JOIN CARDANO

1. Crypto Exchanges

Transferring fiat (money) into an exchange
To get started in any blockchain, you need to transfer fiat (government-issued currency – i.e. US Dollar) into a crypto exchange and then transfer that into a Cardano wallet. Essentially a crypto exchange is a platform where you can buy and sell cryptocurrency – kind of like a stock broker. You can use exchanges to trade one crypto for another — converting Bitcoin to ADA, for example — or to buy crypto using regular currency, like the U.S. Dollar. Exchanges are like middle-men between the blockchains and banks, and they are not blockchain wallets.

Centralized vs. Decentralized: Exchanges are centralized systems – i.e. they are owned and controlled by single-point corporations and organizations like banks. Cardano and many other block-chains are decentralized systems, which means that no one entity can control, change or corrupt them. The exchanges are a temporary necessity to change your fiat currency into crypto-currency or vice-versa.

Many people use Moonpay, Coinbase, and Crypto.com as exchanges. Most of these will have you install an app on your mobile device and do things there. We suggest that you do some research and find an exchange that will suit your needs. Here is a listing of exchanges: https://coinranking.com/exchanges

Once you have chosen an exchange and set it up, transfer some money into the exchange from your bank.

NEVER SEND ADA FROM AN EXCHANGE FOR ANY NFT TRANSACTION
The exchanges are technically not part of Cardano, so if you send ADA to buy an NFT from an exchange, you may lose your ADA.

2. Cardano Wallet

Sending money from the exchange to your Cardano Wallet
The next thing you need to do is to set up a Cardano wallet, which is kind of like your own bank account for Cardano. Your wallet is where you will store ADA and NFTs, and then do transactions to send and receive ADA to other wallets when you want to buy NFTs, give gifts, transfer to your own other wallets, etc. Your wallet will hold all of your crypto assets – tokens, NFTs, and cryptocurrency.

Popular Cardano wallets include Eternl, Nami, Flint, Gero, Lace, Typhoon, Vespr, and Yoroi. All of those are considered light wallets – making them a little easier for the average user. Ask members of the Psychoz community what they think – to engage with them, Join our Discord. Once you have set up your wallet, you copy the “receive” address of your wallet (usually a long unreadable set of numbers and letters) and paste it into the send or outgoing field of your exchange app.

Daedalus is a full-node wallet, meaning it stores and reads the entire blockchain on your desktop or laptop computer. So this may have some benefits, but it does take a lot more time to set up and requires more resources on your computer.

Please do your own research to decide what will work best for you and make sure you take security measures to save your passwords and seed phrases in a safe place. Think of your wallet like a bank vault, and the seed phrase is the combination to open it.

NEVER SHARE YOUR SEED PHRASE – if someone asks for it, they are probably intending to steal everything you have in your wallet.

3. Buy or Sell NFTs

If you are interested in NFTs, do some research on the projects before you buy them. Some projects may increase in value and have long-term investment benefits, some projects are good for entertainment and gaming purposes, some are geared toward art connoisseurs and collectors, and generally, there are projects that are suited for multiple purposes.

If you are interested in selling NFTs, you can do that through marketplaces. One of the most popular marketplaces on Cardano is JPG Store.

We’ve all heard about scammers that copy successful projects and sell fake NFTs. There are ways to validate the projects you are interested in, such as cross-checking the policy ID, making sure the website and social accounts belong to the original project owner, DM the owners and other community members through the project’s Discord, Twitter, and Social Media accounts. Many of the marketplaces have a process where they validate projects – so look for the validation – it usually looks like a checkmark in the marketplaces.

NEVER SEND ADA FROM AN EXCHANGE FOR ANY NFT TRANSACTION

ONLY MINT PSYCHOZ NFTs FROM OUR WEBSITE OR DISCORD – MINT-INFO CHANNEL
Never mint to an address posted anywhere else or by anyone else!

4. Get Involved in Crypto Communities

Follow and engage on Social Media, and join project Discord channels
Communities have formed with each block-chain, with many purposes and personalities. Many communities may speak your language, share your values, and have similar vision. You’ll find many of those through Twitter/Twitter Spaces, Discord, and YouTube.

Crypto is new and is evolving, so connecting with communities is a way to grow and evolve with them. In the case of Cardano, the system has governance built into it, and it has a grant system that all members are able to vote where grant money is spent.

Not Financial Advice

We do not provide any financial advice and strongly encourage you to do your research about investing in block-chain, NFTs and crypto technologies. You must be diligent about the decisions that you make regarding your finances. This page is to support you in understanding the steps that you need to take in order to join Cardano, but please also do additional research to understand this more.