I’m actually excited to be writing this update. Not because I’ve made a killing in the market, far from it, but because I’ve finally satisfied all of Coinbase’s restrictions for a non-restricted account, the primary one getting valid and official state identification or drivers license uploaded for their vilification. Because of COVID all DMV interactions happened via prearranged appointments that were set online. Having had to have gone through the process twice myself, the wait times were 3 and 4 months, respectively, because I missed my first appointment (doh!). My ID expired in December of 2020. So yeah, it’s been a problem a couple times already this year. But without going into the details I was able to secure that appointment, get in, have them take my money and countenance, and the DMV mailed me a state issued ID a couple weeks later. I take that and upload it to Coinbase, Coinbase lifts all it’s restrictions, acknowledges my good credit, and I believe I have a little more freedom in interacting with my Coinbase web account now, which I have been looking forward to.

I’ve already completed all the ‘Earn & Learn‘ quizzes which give you/me approximately $35US in various coins just for passing a few tests in familiarization of various altcoins as well as explanations crypto jargon and market speak education. After reviewing the histories of those various coins that I received as rewards for the quizzes, I opted to sell, or more correctly, exchange, most of that coin after a couple days. I converted it all to Stellar Lumens and I am happy to say it was an easy and almost instant process.

If anyone has been following my newb crypto articles (d00D), my altcoin experiment started back in December of 2020. To get into the crypto game and to educate my self on the crypto landscape and it’s trading sphere I made micro buys (teeny weeny like $20US investments) just to own some of the coin that I felt might have value. I could then busy myself with tracking market data for those coins and putting some time in to familiarize myself with the crypto market via online articles, YouTube videos etc etc. I invested that initial $20US then and since I have padded the account with an additional $15US in the purchase of additional coin, the bulk of that going to Doge, bulk being $10US.

So bottom line? $35US put into Coinbase into various altcoins. Current value is $95.98US. Approximately 60-67% additional value versus initial investment so, so far it’s a win. Now I am only playing with micro amounts and only have market data for what will amount to 1 year as the 1 year mark approaches around the corner and maybe I’ll be able to use that experience to time a good trade or two. I expected my investment balance to hover around some median and maybe if I was lucky see some gains every once in a while. In my short experience it’s nothing like that. The market swings wildly over periods of several months. Occasionally in a day or even a few hour stretch a huge gain can be realized only to disappear a few hours later. Random and unpredictable? For sure. Chance for nice returns? Definitely possible.

I initially purchased XRP and Stellar Lumens back in 2020. Later on in the year I purchased some DogeCoin. Those make up for about 75% of the coin I own. Additionally in my portfolio I have some Clover, Fetch.ai, and Compound. XRP is currently locked for trading on Coinbase however I do believe in Ripple Labs and do count the XRP altcoin as positive value in my portfolio.

Currently Owned Coins:

• Stellar Lumens
• XRP (Ripple Labs)
• Compound (COMP)
• Fetch.ai (FET)
• Clover Finance (CLV)
• Dogecoin (Doge)

Currently Watched Coins:

• Loopring
• USDC (Staking/Interest Rewards)
• Skale
• Alchemy Pay
• COTI
• Basic Attention Token
• Algorand (Staking/Interest Rewards)
• Mirror Protocol
• Tezos (Staking/Interest Rewards)
• Cosmos (Staking/Interest Rewards)
• Cardano

One thing of note. Coinbase sent me one of their hard plastic VISA debit cards for instant access to your/my crypto funds. This is GENIUS. You can switch between any of the coin you own, and all the conversions and fees happen in the background should you choose to make one of your altcoins your primary currency. Make sure you know what those fee’s are. Additionally you can purchase the US Dollar Coin USDC altcoin which is pegged to the value of the US Dollar. Additionally any USDC coin kept in a Coinbase account earns varying rates of interest APR and/or APY, which you can research if you use or decide to use Coinbase. There’s a section in your account settings on Coinbase which control the different aspects of their VISA debit card including a lock-out function and it is intuitive and very easy to use. Make sure you apply for the debit card if you think you will get into the crypto market and use Coinbase.

One last thing, when you log into your Coinbase account there is a Learn section which contains numerous short articles and information on the crypto/altcoin community, lists of definitions, and many other articles that will be helpful if you’re new to the crypto arena, like myself. This is useful to me at the moment because I spend 20-30 minutes each day interacting with my Coinbase interface and a big part of that is educating my self just what it’s all about. I’m in no way a crypt/altcoin expert and have literally been a lurnin’ since December 2020. So these short articles supplemented with google searches and a YouTube video here or there have been my vehicles for learning about these crypto and altcoins and the market in general.

Thank you.

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If you decide to get a Coinbase account for investment or as a learning experience and this article persuades you in any way, why not consider using the following link to register for your Coinbase account and we’ll both get rewards. I like Coinbase right now because I’m still learning about altcoins and Coinbase makes it real easy. Thank you for your consideration.

https://www.coinbase.com/join/johnso_107

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