I did it… I bitcoined

Congrats on the move, it’s never too late. ONLY INVEST MONEY YOU CAN AFFORD TO LOSE.

Invest in your knowledge, learn about Bitcoin as much as you can. The Bitcoin Standard book is a must read.

Also, **don’t reply any DMs**, promising to buy Bitcoin from them or get rich quick and read this short guide, please:

**Price wise, nobody knows what the price will be tomorrow, nor next week.**

**Try “Bitcoin ONLY” strategy for at least first year**, you’ll sleep much better. Newcomers lose so much money, holding garbage tokens just because someone on YT told them to.

Going DCA is probably the best approach, IMHO.
Bitcoin to me, is a savings account. If I have some spare cash, I exchange it for SATs. Once a week works best for me, but I’m getting paid weekly. If there’s a 10% drop in the price since my last buy, I usually double my buy. This [DCA calculator](https://dcabtc.com/) might help to decide what will work best for you. In a few years, even $10 dollars a month can make a massive difference.

Now, don’t buy a fake Bitcoin at etoro or similar, get the real thing. Register at a proper exchange and buy real Bitcoin. Any of these will do [https://bitcoin-only.com/get-bitcoin](https://bitcoin-only.com/get-bitcoin)

Install (or buy – in case you’re getting Bitcoin in Thousands of $) one or more of these wallets.

A few good wallet choices:

[https://blockstream.com/green/](https://blockstream.com/green/) – Top Security Features, Open Source and Non-Custodial

[https://bluewallet.io](https://bluewallet.io/) – excellent, easy to use wallet, Open Source and Non-Custodial

[https://electrum.org](https://electrum.org/) – Solid choice, Open Source and Non-Custodial, one of the oldest and most trusted Bitcoin Wallets.

Lightning wallets to consider (cheaper and faster transactions, great for very small amounts):

[https://phoenix.acinq.co/](https://phoenix.acinq.co/) – Phoenix

[https://blixtwallet.github.io/](https://blixtwallet.github.io/) – Blixt – rapidly becoming my favourite LN wallet

[https://breez.technology](https://breez.technology/) – Breez – excellent POS for small business owners as well as integrated Bitrefill or LN Pizza

[https://muun.com/](https://muun.com/) – Muun, simple and elegant LN wallet

Hardware Wallets (to store larger amounts):

[https://trezor.io/](https://trezor.io/) – Easy to use, no matter how new in Bitcoin you’re.

[https://coldcardwallet.com/](https://coldcardwallet.com/) – ColdCard is currently the safest and most recommended here.

There’s also Ledger, but I wouldn’t recommend as not fully open source, keep and already leaked customers’ details, etc. Whatever wallet you’ll decide to buy, purchase DIRECTLY from the manufacturer, no eBay, no Amazon.

Make sure the device is NOT preset, and you will generate your own seed words. Write them down on any piece of paper as well as the receiving address. Now wipe the wallet and generate a new wallet. If the seed words are different than the first set, you’re safe to use it.

Find an option to set a passphrase and use it. This will boost the security to another level. Never store the seed words and passphrase together. Use a different medium if possible. If somebody finds both, they’ll be able to steal your coin.

This little device will hold the keys to your money, that’s the reason why you have to be a bit more careful. Also, no worries, if it breaks, you can replace it – as long as you keep your seed words and passphrase(s) safe.

Welcome to the rabbit hole and don’t hesitate to ask if you have any questions anytime during your Bitcoin journey.

Well done! We all start somewhere mate, I wouldn’t take the exchange storage criticism personally. I also used cdc for my first purchase, but as time has gone on I’ve felt more comfortable with using my own wallet and moving funds off exchanges.

As soon as you’re comfortable doing so, move your BTC off CDC. Always keep reading and learning!

Ah yes, let the fomo flow through you…

Congrats on buying $240 worth of Bitcoin in the CDC app. If you also sell it in there then you’ll have $230 left.

CDC spread is ridiculous.

Get cold storage. Not you keys not ur coin. These assets are not protected if they go belly up.

+1 for buying BTC on a schedule but -1 for using Crypto.com app 😛

!lntip 500

Here is some lightning bitcoin that you can tip like normal. Welcome to the future of payments.

Horrible idea to leave it on a doomed exchange like crypto.com.

Get a cold wallet!

Why would we call you dumb? That’s a very good move and I think great timing.

Just remember to take your coins off of the exchange into a cold wallet.

I assume you’re in the US, which means you have access to Strike.

Strike is better. No shitcoin casino

If you already have CashApp, use that. It’s genuinely the easiest way to do it since you’ve already done everything you need to use it. Buy Bitcoin then transfer out it of CashApp to your wallet. It’s as easy as copying and pasting, literally

Research and familiarize yourself with the term NYKNYC!

Lots of great answers here OP.

Main lessons:
– Use Bitcoin only exchanges to buy (Strike, Swan, River, CashApp). Crypto.com is fine *for now* but don’t leave funds there for long amounts of time

– In the interim, a self-custodial hot wallet on your phone like BlueWallet is better than holding on an exchange, but it still is an unsafe way to store BTC, relative to HW wallets.

– Learn to hardware wallet. Again, Bitcoin only HW wallets like Coinkite’s Coldcard or the DIY SeedSigner. Operate these through trusted wallet apps like Sparrow, Samurai and BlueWallet

– Later lessons: run a full node; use lightning; run lightning node; mixing your coins for anonymity; non-KYC BTC; UTXO management

Congrats!! Look into self custody options, and I personally wouldn’t recommend [crypto.com](https://crypto.com) but take your time looking into some other more bitcoin centric exchanges (ideally non-custodial). Take your time with it though, no need to rush 🙂

Congrats on buying your first satoshi’s!
Please take your BTC into your own custody. Too many people have lost their hard earned bitcoins because of greedy/scammy exchanges.

Not your keys not your coin

Yes you can!

I know so many people that talk and talk and never take the first plunge. There are days of euphoria and days of doubt, make a plan and stay the course!

Good job now get it off the exchange and into a wallet.

[crypto.com](https://crypto.com)…. please transfer off there to a hardware wallet.

Immediately .

Welcome! Not dumb at all. We all start somewhere. My first purchase back in the day was on Bitstamp, you could still buy BTC with credit cards back then.

Only advise, make sure you withdraw to self-custody!

Check the prices, CDC BTC/USD rates aren’t competitive when compared to other exchanges (ie Coinbase or Kraken). Also be sure to move your stack off exchange; maybe not every week, but at least once a month given your purchase schedule / amount.

Welcome

Cold Storage Please