Julia Gerstein, a crypto trading bots enthusiast and a content writer at TradeSanta. My final goal is to help readers find what they need, understand what they find, and use what they understand appropriately.
In any industry, being a newbie means that you will inevitably make some mistakes. In crypto, mistakes equal monetary losses, which is twice as disappointing.
These 15 handpicked lifehacks are for those who want to avoid making rookie mistakes and start seeing more returns. They are guaranteed to help you cut everyday expenses, make efficient decisions, reduce errors, optimize profitability and minimize risks.
A couple of these tips will help you save on some transactions and fees. If you can incorporate them all, you will undoubtedly reach the next level of crypto proficiency.
Lifehack # 1: Save by Choosing Exchange Pairs
Most often, beginners start out by buying Bitcoin for dollars. Knowing this, exchanges and sellers apply the maximum commissions that the market is willing to pay to this exchange pair. For instance, if you want to buy Bitcoin with cash in person at paxful.com you will have to choose from the list of sellers that quote the Bitcoin price that is up to 30% above current market price.
On your next purchase, try buying Ethereum or Litecoin with cash. Better yet, use electronic money — first buy altcoins for web money, then exchange your alts for BTC.
You’ll be surprised, but the rates you’ll end up paying will be much lower than the straight cash to BTC rates. If you wisely construct an exchange chain, instead of the 5-7% that you would pay when buying Bitcoin for cash, you can pay as little as 1%, as in the case of webmoney conversions.
Lifehack # 2: Use Aggregators to Keep up
A tremendous amount of news comes out each day, and there are a million different news websites. It’s almost impossible to follow everything that is going on in the crypto sphere, but one way of staying in the loop is by filtering through headlines for those that pertain to a certain topic.
This can be done using aggregator platforms like CryptoPanic (users can create polls and have discussions in the comments), Coinlib (an all-in-one portfolio management tool, connected to 8 live exchanges) and CryptoCompare’s cryptocurrency news section, where users can filter according to the sources they want to look at, or the cryptocurrencies they want to be informed about.
Lifehack # 3: Save on Transaction Fees
There are a few services that provide free transfers inside their transaction ecosystems, so this tip is a real wallet saver. If you use one of the wallets from the Freewallet family, for example, and make a lot of crypto transfers to other Freewallet users, you can save a fortune on transfer fees.
Some wallets also let users determine the transaction fee they add whenever they send crypto. With Bitcoin, for example, it may be a good idea to look at an online source to determine the lowest transaction fee that will be confirmed in a short amount of time.
Lifehack #4: Use Crypto in the Form of a Debit/Credit Card
There is a surprisingly large amount of services that enable payment in the form of crypto with different variations.
At TenX, the solution is a debit/credit cryptocurrency card that can be used anywhere without fees. Last year the company launched its prepaid Visa cards across the European Economic Area.
With Square Cash you can pay or request money from others via name or mobile phone number within the app, via email, or via web browser with the help of “$Cashtag.” It is a unique screen name that lets you pay and get paid anonymously.
You can also pair your digital assets with a virtual card in the Crypterium App, with which you can pay at over 40 million terminals across the globe. Along with major companies like Coinbase and Crypto.com, Crypterium allows users to send money directly to any bank account from their crypto wallets.
If crypto payment solutions are of particular interest to you, try Square, Inc., a financial service and mobile payment company founded by Twitter‘s Jack Dorsey, or the integration of Paxful, a P2P Bitcoin marketplace, and the global digital asset trading platform BitMart.
Lifehack #5: Buy and Sell Mobile Data for BTC
Mobile operator Dent Wireless, with over 14.3 million users, is changing the industry by creating an open marketplace for buying and selling mobile data.
Customers can top-up mobile phones in over 60 countries with mobile data, prepaid credits or voice minutes using Dent (DENT) — the company’s native token — Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) or Binance Coin (BNB). On the other hand, traders can buy and sell mobile assets on the Dent Exchange in a global marketplace with mobile users from around the world.
Lifehack #6: Get Crypto Cashback Rewards With 10+ Services
Smarter shopping is key when it comes to Bitcoin-saving applications. Spend fiat at Amazon, Uber, Target and more and receive BTC rewards up to 20% at:
- Fold
- Coinseed
- Metal Pay
- Nuo Network
- Crypto.com
- Birdchain
- Lolli
- Pai and more.
There are options for those who shop for clothes and travel miles, or collect credit card points and bulk discounts.
Lifehack #7: Trade Better With Sub-Accounts
The subsidiary accounts feature on various crypto exchanges has proved particularly advantageous for institutions and big trading companies.
But if we go beyond that, sub-accounts can be thought of as a referral program to help a main account owner boost their trading volume and increase the benefits they get. If you know someone who trades regularly on an exchange like Binance, HitBTC or Bitstamp, where subsidiary accounts are available, ask them to get you one and you’ll be able to trade with more favorable commissions.
And you won’t have to worry about privacy issues, as your account will have its own API key so you’ll be in complete control of your assets.
Lifehack #8: Get Freebies on Crypto-Calendars
Have you heard of the cryptocurrency event calendars that share info on the latest blockchain events and where all the giveaways are happening?
Those who check out Coinmarketcal, Coindar and Coinscalendar are the first to know about halvings, listings and meetups. But what we are mostly interested in are cashbacks, airdrops and bonuses on different useful services. Check them out and participate!
Lifehack #9: Earn Crypto Doing Tasks
Does participating in short surveys, trying out new products and watching videos sound like fun? Then you can join in gamified microtask platforms like Coinbase Earn and Stormx and get rewarded for killing time. In crypto!
Lifehack #10: Get Paid for Being Social With Steem
Just a few years ago who would have thought that social networks would be awarding their users with free crypto! The Steemit social platform grants free Steem tokens just for liking and sharing content. This free-to-use social blockchain returns value to the people who contribute the most and offers payments for user-generated content. After getting free Steem one can easily exchange and trade it.
Lifehack #11: Receive ERC-20 Tokens for Watching TV-Two
This blockchain entertainment company also encourages users by giving away free ERC-20 tokens in return for watching videos from thousands of creators and completing small tasks.
Lifehack #12: Mining? Save on Electricity With Power Limit
So you’ve bought secondhand hardware, what do you do next to cut costs? Time to learn how to get some cheap electricity. Install Power Limit when setting up graphic cards for mining. It restricts electricity consumption, prohibiting video cards from consuming more energy than indicated. It might limit hashrate and thus your earnings, nevertheless, you don’t run the risk of paying a massive electricity bill.
A better option is a day/night counter. Mining works around the clock, while the cost of electricity depends on the time of day. Another good solution is wholesale purchases of electricity. Owners (theoretically) can obtain the legal status of an entrepreneur and purchase electricity at wholesale prices.
Lifehack # 13: Coin Hopping with Antminer D3
If you mine, then it is likely that you mine the most popular cryptocurrencies your equipment allows. For example, ETH and ZCash mining are very popular on video cards. If you have Antminer D3 from BitMain, then you’re probably mining Dash. However, one of the best mining lifehacks is switching your mining power to whichever coin is most profitable to mine at the moment.
The difference in profit can be significant. The most profitable coins to mine may be coins that you never heard of at all; they tend to be relatively unknown to the general public. However, due to different combinations of circumstances – a low complexity of mining, that is, its high efficiency, and the short-term growth of the price peak of the coin, to attract this coin is much more profitable than Dash.
Lifehack #14: Grow Your Crypto Holdings
As Decentralized Finance is becoming part of everyday life, the crypto lending market is dramatically developing. First of all, what this means is that there is a growing need for lenders. If you keep a certain amount of digital coins for further market gains you may choose to make a profit right now, rather than pursuing vague long-term goals.
As a rule, these services power both lending and borrowing processes on the basis of smart contracts. There are many lending options on the market right now: for example, the Compound, ETHLend and SALT platforms.
Lifehack #15: Get Sponsored
This kind of activity is perfect for crypto enthusiasts and educators. Bitcointalk is a popular crypto discussion space started by legendary Satoshi Nakamoto.
If your posts help others navigate through the digital world of bitcoins and altcoins you’ll acquire a special status on this forum. This, in turn, will help you develop your own brand on the platform with subsequent sponsorship opportunities on your posts.
Conclusion
When it comes to cryptocurrency, everything changes so quickly that it’s absolutely impossible to keep track of all the latest innovations and trends. And there’s a potentially high risk to pay for every step you take in the world of crypto.
Hopefully, these protips will make your path less difficult and more enjoyable. Stay informed, and you will be able to make your own list one day, having learned a bunch of crypto life hacks from your own experience.
Featured image via Pixabay.
