-Submitted as part of the Galactic Talk Content Creators Challenge-
Author's Note: This is more of a recollection of steps that I took to get my own lumens, than a fully complete comprehensive guide. However this method works for me - so I see no reason for it to not work for you. Happy Reading!
Converting fiat to BTC
Getting your hands on BTC is relatively easy if you know where to go.
I buy my Bitcoin through an Australian service called Coinjar - which was easy to setup, verify and exchange. I highly recommend it if you reside in Australia or have an Australian bank account. Coinjar is not only an exchange - it is also a good online wallet.
If you live elsewhere this is an awesome list to get you on the right track. Obviously, I cannot review each one - but my best advice is to do plenty of background research, read other's reviews and use common sense.
Converting BTC to XLM.
I found that the most convenient way for me to get XLM was to set up a Bittrex account. An alternative to Bittrex is Poloniex which is also a popular choice. Bittrex is a cryptocurrency exchange based in the USA - but it will work just fine anywhere around the globe as long as you're trading non-Fiat only (which we are in this guide). (That being said, they do have some restricted areas of use and other rules - check their T&Cs.)
Once you've traded you'll want to send your XLM out of your Bittrex wallet - to your cold or hot wallet ASAP. This will ensure that your money is in your hands.
Storing your XLM securely.
Cold Wallet
A cold wallet is a wallet that is meant to be as secure as possible and not for day-to-day transaction funds.
There are multiple ways to set one up but these are the steps I personally took to setup my Cold Wallet.
- Download the latest version of this wallet, appropriate for your OS.
- Extract from the .zip file and open the program.
- Click 'create a new account', then 'create empty account'. Select a location for the wallet.txt file to be stored.
- Set a secure password, that will act as the key to un-encrypt the wallet.txt file - which stores your public and private key.
- Follow the instruction to finish making your wallet
- Backup your wallet.txt file to secure locations.
Hot Wallet
Hot wallets are good for day-to-day transactions and are usually based on the web. This website, has a nifty collection of hot wallets w/ short descriptions.
The only hot wallet I have tried is lobstr.co. I cannot really give it a solid review as I still haven't used it properly, but from what I have seen it seems like a good wallet with iOS and Android support. It gives you 25 free lumens - which is 5 XLM over the minimum amount to have to be included on the Stellar blockchain.
Unfortunately, there are not a lot of reviews of these wallets yet - so my number one advice for storing XLM in a hot wallet right now is - be careful. Never store more than you can afford to lose in a hot wallet as they are mostly web based.
End Note
I hope you have enjoyed reading this guide and perhaps learnt a thing or two. If you have any questions or would just like to leave feedback be sure to comment below.