How to start from the scratch?

Hello everybody! Could you please help me to find the right way to start from the bottom? I’d like to get involved in this project step by step… First of all… I don’t understand about the safety of the device which I should use to store the ADA… Can I start with a laptop or is a non safe support? Please could you explain me what to do from the start?

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If you want in on the current era (beta) , you’ll need to do the following first, and meet various requirements along the way.

  1. Register/identify verify with a cryptocurrency exchange in your country/region

  2. Transfer money to the exchange

  3. Buy Ada or, buy a major crypto asset and convert to Ada using other exchanges .

  4. Get the daedalus or cardano node software running on a compatible machine (easiest in windows or Mac is)

  5. Check your work.

  6. Transfer your Ada to your wallet address.

Security is a fluid debate , but , the software is very secure compared to most software , so you likely only need to pay close attention to human error , but keep a mild eye on your hardware. Many users are securing their stakes successfully with low end windows machines. Some are journeying into more complex security spaces of live Linux servers…

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thank you for the quick reply! Then…let’s say that I broke my laptop (on which I have an insurance plan to restore the data and the hardware)…will I lose all the ada in that case?

No, when creating the wallet you will get a 12 word seed password, you can restore your wallet on any computer with this password (you also need the name of your wallet) Your ADA is stored on the blockchain itself. Write this seed password down, do not take screenshots or save it on a computer.

Make sure you have a backup written down in case of a fire. (a good way to store your seed password is by engraving it into a stainless steel metal plate, note that you need to do this yourself to be sure that no one knows your seed password, an engraver is cheap, you can find one for under 2$ on e-bay).

Do regular scans on your computer and use a VPN and a decent firewall. Never advertise how much you have as it draws attention from malicious actors.

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So do you think I can start using my laptop? is it safe enough?

That depends on your belief and skills with your laptops operating environment and external environment. If you are vulnerable to local or global attack , you should take appropriate precautions , if you don’t even use the laptop except for storing Ada received from a hard line, then you are probably safer … if you want a 100% guarantee of safety, you need to wait until cold wallet storage , which is in the next upgrade or 2 of the software . Right now, for an effective operator , you can get 99.99% safety even on a Windows laptop if you are doing things right, like @Bullishdong mentioned.

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I am using a good antivirus (not a free version). is this enough to start safely? I don’t do downloading or streaming, I use the laptop only for work…

This should be enough to start with. I would suggest upgrading your security measures in the long term, as you are effectively becoming your own bank, you should act accordingly.

Definitely keep an eye on the ledger hardware wallet progress, as this would be a more secure way of storing your funds.

If you are tech savvy, and have some experience with Linux there is a distribution called Qubes, which is reasonably secure. I suggest using this OS when the Linux version of daedalus is released. If it’s security that you are striving for.

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ok! Then…I am reading that basically is not possible to start “mining” - staking - ada… So, when will it be possible and which is the practical difference between the 2 extraction processes?
Plus…It is substantially only possible to buy/trade in ada right now, right? I only can buy a certain amount of coins and keep it, am I wrong?

Staking will be enabled end Q2 2018, around March/April.

Proof of Work

Is a requirement to define an expensive computer calculation, also called mining, that needs to be performed in order to create a new group of trustless transactions (the so-called block) on a distributed ledger called blockchain.

Mining serves as two purposes:

To verify the legitimacy of a transaction, or avoiding the so-called double-spending;

To create new digital currencies by rewarding miners for performing the previous task.

When you want to set a transaction this is what happens behind the scenes:

Transactions are bundled together into what we call a block;

Miners verify that transactions within each block are legitimate;

To do so, miners should solve a mathematical puzzle known as proof-of-work problem;

A reward is given to the first miner who solves each blocks problem;

Verified transactions are stored in the public blockchain

This “mathematical puzzle” has a key feature: asymmetry. The work, in fact, must be moderately hard on the requester side but easy to check for the network. This idea is also known as a CPU cost function, client puzzle, computational puzzle or CPU pricing function.

All the network miners compete to be the first to find a solution for the mathematical problem that concerns the candidate block, a problem that cannot be solved in other ways than through brute force so that essentially requires a huge number of attempts.

When a miner finally finds the right solution, he/she announces it to the whole network at the same time, receiving a cryptocurrency prize (the reward) provided by the protocol.

Proof of stake

Proof of stake is a different way to validate transactions based and achieve the distributed consensus.

It is still an algorithm, and the purpose is the same of the proof of work, but the process to reach the goal is quite different.

Unlike the proof-of-Work, where the algorithm rewards miners who solve mathematical problems with the goal of validating transactions and creating new blocks, with the proof of stake, the creator of a new block is chosen in a deterministic way, depending on its wealth, also defined as stake.

Also, all the digital currencies are previously created in the beginning, and their number never changes.

This means that in the PoS system there is no block reward, so, the miners take the transaction fees.

This is why, in fact, in a PoS system miners are called stakeholders, instead.

Comparison

In a distributed consensus-based on the proof of Work, miners need a lot of energy. One Bitcoin transaction required the same amount of electricity as powering 1.57 American households for one day (data from 2015).

And these energy costs are paid with fiat currencies, leading to a constant downward pressure on the digital currency value.

In a recent research, experts argued that bitcoin transactions may consume as much electricity as Denmark by 2020.

Developers are pretty worried about this problem, and the Ethereum community wants to exploit the proof of stake method for a more greener and cheaper distributed form of consensus.

Also, rewards for the creation of a new block are different: with Proof-of-Work, the miner may potentially own none of the digital currency he/she is mining.

In Proof-of-Stake, stakeholders are always those who own the coins minted.

I’m not entirely sure I understand your question, but here goes nothing :see_no_evil:.

You can buy ADA with ethereum, bitcoin and some other pairings exist (it depends on the exchange you try to trade on) , if you are asking, can you cash out to FIAT the answer is (although it is somewhat cumbersome) yes, you can.

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thank you so much for your explication! then…I was asking if, right now, I can only buy ada (cardano), but not stake (mine) it

Yes, this is correct, staking starts end Q2 2018, when the Shelley update is rolling out. You can track progress by checking the cardano roadmap.

If you are interested, there are community members who are creating a stakepool.

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Oh, I see! Ok!
Great! I’ll join the pool!

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Is there a way to buy ADA without exchange?
AFAIK, no.

The only way I can think of is asking someone to sell you some ADA if you know them personally…

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You actually don’t need the wallet name nor the payment password. You can enter a new wallet name when restoring the wallet. The only thing you need to restore a wallet is the 12 word seed.

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That’s a valid point, but I think it’s good practice to avoid a wallet restore when you for example have forgotten the payment password. It would be a lot easier to have it written down somewhere.

I’m wondering if you can set a different payment password for multiple wallets in daedalus?

Yes, for each wallet you create you can setup a different payment password.

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hi guys! Could you explain me how to buy ada on dedalus, please? Can I pay in dollar or euro?