For those of you not at all familiar with cryptocurrencies, they do not exist physically. Cryptocurrencies are “mined” by computers performing math, with increasing difficulty over time, and are kept only as a computer file. Send and receive transactions are made using a digital wallet which you download for free. Cryptocurrency transactions take only a few minutes to confirm, via peer-to-peer networks. They are popular with people who like the idea of instant transactions and not having records kept of their purchases.
The historic rise in value of BitCoin in 4 minutes
The most famous cryptocurrency is Bitcoin (BTC). Since its inception, it has risen in value and over this past year I have personally watched it grow from being worth $20 when I first became aware of it, to over $1000 today. Bitcoin is the first cryptocurrencies and all the alternatives to Bitcoin are called altcoins. As long as people are buying cryptocurrencies, they will rise in value, and they can be purchased in fractions, so you don’t need $1000 to get some Bitcoin. While it is still profitable to buy Bitcoin, the people who bought it back when it was worth pennies are… suffice it to say… very happy with their investment.
There are so many altcoins now that it is sometimes difficult to know which ones will be the next Bitcoin. Not all altcoins are created equally, some have better security and algorithm mining functions. Primecoin actually solves for prime numbers as it is mined, and so serves an actual scientific purpose in addition to being an altcoin. One of the ways to know which altcoins to invest in is to keep watch of the publicity they receive. The more positive publicity, the more people will buy them and the more they will increase in value.
I’d just like to point out right now that unless you have a lot of time to spare with watching trends and are very trade savvy… that investing in general should only be a long term strategy. Buy low and sell high. Altcoins are at their lowest when they are new. Although, keep in mind that there are several factors that play into whether or not an altcoin is going to continue to rise in value after its initial post release rise. There are many factors to look at, including incentive to mine the coin, how many coins will be mined, etc. The safest bet is to do some of your own research and get in on these new altcoins as soon as they appear with the idea of selling high. Keep in mind also that because unlike BitCoin (BTC), these new altcoins can only be purchased with BTC, that as BTC rises in value, so may the rise in value of the new altcoin be offset to the point it is not even profitable. Just some things to think about.
And so the purpose of this article. A brand spanking new opportunity… Quark… the newest crypto-currency worthy of note! Quark has been referenced by The Guardian as one of the top 9 altcoins to invest in, noting:
Another altcoin in its infancy, launched in 2013, Quark coin takes the security elements of the cryptocurrency very seriously employing nine separate rounds of encryption using six different algorithms.
Quark’s value has rapidly increased in price (value in Bitcoins) and from Nov. 27th, 2013 to November 1st, 2013 it increased by almost 3000%!
How to Get Quark:
1. Open an account here and buy some BitCoin:
2. THEN, open an account here and transfer your BitCoin: my Cryptsy referral link. Cryptsy is an exchange with a solid reputation that trades in a lot of different coins, and you can chat with other traders. From Cryptsy, you can trade BTC for Quark (QRK). Cryptsy is no longer!
3. Then (optional), download the wallet here: https://www.quarkcoin.com/. Open the wallet and let it synchronize with the transaction network (the green bar at the bottom). This site is no longer!
You can leave your cryptocurrencies where they are in Coinbase and/or Cryptsy (both these sites have been around for a while and have secure reputations)… or you can send them to your wallet. Just remember that your wallet.dat file is as good as gold, so to speak, so don’t lose it and make sure that if you are going to keep it on your computer that your computer won’t be hacked into because it is exactly the sort of thing hackers are looking to steal. I have a relatively secure computer but any extra cryptocurrencies that I do not keep on Coinbase or Cryptsy, I keep on two different usb drives and I delete the copies from my computer. Your wallet.dat files should be in your AppData folder. It is a hidden folder because noobs aren’t supposed to be getting into it, but just type %APPDATA% into your “my computer” (if using Windows… I’m not familiar with Mac) address bar and it should come up.
Quark coins should be part of everyone’s self-sufficiency portfolio… now! This is a wise investment that you can get in on early for very cheap… but the more it rises in value the more money it will cost you to seriously profit from it. Investing in cryptocurrencies is often a short term strategy, as they can quickly gain or lose popularity.
To crytopcurrency or not to cryptocurrency?
Speak Your Mind Below!!!
Like this article? AWESOME it is! Awesome YOU ARE!
About me, the author… Troy Boylan
Ecoculture Village Founder & President, Anthropology BA, Interdisciplinary Studies: Ethnobotany BS. Two things I think are worth anything at all… all things wilderness and ecoculture… and well, RPGs… and skateboarding!
So, what’s up!? Google+ | LinkedIn | Twitter
About me... 
Jump on before it’s to late the community is getting huge now with tons of media support and Chinese will follow suit
Quark is up nearly 50% overnight tonight.
Bitcoin is not an altcoin. Everything else is. Bitcoin is the standard. And from what I understand Quark and Ripple are bad altoins and cryptsy is one of the worst exchanges
sugamari: Firstly, thank you for correcting my semantics, sloppy writing… my bad. I have updated the article to reflect that the altcoins are alternatives to Bitcoin. Although your mention that Quark is a “bad” altcoin… I disagree, at least at the time I wrote this article it was very promising that Quark was going to continue to rise in value. There is no such thing as a “bad” altcoin, although the time to invest early in new altcoins may indeed become shorter each day after their release. For people who get into a new altcoin early enough, it can be very profitable, even if the price never reaches anywhere near that of Bitcoin.