Disclaimer: This is NOT Financial Advice (NFA) These lessons serve as a guide for what to look for in web3, but they should not be considered a definitive solution. Please do your research and diligence before making any significant purchases or taking action.

After reading this chapter, you might be wondering how to get started with cryptocurrencies. If that's the case, then the following section is tailored just for you.

We’ll quickly go over where you can buy and sell cryptocurrencies, store them securely, and utilize them as a form of payment.

Getting crypto heavily depends on where you live.

In places where crypto is heavily regulated or banned entirely, it’s nearly impossible to get crypto in a secure way. Countries such as Algeria, Bangladesh, China, Egypt, Iraq, Morocco, Nepal, Qatar, and Tunisia have banned cryptocurrencies outright.

However, if you live outside these areas, then access to crypto becomes much safer and secure, but just be mindful that hidden risks may still exist with any transaction.

Most people get crypto from the following sources:

• An exchange (we’ll cover the two types later!)
• An on-ramping platform (we’ll give you some examples)
• Payment and investment platforms

This is not an exhaustive list, and some sources may or may not be available in your country.

We’ll briefly go through the different ways you can get crypto.

Crypto Exchanges

Cryptocurrency exchanges function like regular foreign currency exchanges (FOREX), but instead of dealing with different currencies, you can buy and sell cryptocurrencies.

The type, size, and security of an exchange determine what you can do on the platform, but the key feature is that you can purchase crypto using debit/credit cards, bank transfer, or by swapping other cryptocurrencies.

Currently, two types of exchanges exist: centralized and decentralized.

Centralized exchanges (shortened as CEX) are platforms that are owned and directly managed by a single entity. Companies like Binance, Coinbase, and Kraken are examples of CEXs.

Decentralized exchanges (shortened as DEX) are platforms that are typically not owned by any one entity but are instead run and operated by their users. Popular DEXs include dYdX, Uniswap, and Kine Protocol.

✍️ We cover exchanges more in the following lesson, but read through this whole lesson before you skip ahead!

On-ramping Platforms

These platforms are very straightforward and aim to do only one thing: convert your cash to cryptocurrencies and vice-versa.

Their UI/UX is simple and most do not require a verification process (KYC).

An example of several reputable ramping platforms:

• Mt. Pelerin
• Ramp.Network
• Paraswap