Like many of you, I started with Bitcoin. Coinbase is the most “User Friendly” exchange that I have seen, so naturally I bought some Etherium and Litecoin as well. I was ecstatic at the new possibilities opening before my eyes, and also filled with regret I did not purchase sooner. I needed more money to buy more! I had used all the money I could afford already…. my husband and I started to sell things we didn’t need. I then asked my father for a loan for a new investment, with promise to pay him back in full. I am good on my word. He finally settled on gifting me an early Christmas present. But then I fumbled. He asked me what the investment was and I fumbled with words and explanations, managing to confuse both of us and leave me seriously questioning “What even is the Blockchain?” and “How does it work?”.
I went on a rampage researching high and low about everything I could on all the cryptocurrencies and the Blockchain. Then I found Ripple, also known in the currencies as XRP. It was like an ethereal light from Heaven was shining upon it. It is a very simple, effective way to send money to anyone in the world with minimal fees. It has partnerships with an extremely long list of Banks, Credit Unions, etc (here), insuring it’s success. Ripple (XRP) is currently starting to be used by Countries to send transactions between each other, such as Japan and South Korea (here). To protect it from disruption and interference of intentions, XRP is designed to have a fraction of it destroyed with every transaction (here). Not to mention the new partnership projection of Amazon, Airbnb, and Uber (here). Basically, I was sold. And so began my search to get it.
Image 1 – Ripple (XRP) charts. Source: https://coinmarketcap.com
I tried to get on multiple exchanges. Between my beginner level attempts and the flood of traffic to the exchange sites and all the new people submitting registrations, I had no luck. Site after site was crashing, slow beyond belief, and telling me my identity could not be verified, I was lost in frustration. I gave up that day. The next day I looked and Ripple had DOUBLED!
Oh was I furious, this time my anger drove me to fight until I finally had my XRP in MY WALLET! I would not give up.
Finally Binance saved my life and all my frustration as it let me register, everything got confirmed, and it was so easy. I definitely should have tried that one the day before. I then had to figure out how to buy it without USD. So then began my journey on learning how to send currencies from one wallet to the next. Coinbase, wallet, send, scan QR code, Binance wallet address, being very careful that I am indeed sending Ether coins to and Ether wallet deposit, SEND. Wait…wait… my heart was in my chest, what had I done!? Where was my Etherium. What had I done!?
I waited and nothing, not even a status of confirmations showed up, just “no deposit history”. I was so panicked, naturally I started to Google. I then found etherscan, copied my wallet code and found my transaction on the Blockchain. It was magical. I finally understood all the talk about “the Blockchain is a public ledger, nothing can be lost, destroyed or changed without full record of all of it.” I found my transaction. I found the sent address, the amount sent, the address it was sent to, the status report of everything in between and even the tax ID for the transaction. I then was able to email Binance Support with my wallet code and explanation that there was indeed a trackable error on their end and I would like to please see my deposit in my deposit history. Within a second of sending the email, I got a confirmation of my request, then 30 seconds later a Deposit Confirmation email from my Binance account.
I then was able to trade my Etherium into XRP, and I was golden, and extremely proud of myself with a whole new experience and my knowledge on the Blockchain expanding. I now trust that at any point in time I can track anything I have bought, sold, sent and my money is safe with the Blockchain as a brand new ledger that is that catalyst for the future as we know it.
Wow, I literally just had the exact same experience, settling on Coinbase & Binance. Spooky!!! Except I chose Litecoin instead of Ethereum… fees are also low, but the wallet transfers are about 2x faster (~30 minutes instead of ~1 hour). Less time = less anxiety and more trading potential. 🙂 Just whatever you do: do NOT send Bitcoin from Coinbase to Binance! I had to learn that one the hard way. 14 bucks to transfer $36! (must be the miner’s union fees? Lol!)
Trade on, my friend… see you on the exchange.
Ripple’s price is going to skyrocket once major US banks & big retailers like Amazon decide to incorporate XRP into their payment transfer systems. Also most importantly once Coinbase announces they are adding it to their trading platform the price per Ripple will go up to $2-$3 each at least. Buy some Ripple now while it’s still less than a dollar. I found the BEST and quickest way to get Ripple is through Binance exchange here: https://www.binance.com/?ref=13003856