At CommunityBuild we’ve been spending a lot of time talking to individuals, companies and communities all eager to get into Web3 and Crypto.

The biggest theme across these conversations seems to be how intimidating and overwhelming crypto seems from the outside.

We want to try to make it a little easier to get into this world and show you 5 specific steps you can take to launch your crypto journey. It’s not that complicated when you actually dive into it!

Step 1: Download the Coingecko App 🦎

Coingecko provides fundamental crypto market analysis, covering over 3000+ cryptocurrencies and allowing you to view crypto prices, analysis, tutorials and other helpful details about different projects.

It’s the best place to start researching and learning more about the different projects you come across in crypto.

Don’t forget to collect ‘Candies’ every day by opening the app - it helps you build a habit of learning with a few minutes of effort daily and these candied can later be redeemed for super fun goodies, learning guides like ‘How to DeFi’ and limited edition NFT drops!

Download the iOS App | Android App | Website

Step 2: Make an Exchange Account 🏦

The Web3/Crypto world can be broadly divided into two categories: The off-chain world and the on-chain world.

The off-chain world is your traditional side of finance: fiat currencies (USD, INR, EUR etc.) and all sides of crypto that do not involve publishing data onto a blockchain. An exchange is where you can convert a traditional currency to a cryptocurrency.

You will need to create an account on an exchange like Binance (works in most countries worldwide)

Once you sign up, you will have to complete a few steps of KYC like identity and address verification. Once the verification is complete, you will be able to deposit funds via Bank Transfer/locally supported payment methods.

You are now ready to start purchasing crypto! Popular coins include Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and Polygon (MATIC). There are also stablecoins (i.e coins that are pegged to 1$) like USDC and USDT, that can be used to hold your money in crypto while ensuring there is no volatility due to price fluctuations.

You’ve now managed to buy your first cryptocurrency, what’s next? Let’s take a look at how you can use this crypto to enter the on-chain world.

Step 3: Get your Metamask Wallet! 🦊

Your Metamask Wallet is possibly the most important piece of the puzzle when it comes to your Web3 Journey. Essentially Metamask can be seen as your mobile phone, keys and wallet all in one.

Metamask helps you:

1. Prove your Identity (your wallet gives you a public address used for sending and receiving crypto, just like your mobile phone does for calls)

2. Secure your on-chain assets (your wallet gives you a private key that allows you to access your assets anywhere and unlock them like lock keys)

3. Access New Applications (pay txn fees using your crypto wallet balance)

You can now fathom how important Metamask is and also the importance of keeping your private key safe and secure.

Head on to Metamask and download Metamask on Brave/Chrome/iOS/Firefox. You will then be taken through a setup process where you will receive 12 secret recovery words. These words should be kept extremely safe and not shared with anyone else. For a detailed tutorial, refer to this tutorial.

Step 4: Understanding the different kinds of Blockchains 🔗

So you now have information on crypto (Coingecko), an off-chain wallet (Exchange) and an on-chain wallet (Metamask). But your assets and your funds are still off-chain. How do you enter the on-chain world?

Before we can enter the on-chain world, it is important to know ***what ***these chains or blockchains that we talk about are.

Simply put, blockchains are collections of ordered data that cannot be erased, i.e. all the data is immutable. In the context of Web3, this data could be financial transactions, interactions with games, minting of NFTs and so on.

What differentiates different Blockchains are the technical implementations, security models and communities that use these chains. The most popular chains include Bitcoin, Ethereum, Polygon, Solana and many more.

It would be slightly difficult to understand the technical differences between these chains at this stage, but for now, it will suffice to simply know there exist different blockchains and the applications you use will therefore be “hosted” on different chains.

Step 5: Enter the On-Chain world! 🌍

You’re now ready to enter the on-chain world! You can now buy assets on your off-chain wallet (Exchange) using deposited funds, and bridge (move) them to your on-chain wallet (Metamask).

Open your Exchange app and search for the MATIC trading pair (will be MATIC/USD in the US and so forth). We will buy 50$ worth of MATIC, i.e around 62 MATIC at current prices and bridge them to the Polygon blockchain.

After buying the MATIC, head to the “Your Wallet” section and search for withdrawals. Find the MATIC token and click on the withdraw button.

In the Address Box: Fill in your public on-chain wallet address, this is the address you received while creating your Metamask account. You can also find it on the top centre of your Metamask extension.

In the Network Box: Select the network you want to move funds to. For the tutorial we are going to use the Polygon blockchain, you will see options like Ethereum and Binance chain too.

After completing the withdrawal process and the required wait time, the funds will show up in your Metamask wallet.

There is one last step before you can see your funds in your on-chain wallet. By default, Metamask supports only the Ethereum network. Since we want to use applications on the Polygon network, we need to add it to Metamask.

Head to Chainlist and click the ‘Connect Wallet’ button on the top right. Next, search for Polygon in the search bar and hit the Add to Metamask button. You will now see a popup asking for the approval of the network addition.

To add other networks you can follow a similar process as above.

Post this, the Polygon network will be active on your Metamask wallet. You can see which network you are currently using on the top left of your Metamask extension. Make sure it is on the Polygon chain before proceeding to the next step.

Congratulations, you’ve made it! 🔥

You’re now ready to start making transactions and using applications in Finance, playing games, minting NFTs and so much more! You should be able to see the MATIC you purchased in your Metmask wallet.

If you’ve made it so far, kudos to you! To commemorate the completion of Crypto 101 with CommunityBuild.xyz, we have a surprise for you: a FREE NFT to certify your new learnings 🎊

• Retweet this tweet

  https://twitter.com/communitybuidl/status/1564309399446777856?s=20&t=2H6v0PfD5o5lFtPxE3y5KQ

• Head to the link below and Connect your Wallet

• Connect Twitter and Press the Claim Button to Claim your Crypto 101 Certification NFT

Hope this made your journey in Crypto a little easier, and make sure to join our community to continue your progress and learn how to use DeFi, play to earn games, be a part of DAOs and so much more!

About CommunityBuild

CommunityBuild helps innovative Web3 founders and teams with full-stack community building, growth and management, focusing on building ownership-driven communities through our vibrant community of incredibly talented individuals worldwide.

CommunityBuild team members have worked with pioneering projects across NFTs, Metaverses and DeFi like eDAO, Tanukiverse, Hydrastarter and blockchains like Polygon.

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