Bitcoin is the most commonly known name of cryptocurrency however, people associate that name with all 'digital' currency.  

There are dozens of different types of digital currency besides Bitcoin. Two other more commonly known coins are Ethereum and Litecoin.  These 3 coins, along with the dozens of coins in the digital world all represent a form of technology   

The main coins mentioned above are technology based on the 'blockchain'.  Blockchains represent programming to complete transactions.  Bitcoin was the first to introduce this technology and other coins thereafter use their own programming and the developers, miners and traders of those coins to do different things like process data faster, be a payment platform for mobile games and gaming sites, catalogs for real estate listings in Japan and interestingly enough, one has been created as an unhackable movie rental service.

Though all the coins in the digital realm have lofty goals not all are of equal value.

Understanding Bitcoin

1 Full, whole Bitcoin is currently near $8500 dollars and consist of 100 million individual units called Satoshis.

To put it in perspective of purchasing 20 dollars worth of Bitcoin through Coinbase for example, you would receive roughly .《notice the decimal .00250000 Satoshis depending on the current price of Bitcoin and fees associated from where you purchase your Bitcoin.

Fees

When you create your first account with an exchange such as Coinbase, and you want to transfer the coins you just bought to an exchange such as poloniex.com or any other place there will nearly always be a small Satoshi fee for the actual sending of coins.

Account Creation

Coinbase has an easy login system and once you link a debit or credit card to your account by verifying 2 small deposits, you will be instantly able to buy.

Once you have Bitcoin, Litecoin or Ethereum in your new digital wallet you can store it in hopes of it gaining value over time, use it to purchase thongs at a growing number of business who now accept crypto currency or take the coins to an exchange to buy, sell, margin trade and loan out digital currency 

The site I most frequently use is Poloniex though I have opened accounts on Bittrex, Bitfinex and Cryptopia. Though Cryptopia has shut down users from accessing their accounts and withdrawing assets under the guise of 'liquidating'. There is always an inherent risk putting all of your crypto eggs in one basket and use your discretion on what exchanges to use.At poloniex.com, when you transfer your coins here you can buy full or even partial amounts of other crypto coins. Remember those Satoshis?  Poloniex allows buying and selling with a minimum of .00010000 Satoshi.

Lending

Currently, Poloniex allows non-U.S usersto lend out digital currency.  There may be other sites that allow you to lend digital coins. I just haven't dug into it at this time.  At Poloniex, there are currently 12 coins available to lend. Granted, the percentages in interest can be pretty low but making a little extra on what you have is always a bonus.

Free Crypto

There are numerous sites called 'faucets' that give people small amounts of crypto currency, (usually after entering your coin address and entering a captcha. The caveat to these sites is, to receive a payout you must meet a minimum balance threshold in order to receive the 'drips' from the faucet.

 One really great faucet is located at 

https://freebitco.in/?r=1480656

Not only does this site give you a small amount of Bitcoin every hour, but also gives you 4.08% daily compounded interest. However I strongly recommend against gambling on that site or taking an offer to win more, but to each there own.

Mining

Many crypto coins are created by mining. The value behind Bitcoin and other currencies somewhat comes from the actual mining itself. Since computer power and power consumption are used to confirm coin transactions, a value is given to the 'digital' currency created through mining. Some newer digital coins have software that allows mining software in the background of your browser or even apps on your smart phone.

Initial Coin Offerings or ICOs

ICOs are not unlike initial public offerings in the stock market.  A company puts together a pre sell of their new coin at a low rate before the coin is even public or tradable.These do carry the same types of risks as the stock market so it's always wise to read more into an ICO and decide for yourself.

 One in particular that caught my eye is a new coin called Electroneum.  They had a solid whitepaper and for less than a penny a coin I put in $70 dollars and received 9307 coins. Currenty the price per ETN is hovering around a third of a penny though it has reached highs of 10 cents each.

Right now the big news with Eletroneum is their partnership with Amazon and Monero Blockchains and the yet to be functioning mobile miner. A big draw for Electroneum is the ability for anyone with a smart phone to mine coins and introduce more people to the digital currency world. With big names vested into Electroneum many coin holders, myself included are waiting for the bugs to be worked out.

The link for Electroneum can be found here.

https://my.electroneum.com/join/CE4825

Security

Any password I have for cryptocurrency sites is one I don't have saved anywhere else.  Always write down passwords for sites and keep them safely stored.  .Don't fall for sites claiming they can give you crazy amounts of interest.  It's a scam. You'll send some coin and hear nothing back.  Money =GONE.  Sites claiming that if you send Bitcoin, they will use their computers and mine FOR you with THEIR 'Miners.'  This too, is a scam.

There are specially designed USB external hard drives that can be purchased as an offline vault. Your online wallets you create are the same as the ones we carry.  If you're careless, someone will pick your pocket.

Pricing 

Remember that as the price of a coin goes up and down, the ultimate value that other coins are based on is Bitcoin or 'satoshi' value.  So as the price of Bitcoin goes up and down, so does a possible coin you may want to purchase.  So it's wise to develop a keen  eye values can change, and where to find opportunity. 

Buying

When you initially want to buy in to say, Coinbase as you create a count take a look at the current price right there of the currency you want to buy.

As of 9/27

Bitcoin @ 4100 Each

Ethereum @ 290 Each On the low side in my opinion

Litecoin @ 54 Also low in my opinion

As of 6/4/19 Bitcoin price is just under 8 thousand @7,938

These prices could change at any time.  When you're all set and ready to make the plunge and buy, look at the price. If Bitcoin is near 8  thousand, you may want to wait.  Depending on the plan YOU develop, you may just go and buy Litecoins, take them to an exchange and develop YOUR plan.Currently one of the biggest drivers of the massive increase in price is that on November 16th there is a Hard Fork occurring to Bitcoin.  

Hard Forks in digital currency, to put it simply is the change to the technology protocol in a given coin.  This change sometimes results in the creation of a new crypto coin.  In the case of this upcoming hard fork for Bitcoin, it will result in a completely new coin which will give the holders of any amount of Bitcoin an equal amount of the new digital currency that’s created.

Sending

When sending your crypto currency to make a payment, transfer to another wallet or to an exchange, always triple check the address you're sending it to the right place.

Stay tuned to Blox News for more information to getting started in investing in digital currency and creating your own custom portfolio in digital currency

We will have much more information created in the future of digital currency, information on new coins and technology being developed, how businesses can accept digital currency, and links that will help you find small amounts of free digital currency.