Bitcoins are all the rage at the moment but there are alternative coins that are slowly coming up in the trenches. One standout is Ripple. Over the past couple of weeks, it has jumped from .22 cents a coin to approximately $3.20 a coin and it continues to fluctuate. There is a lot of controversy surrounding this coin but, we will leave that for another article. Right now, let’s discuss how to get involved in all the altcoin investment action.
First and foremost, you cannot invest in Ripple with cash, at least not at this point; tomorrow may be a totally different story. The reason is that a lot of the exchanges don’t want to deal with the regulations related to the US dollar (USD). There are several different processes to going about investing in alternative coins but, here is mine.
From Coinbase to the Exchange
You sign up for your Coinbase account and invest USD or cash, also known in the crypto world as Fiat, into bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, or Bitcoin Cash. Once the money posts—this will take anywhere from a week to a week-and-a-half—you are ready to send it to an exchange.
I use GDax, which is also owned by Coinbase. This keeps the fees significantly lower than if you were to send the crypto to a non-affiliated exchange. Once your coins are on GDax, you transfer them to the crypto exchange of your choice. I use Binance. Again, you will need to register for your exchange account, which can take anywhere from a few days to a couple of weeks.
When transferring, you want to always deposit and withdraw, the same exact coin. Not doing this correctly can result in the loss of your crypto. Example: you buy bitcoin on Coinbase, withdraw bitcoin from Coinbase, deposit it to GDax, withdraw bitcoin from GDax, and deposit it into your exchange account, in my case, Binance. This will take anywhere from an hour to several depending on how backed up the system is. The bitcoin will show up in your exchange account and you are ready to purchase altcoins.
Every exchange works differently so Google a few YouTube tutorials to see how the different exchanges work. I came across YouTuber B-Roots, who helped me with my process.
The biggest tip from all of this is to pay extremely close attention when moving your crypto—small mistakes can result in the loss of your coins—and watch the market.