What is IOTA/MIOTA (cryptocurrency altcoin) and and how to buy?
What is Cryptocurrency?
Cryptocurrency is a type of digital asset. If you are new to the area of digital assets then please read my comprehensive guide on Cryptocurrency before doing any investment on any Cryptocurrency like IOTA/MIOTA.
What is Iota?
Iota is a cryptocurrency which enables micro and even nano-transactions because smallest unit IOTA is too small. It’s the first cryptocurrency without a blockchain, it runs on the blockless distributed ledger Tangle. There are no transaction fees and doesn’t involve mining. This cryptocurrency was first launched in 2015 while the token exchange was launched in 2017
Following are the description of various units of Iota.
Iota = 1 Iota = 1i = 1i
KiloIota = 1 Kiota = 1Ki = 1,000i
MegaIota = 1 Miota = 1Mi = 1,000,000i
GigaIota = 1 Giota = 1Gi = 1,000,000,000i
TeraIota = 1 Tiota = 1Ti = 1,000,000,000,000i
PetaIota = 1 Piota = 1Pi = 1,000,000,000,000,000i
IOTA is also making big news these days after the partnership with big companies. However, there are much fake news in crypto world. The concept of IOTA is little confusing for too many people. It takes a lot of time to find what exactly IOTA is? However, IOTA is meant for small payment so it was designed to do micro-payments. That’s why the smallest unit is IOTA. But it is very difficult for trading exchanges to deal with such a small unit so most of the exchanges have listed Iota as MIOTA (1 Mi= 1,000,000 IOTA) and the price indicates Miota.
Who can buy Iota?
Iota is an altcoin which is not widely available to purchase directly using government-issued currency like US Dollar or Euro. But if you have either Bitcoin or other well-established cryptocurrency likes Ethereum then you can exchange.
How and where to buy Iota?
Binance (Best for USA) is the best places to buy IOTA. However, you can’t purchase IOTA directly by paying in Dollar or Euro. First, you need to buy other cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, litecoin, Ethereum somewhere (maybe from Coinbase) then you need to transfer that to Binance balance (which is very simple and both site will give you the address to get currency) and then you can buy IOTA with that balance. In other words, this is just the exchange and not the actual buying with dollars. On Binance, all trading is done with BTC, ETH, BNB or USDT. Therefore even if you have any altcoin you need to purchase one of these currencies first to exchange it for other altcoins like IOTA.
Please read another article to know more about other reputed Cryptocurrency exchanges apart from above mentioned Coinbase and Binance. Although, the step involving Coinbase and Binance is the best way to purchase digital asset as regulation may restrict you to purchase here. Exchanges listed here are also the potential place to invest in Cryptocurrency. Most of the exchanges are regulated and they have the license to operate in particular country. Some exchanges have permission to operate in globally while some are restricted like Bitfinex doesn’t allow US residents to use their platform. When you purchase cryptocurrency then exchanges which offer it in your country’s currency then that is the best way to avoid fiat currency conversion charges. Some exchanges use only USD while some offer purchase using USD, Euro, GBP, CNY, CAD, JPY, INR and many more fiat currencies. Some exchanges are used only to change one cryptocurrency to another. Above link will give you answer to explore other reputed cryptocurrency exchanges and subsequently you can decide exchange of your choice based on your country of origin and fiat currency.
Some people also sell IOTA on eBay but beware and don’t get confused between IOTA and MIOTA. As previously mentioned, all trading exchanges list IOTA as MIOTA and current price shown in all graphs and newspapers represent the price of 1 MIOTA and not the 1 IOTA. Current market price of 1 MIOTA (=1,000,000 IOTA) is about ~&4-5) as on December 19, 2017, while it’s available on eBay anywhere between $20-100. So if you have only this option to buy and if you are ready to give extra dollars then you can opt for this option as well. Some people also sell cryptocurrencies on local sites like Craigslist, Offer up, Letgo etc. But you should be extremely careful as these are just the digital assets and transfer between individuals is based on the code. There is no proof for such exchanges and you either cannot claim your receipt or difficult to analyze the transfer. There is no government regulation on these currencies so you cannot claim if there is any issue.
Where to save my digital assets after making the purchase?
Purchasing cryptocurrency is not the only thing which one should consider if somebody wants to venture into cryptocurrency investment and trading. Keeping your digital assets is one of the most important things. There are four places where purchased cryptocurrency can be stored – online wallet (internet or mobile app), desktop software based wallet, hardware wallet and paper wallet. All online website based wallet or software installed on any computer connected to the internet are prone to hacking which ultimately may lead to loss of your digital assets. Without any doubt, the paper wallet is the safest way to store your digital assets but it is not the most convenient way. That’s why paper wallet is not most popular among people. However, offline hardware wallets are becoming very popular these days as the alternative to paper wallet which also gives the convenience of using it when required. Here is the list of all good hardware wallets to store your Cryptocurrency. Briefly, you can use Ledger wallet, TREZOR and KeepKey and Paxful wallet to store your digital assets. Please follow the link to read more about these hardware wallets.
How can I make the profit out of my purchase (long-term investment or can earn daily)?
Most people prefer to store cryptocurrency for a long time and sell when the price is high. This can be a good strategy to earn from your digital assets. However, there are alternate ways to make regular daily income using Cryptocurrency. One can use the two ways you can make money with Cryptocurrency. First is a quick way and another is slow but will give you long-term returns. I have explained both ways to make money daily using cryptocurrency in another article. Briefly, you can make money using Cryptocurrency trading and affiliate programs.
Can I earn some free Cryptocurrency instead of buying it?
Purchasing cryptocurrency is not the only way to have these digital assets. There are alternative ways to earn these free. Different ways to earn free cryptocurrency are explained in another post.
Financial potential of IOTA
The only question which everybody is asking – Is this the right time to think about cryptocurrency and can I afford to miss the bus at this right time before becoming unaffordable? It may be a bubble or a gold.
Caution
I am not the cryptocurrency expert and you should take extreme precaution before purchasing any such currency.