Learn Crypto(currencies)

I've found myself on Twitter talking to and convincing a lot of people about the use and importance of cryptocurrencies. Given the recent drama involving card providers and Steam, there's been more discourse about the duopoly of Visa and Mastercard and how they can basically censor content on their own. And while you have half a million different payment apps such as Paypal, Wise, Venmo, etc, they all have major flaws. As a consequence, more and more people have been mentioning cryptocurrencies, and I kinda wanted to explain my perspective and clear some of the myths and misconceptions people hold.

While I will use "crypto" often, please remember this is not an introduction to cryptography.

What are cryptocurrencies?

Unfortunately, in the crypto-craze around 2020, many people were exposed to cryptocurrencies for the first time. And it was a very shitty first time. Most people joining the space for the first time viewed crypto the same way as stocks - nothing but numbers on a screen which go up and down - time it right (or with an Elon tweet) and you become rich.

That's not what crypto is meant to be (but who's gonna stop the tech bros from polluting more amazing technology). Crypto is basically a token which itself has no intrinsic value. Crypto exists on top of a blockchain, which is a sequence of all transactions over the "network" since its creation. Transactions are validated by a lot of computers around the world running some computation on the blockchain to mathematically prove its integrity (eg: you didn't transfer 10 crypto from an account holding 2).

This is not an exhaustive explanation of crypto/blockchain tech, and there are plenty of resources out there if you want to get really technical. But we don't care about tech, we care about escaping a financial duopoly.

Some Terminology

• Cryptocurrency - a virtual token existing on a blockchain.
• Blockchain - the list of all events in the cryptocurrency network and the basis for its mathematical validity.
• Network - like a namespace but for crypto. For example, Bitcoin and Ethereum exist on different networks and you cannot send one crypto from one network to another network.
• Crypto mining - the use of computers to enable transactions by validating the blockchain. Users are rewarded with some crypto for validating it.
• Wallet - basically an wallet with pub and priv keys which is used to hold and transact with crypto.

"I will lose all my money"

There have been many scams and pump-and-dump schemes in the past so I understand if you're worried about losing everything. However, as long as you go through trusted exchanges, and don't share your wallet keys with anyone, you're likely to be safe. Something to be more wary of is computer viruses, some of which can steal your wallet keys. For that, don't install untrusted/sketchy browser extensions (especially when your wallet is a browser extension, more on that later) and just general internet safety!

"Isn't crypto volatile"

If you look at the value of Bitcoin over the past few years, I won't blame you for saying that you can risk 50% of your money which could disappear overnight the next time Trump announces tarriffs. However, there are many more cryptocurrencies which don't have such price fluctuations. These are called stablecoins and are pegged to a fixed real-world value, typically the dollar. One example is USDT - Tether The way these work is by using algorithms to create and destroy tokens in real-time such that supply and demand is kept constant.

"Isn't crypto bad for the environment"

I will never forgive Bitcoin and its toxic-ahh community for fucking over the environment just for their big ego and arrogance. However, there are many other cryptocurrencies which exist out there on different networks which are way more sustainable and environmentally-friendly. Different networks can use different algorithms or different ways of operating the blockchain (which I shall not get into here) and the second-biggest crypto/network Ethereum switched to one of these alternatives back in 2022.

"Is crypto anonymous?"

This is a fun one. Nearly all crypto are pseudo-anonymous. This is because, after all, for the network to be decentralised, the whole list of transactions (the blockchain) is public. So your transactions are visible to the public. However, you don't have your name written on every transaction so a random person from some random country won't be able to see "This person with this name did this transaction to this other person of that other name with that much crypto transferred". Instead, the only identifiable information is your public address. So, if I know your wallet address, I can see all your transactions. However, I do not need to know your name or email or other more sensitive information.

An alternative crypto, called Monero, promises full anonymity however. I will talk more on Monero later :)

"But crypto is used by <insert bad people here>"

I understand where people come from. After all, crypto, due to its level of anonymity, is used by cybercriminals for things like ransomware, extortion, online drug dealing, weapons, fake IDs, CSAM etc etc. If there's a bad thing you can pay for, chances are crypto has been used. But in my opinion, this is a flawed stance.

I mean, the internet has been used for all sorts of awful crime yet you still use it. Email is used by bad people. Signal and Telegram are used by bad people. And the "dark web" (TOR) is definitely used for crime - yet it too, like cryptocurrency, is one of the few remaining places on the internet for true freedom and is thus used for whistleblowing, activism, and other forms of resistance against oppressive regimes.

Okay, I'm done clearing misconceptions, let me share some recommendations!

In order to buy cryptocurrencies, I go through Binance as it is one of the few which actually cover my area of the world. It is also fairly trustworthy and one of the largest exchanges in the world. However, immediately after buying the crypto, I withdraw to my own personal wallet. If you leave it in the exchange, then the exchange can theoretically do whatever they want with it. Not your wallet keys? Not your crypto.
It is not yours until it is in your own wallet.

As for wallet, I have been using Atomic Wallet. It is a standalone app and supports practically every cryptocurrency in existence. I chose this over more popular options such as Metamask, which lives as a browser extension (I don't trust the security of that) and is really geared towards Ethereum, which I do not use for its high transfer fees.

My cryptocurrency of choice vary but it's mainly Litecoin. While Litecoin uses the more energy-intensive Proof of Work consensus mechanism, the algorithm used is more memory-intensive than Bitcoin's which is GPU-intensive. What is cool about Litecoin is that transactions are very cheap, compared to Bitcoin and Ethereum.
An honorable mention is the Tron network - which has the Tron cryptocurrency, and its own USDT. (Just an FYI, you cannot send USDT from Tron network to the Ethereum network). Tron has negligible transaction fees and is insanely fast. However, Tron isn't necessarily as popular as Litecoin so may not be available as tipping/payment method.

I also wanted to touch on Monero briefly. While I'm not totally familiar with how it works, it promises confidentiality and untraceability. Monero uses PoW (same as Litecoin & Bitcoin) but uses a different algorithm which is way more focused on CPU. This is nice as it is resistant to dedicated ASICs which many massive miners use for Bitcoin. This helps decentralisation and makes sure that the average person can contribute to the network.

Oh and finally, cryotocurrency is what allows me to get my estrogen :3