Each time you create a new wallet, save the seed words and put them in a safe place.
ONLY YOU have to know them, so don’t write them on any paper on your desk.
Even if you would use a hardware wallet (that will sign your transactions) you will still have to save its backup seed, in case is lost, stolen, destroyed, damaged.
-Use an offline password manager (not online cloud) like KeePass or Bitwarden, to store all these wallets info. Keep that password manager on an encrypted USB with at least a copy.
+Use an offline password manager (not online cloud) like KeePass or Bitwarden, to store all these wallets info. Keep that password manager on an encrypted USB with at least a copy.
I know that the first instinct for anybody new to Bitcoin will be to jump on using a Lightning Network (LN) capable wallet. But is important that you will start form the base, knowing the base layer of Bitcoin, onchain. LN is layer 2, on top of onchain.
@@ -127,39 +127,49 @@Don’t go and buy from first exchange you find on Google. Educate yourself first about all the aspects of each place from where you can acquire some BTC.
In this phase you don’t need too many BTC, just a little to understand the process. Important is to get some sats (the smallest unit of a BTC, 1BTC = 100M sats). So buy a fraction of BTC, like 1-5-10M sats. Depends how much you are comfortable.
-Here is a curated list of places from where you can buy easily some sats.
+Here is a curated list of places from where you can buy easily some sats.
Once you buy BTC, withdraw them into your newly created wallets with Electrum and/or Sparrow. You can create one or more wallets and open them in the same time, moving sats from one to another (paying to yourself) and learn all the process.
Get comfortable doing these transactions in order to move on! Many people lost their BTC exactly because they ignored this step and didn’t paid attention.
-C - Learn how to use more wallet apps -So once you learned the base how to use an onchain wallet, making some small transactions in and out, is good to start learning about Bitcoin Mempool. This will help you later when you will start using Lightning Network and run a LN node.
+ +So once you learned the base how to use an onchain wallet, making some small transactions in and out, is good to start learning about Bitcoin Mempool. This will help you later when you will start using Lightning Network and run a LN node.
You can go on practicing a bit more with onchain wallets, even on your mobile. But with small amounts, don’t jump into big transactions, you are NOT well prepared yet.
I know you want to jump into start buying all BTC you can, but you need to be well prepared for that, any small mistake could cost you a fortune.
-Why you should learn to use more wallet apps? -Because each one will have its own features, user interface (UI), specific use case and you can explore more options. Find the one that is more suitable for you. Always use and have prepared at least 2 wallet apps.
-For this step you can use (desktop and mobile): -Electrum | Bluewallet | Green | Nunchuk | Hexa | Samourai | Wasabi | OBW | Muun
-Here I wrote another guide about all these wallets and how to get started.
-D - Secure your BTC, build your 3 levels stash -OK, now you are pretty comfortable using different wallet apps, you already bought and withdraw BTC to your own wallets, you know how transactions are build, how mempool fees are applied.
+Why you should learn to use more wallet apps?
+Because each one will have its own features, user interface (UI), specific use case and you can explore more options. Find the one that is more suitable for you. Always use and have prepared at least 2 wallet apps.
+For this step you can use (desktop and mobile):
+Electrum | Bluewallet | Green | Nunchuk | Samourai | Wasabi +Here I wrote a guide for starters about how to climb the ladder of Bitcoin apps and here another one about how to get started.
+ +OK, now you are pretty comfortable using different wallet apps, you already bought and withdraw BTC to your own wallets, you know how transactions are build, how mempool fees are applied.
Is time for you to arrange the process of stacking your BTC on 3 levels and secure them properly.
-Level 1 - The Vault -This is your most secured stash, where you will keep most of your BTC, for savings, barely moving them, only when is really needed. Onchain only. Own custody only.
-This is your “central bank”, secured with “cold wallets” (not online), that could be hardware wallets or TailsOS USB, watch only, steganography, memorized etc.
-Level 2 - The Cache -This is your “commercial bank”, where most of your BTC income will be cached, managed, coin control, coinjoin, distribute to level 1 and level 3. Own custody only.
+ +
This is your most secured stash, where you will keep most of your BTC, for savings, barely moving them, only when is really needed. Onchain only. Own custody only.
+This is your “central bank”, secured with “cold wallets” (not online), that could be hardware wallets or TailsOS USB or watch only, steganography, memorized etc.
+ +This is your “commercial bank”, where most of your BTC income will be cached, managed, coin control, coinjoin, distribute to level 1 and level 3. Own custody only.
Could be onchain wallets and/or LN wallets, or BTC/LN nodes. Important is that you will not keep a large amount in these and is just temporary. This is your “liquidity”.
-Level 3 - The Spending -This is your “spending infrastructure”, your daily cash pockets. Mostly on LN wallets.
-On this level is ok if you sometimes you use custodial wallets, with small amounts, for spending is OK. Also are good for receiving because you are not revealing to the sender the final destination. Like I explained in this guide.
+ +This is your “spending infrastructure”, your daily cash pockets. Mostly on LN wallets.
+On this level is ok if you sometimes you use custodial wallets, with small amounts, for spending is OK. Also are good for receiving because you are not revealing to the sender the final destination. Like I explained in this guide.
To organize all these levels please consider reading these guides:
-How to build your BTC stash on 3 levels
-Getting started with Lightning Network
-Lightning Network wallets comparison guide
-How to start using Bitcoin wallets
-Lightning Network submarine swaps
-Bitcoin and privacy
-STAGE 3 - WHERE TO USE BITCOIN -This stage is where you really start using your bitcoin as money. Bitcoin, in order to be real money, must be liquid, must flow, must circulate.
+This stage is where you really start using your bitcoin as money. Bitcoin, in order to be real money, must be liquid, must flow, must circulate.
Yes, in the initial stage a new user would want to HODL his BTC and not spend them. Nothing wrong with that. But slowly you should migrate to the Bitcoin Circular Economy, where your dependency of fiat money tend to be zero.
So start paying your expenses in bitcoins, wherever you can.
Don’t think that you can “play the market” and by trading your bitcoins on the open market exchanges, you could obtain “fiat profits”. That’s is a myth created by sharks to fool the small fish and make them lose their money.