor, so if your website has the same type of audience, then you too can generate revenue from this type of business.
Main concerns
My biggest concern was about money. The money that I receive is used for bitcoin’s expenses.
In fact, it is typically used to pay for marketing. As I am not qualified to run a marketing campaign, I use what is available on the internet.
My website uses Google Adwords, and I generally only pay on click, so if you have a high click-through rate, you will generally get a good deal.
In my opinion, you can get the best results from Coinbase if you can find a partner or affiliate program. It will be worth it for the amount of exposure you get.
From what I have read, Bitcoin will be the new era of money, and I feel that the money that I am earning is a sign of its maturity.
