How to Recover Your Bitcoin Wallet

We’ve mentioned in several other blog posts recently how to get a bitcoin wallet and the difference between public and private keys. And we’ve touched on what could occur if your phone gets stolen or you uninstall your bitcoin wallet app.

But let’s take a look at exactly how to recover your bitcoin wallet after that happens.

Re-Install the Wallet App

The first thing you’ll need to do, whether you lost your phone, uninstalled the wallet app or upgraded your device, is to reinstall your bitcoin wallet app. …

How to Keep Your Bitcoin Safe

One of the scariest things for new bitcoin users is the fear of losing their money. This is perfectly reasonable. I mean, people are afraid of their regular money getting stolen through things like credit card theft, so it only makes sense to want security for your cryptocurrency as well. While there’s little chance of Bitcoin itself ever being hacked, your personal storage is a whole different story. This begs the question, “Can my crypto be stolen? And if so, how can I prevent it?”

The quick answer to this first question is yes…

Top Bitcoin Trading Methods Compared

When it comes to trading, buying, or selling cryptocurrency, there are a few ways to go about it.

Online Exchanges

The most dominant method in the scene is the online crypto exchange platform. There are quite a few of them, and some have accompanying apps so you can access your account from your phone as well. They usually make money through deposit and withdrawal fees, as well as converting one virtual currency to another.

Two other methods include peer-to-peer trade and cryptocurrency kiosks, or Bitcoin ATMs. Let’s look at the defining aspects of each.

Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Trading

First, let’s get…

Retailers That Accept Bitcoin

We’ve talked in the past about what websites accept bitcoin. But did you know you could spend your bitcoin at physical brick-and-mortar stores too?

Bitcoin-enabled payment processors and gift cards are making it easier and easier to spend your crypto in practically any store, but some of them accept it right at the register as well. Here are 5 categories of brick-and-mortar retailers who accept bitcoin payments on location.

Car Dealerships

Many small and locally-owned car dealerships will accept bitcoin payment, but most notably BMW dealers have been known to make a point of it. You can also…

What is Shorting Bitcoin?

“Buy low, sell high.” That might be the only investment advice you ever need. Except that it’s often easier said than done.

After all, how low is “low” … and how high is “high”? Sometimes, in the moment, it’s hard to tell. You might really only realize it after the fact.

Psychology and emotions have a huge part in driving the price of a given asset, and those two things are extremely difficult to monitor or predict. But other than that … the concept is sound, and quite beautiful in its simplicity.

Buy Low, Sell High … Always!

Both “short selling” and…

Bitcoin Fork History

You’ve probably heard the term “hard fork” in relation to Bitcoin, and wondered, “what the fork is that?”

Hard forks aren’t just for Bitcoin … you can have one in any blockchain for any cryptocurrency. But basically, a hard fork is a change in code that divides a blockchain and sends the new part off into a separate blockchain, like a fork in the road.

What is a Hard Fork?

To further explain this concept, a hard fork occurs when a new rule is added to the code, and nodes of the blockchain’s latest upgraded version stop accepting older versions of that…

12-Word Passphrases Explained

Yesterday we talked about how to get a bitcoin address. That refers to a public address, which you can share with someone to receive bitcoin.

We briefly touched on private keys and passphrases, but today we’re going to go a bit deeper into what private keys are, how they relate to passphrases, how they’re different from public addresses, and what to do (and not do) with those private keys.

What are Private Keys?

A private key (sometimes called an extended private key) is a 64-digit string of letters and numbers, which allows you to control your bitcoin wallet.

You can move…

What is my Bitcoin Wallet Address?

The topic of Bitcoin wallets is a bit confusing and quite complex. Many have struggled with what their wallet address is, how to find it and what to do with it.

To make things easier to understand, let’s go over step-by-step:

How to create a Bitcoin wallet so you can get a Bitcoin address; How to find your public wallet address (and private keys, which you won’t share); What to do once you have your Bitcoin address; How to back up your wallet to secure your funds.

Step 1: Choose a Wallet App

First things first. You need a mobile wallet app to set up your wallet in. You can…