Curious about cryptocurrency?

I mean, I'm the kind of guy who loves to browse The Economist and listen to Planet Money and The Indicator, so I've definitely heard about cryptocurrency before. But, if you tried to get me to explain it more than a week ago, it might have been a stammering mess. "Uh yeah, the Bitcoin is in the blockchain with the...uh...rotary girder?"  

I have been exploring the world of cryptocurrencies for the past week, and want to share a few things that I, a novice to the field, wish I had found written down somewhere. Take it for what it's worth. Which, in cryptocurrency terms (or let's just say crypto to be cool), can be anywhere from a worth of nothing (like Dogecoin - which despite its current moment in the sun is not actually worth anything) to an astoundingly high value (like Bitcoin).

The basic question is, what is crypto? Like US dollars, or Japanese yen, or gold coins in Robin Hood movies, or cowry shells in ancient intertribal economies, cryptocurrency is essentially a token of value that can be traded back and forth between people who are buying, selling, or donating. In the developed world, we've become quite accustomed to the idea that currency is something the government prints and controls, but it hasn't always been this way and the "fiat currency" system has plenty of inherent problems. Many cryptocurrencies are attempts to address the problems of an economic system based on fiat currency. The underlying technology of most cryptocurrencies is the blockchain, which is information sharing between computers around the world that allows the list of who owns what to be constantly updated with correct and verifiable information, and blockchain technology has many cool applications beyond just currency. 

You keep your crypto in a digital wallet, which is what you use to send or receive the crypto. The wallet can be online (called a hot wallet), or for more security the wallet can be offline and stored in hardware (these are called cold wallets). But beware, if you put your crypto in a wallet and then forget the password you may want to jump off a cliff.

There are lots of types of crypto. Like, thousands of types with new ones popping up all the time. Bitcoin and to a lesser-but-growing extent Ethereum are the most well known. Various crypto projects have their own specific goals and teams working on them with all kinds of different skill levels and motivations. The most solid crypto projects get listed on trustworthy exchanges like (in the US) Coinbase or Binance.us or Gemini, where you can trade your fiat currency (US Dollars) for some of the types of crypto, and trade your crypto for other types of crypto or for fiat currency. It's a day trader's dream with incredible volatility that leads to all kind of legendary stories of fortunes gained, and plenty of sob stories of fortunes lost too. Even if you're risk averse, you can find a crypto you like and hold on to it (or as the cool kids say hodl it) for a future cashout.

If you're interested in dipping your toe in with little or no fiat currency involved, read on for some things I've learned in the last week. Now, the world of crypto moves quickly so it's possible that some of these links might be outdated by the time you read this (if so, please comment and let me know!), but here goes.

Ways to earn (very little) crypto with no US dollars involved

One way to earn (very) small amounts of free cryptocurrency: Cointiply offers a roll-to-play game hourly and coins for watching ads or completing surveys. You have to collect quite a few before you cash out into your wallet but it can be done! 

Another way to earn (very) small amounts of free cryptocurrency is to download the Brave internet browser. You earn fractional Basic Attention Tokens (BATs) for watching occasional ads. You need to earn 25 BAT to transfer it into a wallet. Beyond the reward of earning crypto for your attention, this is a really cool project that emphasizes both privacy and rewarding content creators, founded by one of the co-creators of Mozilla Firefox.

A third way to earn (very) small amounts of free cryptocurrency is to use Presearch as your default browser search engine. It's available as a Chrome (or Brave) extension and delivers quality search results. Every search earns a small amount of PRE tokens, and when you have 1000 PRE tokens you can withdraw into your wallet.

Even better ways to earn crypto

I've saved the best for last. The very best way to earn free crypto (that I have found so far, anyway) is to sign up for Coinbase and go to the Earn section. You can receive crypto for learning about new cryptocurrencies via short explainer videos and then taking a short quiz. I easily earned $40 in crypto which I could trade or transfer immediately. 

The second best way to earn free crypto is to use CoinMarketCap's Earn. Like Coinbase, you watch videos about new cryptos and complete a quiz. But unlike Coinbase, the quizzes are harder, even nitpicky, and the payouts don't happen until the campaign closes. Plus, they pay into your Binance account, which is not currently open to US citizens (who are directed to Binance.us instead). 

The world of cryptocurrency is quite a rabbit hole, and these suggestions barely scratch the surface but should get you started. Hope you remember me when you're rich!