Buying Ether to use on the Ethereum system can be as easy as buying Bitcoin. It can in fact be even easier if you already own Bitcoin. In any case, as with any cryptocurrency, you should always take time to research before buying, that way you make informed choices.
If you are new to cryptocurrencies, get familiar with the how they work before making a huge purchase. For more on buying Ether, check out http://buy-ether.com/.
Here’s what you should keep in mind before you buy ether.
Mining and Its Effects on Price
There are a number of market factors that influence price. For starters, it depends on the classic supply-and-demand chain. As more people buy ether, the value will keep rising. Conversely, if more people sell, the prices will dip.
Mining affects price by increasing the supply, and through the decision of miners to hold or sell. Ethereum’s current version, Homestead, leverages a proof-of-work based consensus algorithm, rewarding computers that contribute to its security.
So be on the lookout on how many investors are buying Ether through watching the news, research and following stocks.
Learn About Security Before Buying Ether
This may seem very obvious at first but is worthy of a mention given the number of people that choose to ignore it. Learning about security is of paramount importance before buying Ether. If you lose the Ether in your Ether wallet, they’re gone forever. As there’s no concerned governing authority, there’s absolutely no way to recover them.
Research Where Ether is Accepted
Before buying, it’s necessary to research where you can actually spend all of your ether. After all, what’s your ether’s worth if nobody accepts it as a payment system?
Of course, all this is only necessary if you’re looking to purchase something using your Ether. If you’d rather use your ether as just an investment, you can easily exchange ether for fiat money like the US dollar using any of the exchange sites.
Verify if Ethereum is Legal in Your Country
It is important to verify if buying Ether is legal in your country. You certainly do not want to surround yourself with potential legal actions in the future. But why would any Government deem it as illegal?
As there’s no central governing authority of Ether, some Governments condemn the use of it. The more people start using Ether, more the fiat currency gets devalued. Banks could go out of business as power gets transferred from the government back to the hands of the people. This is the reason why some governments strongly censure the use of ether.
Ether is Not Anonymous
You cannot transfer the money anonymously. Your public address is visible to anyone all over the world. In fact, every transaction you make and your account balance is visible at an Ethereum site. It carries your public address as an identifier, but it takes much effort to trace the name linked to that public address.
Be cautious. Even having a basic general understanding of the driving factors will set you apart from the majority.