Is making a dollar while spending pesos possible? Apparently, it’s a big YES.
You’re probably one of those Filipinos abroad looking where to invest and eagerly searching for different OFW investment tips that will help you earn more.
As someone working in a foreign country, whether you’re a seaman or caregiver- we can’t deny we’re just any Filipino leaving abroad with optimism that while you’re off earning somewhere else, you believe that this won’t last long and soon you’ll be with your family and fulfilling the rest of your dreams.
Did you know that Bitcoin trading in the Philippines is probably one of the most sought-after investments that only a handful of people knows? And because of this some people who have grown interested in it grew wary on how to find and determine legit and trusted Bitcoin investment sites.
On this journey and probably a long-term relationship with Bitcoin, let’s get you started with the basics and ignite your passion for investing and saving more.
What is Bitcoin?
Started around 2009, Bitcoin (XBT) is known as a digital currency that no government has control for it since no actual coins or money actually represents it. The intriguing part of this currency is that it has no intrinsic value and is just stored on someone’s digital wallet or the user’s cloud storage. It also provides lower transaction charges than the usual online payment method we’ve all grown to know and utilize and nowadays it has been a good source for investment for different entrepreneurs and business-minded individuals.
Is investing in Bitcoin a good idea?
There have been speculations on how effective and progress would it be to have Bitcoin as a form of investment. Depending on who are you asking for an opinion, you may either receive various as to how this would work or as to how this is definitely the form of investment everyone should be studying for the next years to come?
In some first-world countries, let’s take the USA as an example, Bitcoin has been rising against the U.S. dollar for the past few years. Aside from the fact that it has achieved global popularity and network effects, Bitcoins produced were so limited, about 21,000,000, that it’s expected to have an increase in value and will stay significant on the digital currency. Nevertheless, its advantages and disadvantages give Bitcoin a good balance in the market.
5 Useful Tips as a Starter in Bitcoin investment
- Know that Bitcoin investment = Investment in Commodities:
Just like the established investments you’ve to know before, may it be from food, metals, or market exchanges, Bitcoin is also an investment in the form of cryptocurrencies. Investors use Bitcoin to make transactions on the internet and do bidding as well as selling. - Bitcoins from all around the globe are rare:
Just like any other things, such as gold, that are difficult to find, the same applies to Bitcoins for there are only 21 million Bitcoins available from all over the globe, making it more valuable and will probably cause higher for trading in the next years to come. - Invest to Lose:
This means that never gamble an amount of money you’re not ready to lose. Since it’s a risky investment yet rewarding if you’ll put a lot of effort and studying into it, always bear in mind that you should only invest what you’re willing to lose. - Save it on your Wallet:
Do not ever leave your Bitcoins on the exchange, instead have them stored in your wallet. There are different Bitcoin wallets that you may choose from and you may always opt-out for the one that you’re comfortable with and you trust. - Be Bitcoins Wise:
Do not buy Bitcoins in one trade. You may buy a specific amount every month or throughout the year so in that way,, you may minimize and monitor the Bitcoins you’ve bought and sell.
Part 1
1. Create Bitcoin Wallet
A Bitcoin wallet may be compared to your bank account wherein you may receive, store, and send your Bitcoins whenever and wherever you want. A Bitcoin wallet has two options: the software and web wallet. The software wallet for Bitcoin can be installed on your computer or mobile devices while the web wallet, on the other hand, better known as a hosted wallet, is handled by a third party. Although it’s much easier to use, it’s also advised that you fully trust your provider to protect and maintain the high levels of your coins.
Now, which Bitcoin wallet should I use?
There are several Bitcoin wallets that you may use and some of them are as follows:
- Coins.ph :
Probably one of the most popular and well-rated Bitcoin applications from all over the globe, www.coins.ph has the access to local banks, remittance networks, even merchants, thus allowing its users to do anything they’d like with their Bitcoins. Aside from its 24/7 services that users may utilize to pay bills, credit card payments, obtain mobile credits, and buying and selling of Bitcoins, Coins.ph has a door-to-door delivery service, allowing families far away and residing in rural areas to send and receive payments. - binance.com:
Although there has been a lot of Bitcoin platforms to choose from, Binance is still one of the most reliable Bitcoin wallet not only because it’s one of the oldest Bitcoin platforms, but also because its simplicity makes it more accessible and user-friendly to its users. Also with Bitcoin, users don’t need to provide sensitive information to buy and sell their Bitcoins, making it a popular and most used exchanged platform with several users. - Rebit.ph:
As a remittance and billing platform in the Philippines that is used for local and international payments, Rebit.ph has received its popularity mostly on social media platforms, making it really famous in the Philippines. Just like the previously mentioned Bitcoin platforms, Rebit’s ability to make it easy for its users to send cash from several countries at low costs. - Coinbase:
Coinbase is a web wallet known globally for its neutral design and features that are user-friendly for its new users. You can check through your email if you have received Bitcoins and you can even sell them directly from coinbase or email. And sure enough, Coinbase is one of the Bitcoin institutions that has maintained secured system making them most trusted to the Bitcoin users. - Electrum:
As a software wallet, Electrum is guaranteed to be safe at strong levels. Upon its installation, certain procedures will be taken to ensure that no matter what happens, you can always recover your Bitcoins. It also helps you to prevent any hackers from obtaining your credentials.
2. Link your Credit Card, PayPal or Debit Card
So how can you connect your Bitcoin wallet to a Credit card, PayPal, and Debit Card? With PayPal, all you have to do is to go to the ‘Add Card’ and add your Bitcoin identification card and it will automatically be connected. With your credit or debit card all you have to do is log in through the Bitcoin wallet that you’re using and then on the payment method, you can link your cards and put the credentials needed.
3. Buy BTC with money from your Credit Card or PayPal or Buy with cash
Almost all Bitcoin platforms offer the same way of purchasing BTC using your credit card, PayPal, or cash.
Buy Bitcoin using a credit card through Coins.ph
With Coins.ph, all you have to do is cash into your peso wallet and enter the desired amount you want to convert into BTC and then you’re all set to convert the PHP value to a BTC one. If you don’t have an account yet, you may like to create one and follow these procedures:
- Go to the Payment Method and choose Add Payment Method
- Choose Credit/Debit Card and enter its information
- You may proceed to buy and sell BTC through this card
- Bitcoins bought will be sent to your wallet
Buy Bitcoin using PayPal through VirWox
You may also buy BTC through PayPal by using VirWox- which is an exchange virtual currency that is popularly used by consumers of Bitcoins. After opening your free account, you may proceed on doing the following steps:
- Fill out your personal information
- Activate your account by activating your email.
- Fund your account using PayPal buy clicking deposit and choosing PayPal Express.
- You may now proceed on buying SLL that you’ll be using in exchange for Bitcoins.
- After which, you may proceed to BTC/SLL and buy Bitcoins using your SLL.
- After successfully buying, you may now ‘Withdraw’ these Bitcoins to your wallet.
Part 2
How do I earn from Bitcoin?
With all the good news and ideas spreading like a wildfire as to how you can earn Bitcoins, how do Bitcoins actually work?
1. Trading Bitcoin
You may look at trading Bitcoin as similar in trading stocks because it also has the technique at buying Bitcoins at a very low price and then, later on, sell it on a higher price. And just like any trading, one requires knowledge, expertise, patience, and a lot of practice to get around its ins and outs.
How does trading Bitcoin works?
You may have heard of MtGox or Bitstamp that are usually used as a bridge between traders. Through this platform, the user may limit their selling and purchasing of Bitcoins and at the same users will be matched when they both have the same conditions.
2. Mining Bitcoins
Bitcoin mining has become more popular in the Philippines because of how transactions are being verified and added to the ledger, thus Bitcoins are released. People have become so invested in this method since you earn even if you don’t put much money into it, just like how you can earn cryptocurrency through playing a video game or publishing content.
How does Bitcoin mining works?
Although it’s considered one of the slowest ways to earn, mining Bitcoin still works. All you have to do is have a computer that sole purpose is to decrypt Bitcoin blocks by using Bitcoin-mining software. Users may also utilize purpose-built mining rigs for a faster collection although it may cost a lot. Another way is to join a mining pool wherein a cluster of computers will do what a single computer does on decrypting Bitcoin blocks.
- Hardware Base Mining Rig:
There are two kinds of mining rig that you may use: the hardware and the cloud base. Cloud base is a mining method done online.- Annual Interest Rates (Fixed):
From the title itself, you may use your computer’s CPU to mine Bitcoins, but it could probably take a while because of its slow process. - ASIC Mining:
Better known as Application-specific Integrated Circuit, ASIC is known as a small unit of computer built for a limited set of processes, thus mining cryptocurrency. Usually, this mining consists of an ASIC chip, a power source, fan, and mining software.
- Annual Interest Rates (Fixed):
- Cloud Base Mining:
There are also several types of cloud base mining that you may choose from:- Genesis-mining:
Genesis Mining is cloud base Bitcoin mining that is considered fast and safe to buy hash power without going through many technicalities in understanding the software. Aside from that, it also offers suggestions and solutions for Bitcoin mining which is pretty much advisable for all beginners. With its more than 500,000 users from all over the globe, it’s yet one of the most patronized cloud-based mining that has a multi-algorithm cloud. - Hashflare.io:
Known to offer cost-effective and has minimal risk, hashflare.io has been used in making profits for Bitcoin, Ethereum, Zcash, and Dash. And although its service has been debatable on some users, it could never be denied that from all established cloud base mining cryptocurrencies, it’s Hashflare.io that has maintenance and configuration that is acquired at a low cost. Also, it has cloud mining that has unlimited or uncertain expiration dates. - hashing24.com:
With hashing24 all you have to do is create an account and click the new contract to buy your hash power. Users will be well aware of the cost and maintenance of their hash powers acquired, but details on the calculations of their payouts and profit are quite vague. - nicehash.com:
Although a new service offered in the Bitcoin industry, Nicehash has made a good impression due to the function wherein users have to sell the hash rate or to buy one in order to mine a specific coin. Aside from that, the site only offers payments and purchasing through Bitcoins only.
- Genesis-mining:
3. Storing Bitcoins
Now where do you store Bitcoin you have bought or mined? There are several ways to store it and you may choose from any of these:
Store it on your Desktop Wallet
Through your desktop wallet, you may create your own Bitcoin address for sending and receiving virtual currency, and you may also store the private key for it.
Store it on your Mobile Wallet
Nowadays and also based on Google WebMaster Tool, people have been using mobile devices as one of their key browsers for anything online. That’s why Bitcoin wallets that come in handy through an app, enable anyone to pay for things through their phones.
Online Wallets
The good thing about these online wallets is that they can be connected to your desktop and mobile wallets, also they can offer private keys for your wallet so you can ensure to yourself that even though it’s online, your Bitcoins are still in good keeping.
Hardware Wallets
Considerably rare in number, this wallet can hold private keys electronically and facilitate payments just like the previously mentioned wallets. One of the most commonly known hardware wallets is the Trezor who’s essential or fit for Bitcoin users that desires to keep their important coin but is hesitant to have it handled by a service provider.
Part 3
As a beginner, how can you ensure that you’ll be playing the safe yet guaranteed card with Bitcoins? Here are some of the few tips that you may use as your ground point while getting around the field of Bitcoins.
- Buy low, sell high:
Probably one of the trading rules you have to keep in mind- always buy Bitcoins with low value and sell them higher. When you sell it at a higher price, you’ll gain much more profit but also bear in mind that if you’re going to buy real low, you’ll have to wait until it becomes marginally high. - Stay up to date on BTC:
Since Bitcoin does have drastic changes just over the last six months, it’s really advisable that you keep yourself posted with the updates with the Bitcoin news so you’ll be able to learn more and you can come up with strategies to play your game well. Here are some of the websites that you may visit:- Bitcoin Media Outlets – One of the leading Bitcoin news portals, it provides the fresh topics for digital currency investing with newsletters provided to keep you updated.
- Steemit – Working as a social media account where everyone may contribute and actually get paid for sharing accurate and legitimate content for digital currency. What makes it more interesting is that it has digital rewards through market price discovery and liquidity.
- Blogs – There are several blog forums out there (e.g. ofwmoney.org, Quora, Reddit) that has experts and people that are into Bitcoin, technology, and investing who are all more than willing to express their opinions and experiences with Bitcoin and digital currency in general.
- Facebook – One of the most famous social media platform from all over the globe, Facebook has groups joined by hundreds of Bitcoin investors that has been sharing news and updates, and also having discussions regarding the currency- a better way to get insights from people who have been in the industry for a long time.
- The Trollbox – It’s actually a chatbox on some digital currency exchange sites where traders get to interact with each other and have several discussions.
- Use BTC wealth to purchase more investment :
Bitcoin should always be used wisely not only because there’s just a limited amount of it produced, but just like any other investment, you should always aim for making more and learning more while you lose some of it. Learn from those who have been in the industry for a long time and be open to their suggestions. - Never put more money into BTC:
Let’s just say that in your first months with Bitcoin, you probably think that you’ve got it all covered and you’ve had it all figured out, but it has its own drastic ups and downs which means that you’ll have to think about the money you’re putting into it. It’s never wrong to keep a balance and having a mind over matter thinking when it comes to putting your money on the table for the sake of investing in Bitcoins.
Bitcoin investment is definitely a good shot for any of you interested to get both into technology and investing at the same time. But it also comes with great responsibility and there are definitely risks that you’ll have to take, which is pretty normal for any investor. Before coming up with any decision, always think through it and seek help from people who can give you better decisions.
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