Crypto frightens me

H

Hello beutiful

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Tech-wise I’m a dinosaur, and crypto scares me—I simply can’t wrap my head around how it could be real😁 yet plenty of sellers want it, and using my Revolut app overseas already feels like peak technology to me
 
I get that for plenty of people it still comes across as a terrifying kind of financial product, but would it feel less so if you framed it as exchanging foreign money?

Let me push this comparison as far as it will go...

Picture wanting to purchase a random sort of thing from a seller in the United States. Something you could only get over there, I don't know, a bag of Fritos. After figuring out where to get it and what it would run you, you'd head to your UK bank and buy a banker's draft.

Your account holds pounds, but the seller deals in US dollars (say they'd rather have a stable coin, USDC-SOL). So on that draft you turn the pounds into dollars, and the bank charges you a fee for the service (that's the swap fee equivalent).

At this point you own something the US seller will take and can use, but it still has to reach them. That means knowing their address (the crypto wallet destination address) and knowing how to send it. FedEx? Royal Mail? Something else? (that's the sending network, ETH, SOL and so on).

One slightly awkward part: you're going through a middle-man (an Exodus wallet, for instance) to "obscure" the transaction a bit. Still, I think if you can split it into small logical chunks, ask yourself what you're actually doing and grasp the WHY, it should feel a little less scary.

"Oh okay, so this is like __ and this part is like if I was ____"

Hope that helps!

(and like nearly every currency on the planet, its whole value rests on whatever anyone decides to attribute to it. Why is a 10 pound note worth anything? It's just colored paper.)
 
Honestly, it all clicks as soon as you jump right in. This forum has some excellent guides. I was completely clueless when it came to crypto. These days, because of this forum, I'm moving crypto everywhere across China.
 
I just can’t wrap my head around the idea that this stuff actually has monetary value, particularly after seeing reports about people who bought bitcoin and ended up making millions.

I’ll probably need to go through it around 10 times before it makes sense to me. I do know that the revolut app brings up crypto.
 
Spork said:

I get that for plenty of people it still comes across as a terrifying kind of financial product, but would it feel less so if you framed it as exchanging foreign money?

Let me push this comparison as far as it will go...

Picture wanting to purchase a random sort of thing from a seller in the United States. Something you could only get over there, I don't know, a bag of Fritos. After figuring out where to get it and what it would run you, you'd head to your UK bank and buy a banker's draft.

Your account holds pounds, but the seller deals in US dollars (say they'd rather have a stable coin, USDC-SOL). So on that draft you turn the pounds into dollars, and the bank charges you a fee for the service (that's the swap fee equivalent).

At this point you own something the US seller will take and can use, but it still has to reach them. That means knowing their address (the crypto wallet destination address) and knowing how to send it. FedEx? Royal Mail? Something else? (that's the sending network, ETH, SOL and so on).

One slightly awkward part: you're going through a middle-man (an Exodus wallet, for instance) to "obscure" the transaction a bit. Still, I think if you can split it into small logical chunks, ask yourself what you're actually doing and grasp the WHY, it should feel a little less scary.

"Oh okay, so this is like __ and this part is like if I was ____"

Hope that helps!

(and like nearly every currency on the planet, its whole value rests on whatever anyone decides to attribute to it. Why is a 10 pound note worth anything? It's just colored paper.)
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Really appreciate it
 
Hello beutiful said:

I just can’t wrap my head around the idea that this stuff actually has monetary value, particularly after seeing reports about people who bought bitcoin and ended up making millions.

I’ll probably need to go through it around 10 times before it makes sense to me. I do know that the revolut app brings up crypto.
Click to expand...
When you get started, put the investment and profit angle completely out of your mind. Instead, treat it simply as swapping one currency for another. You hand over your money and get a token such as USDC in return, and that token is what you securely forward to a seller. Instructions for doing exactly that are plentiful on this site. The investment aspect is a deep rabbit hole, and there is no need for you to go down it at this point.
 
Once I’ve located a seller, what’s the best way to send payment? Sometimes I figure I ought to just buy from my home country, but I’d likely wind up shelling out 10 times the price.
 
You should really spend more time browsing this place—plenty of useful material can be found. In my view, if it becomes available, USDC-SOL would likely rank among the most affordable currencies to utilize.
 
Hello beutiful said:

Once I’ve located a seller, what’s the best way to send payment? Sometimes I figure I ought to just buy from my home country, but I’d likely wind up shelling out 10 times the price.
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You give the seller whatever they request, using the method they tell you to use. Look around this site—either search it or check the table of contents—and go through a LOT of discussions about it until it all clicks. After that, keep reading even more!
 
Hello beutiful said:

Tech-wise I’m a dinosaur, and crypto scares me—I simply can’t wrap my head around how it could be real😁 yet plenty of sellers want it, and using my Revolut app overseas already feels like peak technology to me
Click to expand...
At some point, using crypto to pay might become useful since it gives you access to more options. Anyone can feel nervous the first time they try something.

spanky2026 said:

Hello beutiful said:

I just can’t wrap my head around the idea that this stuff actually has monetary value, particularly after seeing reports about people who bought bitcoin and ended up making millions.

I’ll probably need to go through it around 10 times before it makes sense to me. I do know that the revolut app brings up crypto.
Click to expand...
When you get started, put the investment and profit angle completely out of your mind. Instead, treat it simply as swapping one currency for another. You hand over your money and get a token such as USDC in return, and that token is what you securely forward to a seller. Instructions for doing exactly that are plentiful on this site. The investment aspect is a deep rabbit hole, and there is no need for you to go down it at this point.
Click to expand...
That comparison is spot on. It works the same way as doing FX through Revolut; crypto is simply one more currency in your mind. When you purchase stablecoins such as USDC or USDT, the process is pretty much like swapping GBP for USD. You’re capable of doing this!
 
What's amusing is that paper money, checks, and credit cards all triggered the same reaction in people. After all, any currency that isn't directly backed by precious metals serves only as a way to hold value. On its own it holds no genuine worth—only whatever another person is willing to give you in exchange, assuming that person can also swap it with someone else for whatever they need.
 
start with small moves

grab a little crypto from an exchange — pick a simple one you can actually put to use down the road, like eth or sol

begin with a tiny amount, say $10 USD, that won't hurt if you spend it, lose it, or just learn from it. $10 ought to cover it. Whatever happens to that 10 dollars, treat it as tuition.

after that, set up 2 non custodial wallets. Get comfortable moving funds back and forth: exchange to wallet, wallet to wallet, and so on. Try shifting 2 - 3 dollars worth between your own wallets too. Get familiar with things like the Transaction ID (every vendor requires you to send it to them).

when that feels easy, buy $10 in usdt. Play around with bridges until you grasp how to send USDT using SOL or Eth. In essence, run through the same routine again.

for whatever it's worth, I've been in cyrpto since 2012. It's far simpler now than you can imagine. Even today I still fire off small test amounts to any new wallet just to confirm it'll arrive. And sending a large payment still triggers a stress response in me, despite the fact that I've only messed up a payment once in the last 14 years (lost about $300)

once the fundamentals click, all of the major coins operate in basically the same fashion. It's worth knowing
 
When I bought crypto for the very first time, I turned to my cousin for assistance. His response was, "why don't I just do it?". How did that not cross my mind? He transferred my funds, and I gave him cash in return. It only took 2 minutes
 
Thanks everyone, I'll check it out with a tiny amount and give it a trial, I'm guessing krypto comes in different forms
 
Hello beutiful said:

Thanks everyone, I'll check it out with a tiny amount and give it a trial, I'm guessing krypto comes in different forms
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Almost every seller will accept usdc or usdt — stablecoins that don't swing in value all the time.

On solana (sol network), usdc/usdt is taken by nearly all vendors. Just 1 seller I dealt with asked for payment on the ethereum network. If you pick up a small amount of usdc or usdt, plus probably a bit of sol and eth, you should be covered.

The simple route: purchase usdc through robinhood

Create an exodus wallet

copy the usdc wallet address from your own Exodus

Move your Robinhood usdc over to your Exodus usdc wallet.

Experiment with it.
 
Hello beutiful said:

Tech-wise I’m a dinosaur, and crypto scares me—I simply can’t wrap my head around how it could be real😁 yet plenty of sellers want it, and using my Revolut app overseas already feels like peak technology to me
Click to expand...
It exists in the same way that bank deposits do—nothing more than an entry stored in a database.
 
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