I call it the new buzzword because everyone is looking forward to having some bitcoins, for some, it is prestigious, while for others they hold it for business reasons. And we have the newbies, who buy bitcoins because they don’t want to be left behind, and when the value suddenly drops, they say it is a scam.
I was there before and I know that feeling guys, that is why I will save you all the stress and give you some preliminary information about what Bitcoins is and how to get started with it in Cameroon.
Table of Contents
What you will learn from this article
- What is Cryptocurrency and Bitcoins
- How does Bitcoins Work
- Where to store your bitcoins
- How to buy and sell bitcoins in Cameroon
- Bitcoin Trading Platforms to earn money with bitcoins
- Further training on Bitcoins
So let’s get started !!!
What is Bitcoins
To cut the long story short Cryptocurrency is a form digital money and a payment system for sending and receiving money online. And Bitcoins is an example of a cryptocurrency. Now we all know how transactions used to happen in the past, we used to trade goods for goods. This was commonly known as the barter system.
But as time evolved we faced what is know as the double coincidence of wants: where you had to find someone who had what you wanted and was in need of what you had to offer. Faced with this difficulty there was an urgent need for money to be created.
In 2008 when the world was hit by economic crisis we all witnessed the failure of the banking system.Some Central banks adopted quantitative easing as one of unconventional measures to inject liquidity in the economy together with zero interest rates in order to prevent another form of Great Depression. Global transactions slowed down and this retarded the overall level of economic activity.
Faced with this Satoshi Nakamoto decided it was time for a new monetary system. When he came up with the idea of bitcoin, one key factor was destined to play a major role: decentralization. Decentralization means we are all part of the bitcoin ecosystem, and we all contribute to it in our own ways.
Rather than relying on a government, bank, or middleman, bitcoin belongs to everyone, in a system called peer‐to‐peer, and we all make up the bitcoin network. Without individual users, there is no bitcoin. The more people embrace bitcoin, the better it works. Bitcoin needs an ever‐expanding community who actively use bitcoin as a payment method, either by buying goods and services with bitcoins or offering goods and services in exchange for bitcoins.
How It Works
Let’s assume that you are in charge of the task of inventing or printing money to aid transactions. And you have to do this task today.
You basically have to determine the value that people will exchange goods. I know it’s hard, but try to think. If this was done today, would we really be using metal coins and paper for this?
What if you wrote it down somewhere, maybe in a computer file, what value each person has? This way you can keep track of how much each person can spend. So if I, for example, do some work for you, you would probably give me some of your value in exchange. Let’s denote this value “Bitcoin”.
But how will people be defined in this file? How will someone know how to send me Bitcoins? I guess you will have to give each person a unique address (like an email). You will guard each personal address with some sort of a password. This password is known as a “secret key”.
Now on my part I will save this secret key somewhere so that i don’t forget it….Maybe on a piece of paper, or on our computer or even on a secure website. Wherever we choose to store our secret key, will be our “Bitcoin wallet”.
One thing bitcoin does is bypass the current financial system and could therefore potentially provide services to unbanked and underbanked nations all around the world. Moreover, in this current age we are all witnesses of the cashless economy, people all over the world are getting acquainted to making payments with their debit or credit cards. In Cameroon, MTN Mobile Money and Orange Mobile money exchanges are getting easier. And bitcoin has been available on mobile devices. Also you could visit coinmarketcap.com to get live trends on all the cryptocurrencies.
Where to Store Your Bitcoins
This is part you wouldn’t want to miss because when it comes to bitcoins if you make a mistake you might end up losing your coins. As we already discussed above you will need to keep your coins in a wallet. Think of a wallet as your own little bank: you have your own row of deposit boxes, and all the private keys to those boxes as well. When you need to send Bitcoin from any of your public addresses, the wallet has your private key right there for you.
There are various types of Bitcoins Wallets, we have hardware wallets, software wallets and paper wallets.
The more well-known Bitcoin wallets are Blockchain.com, Coinbase, LocalBitcoins, TREZOR and GreenAddress.
However,most Bitcoin wallets don’t have a clear business model. Coinbase’s wallet, for example, makes it easier for people to buy Bitcoins directly from Coinbase. Blockchain.info makes their revenue from advertisements on their site but they donot have a solid business model.
A different approach to generating revenue from Bitcoin wallets is to create what is known as a hardware wallet.
TREZOR and Ledger are two companies which manufacture a Bitcoin hardware wallet. It’s a physical device on which you can store your private keys and sign transactions for you. It’s one of the safest ways available today to store your Bitcoins. And I highly recommend you purchase trezor or ledger hardware wallets through Amazon by clicking the shop now button if you are serious about getting started with Bitcoins.
Another form of wallets available are physical “dumb” Bitcoin wallets such as Bitkee and Cryptosteel.
How to Buy and Sell Bitcoins in Cameroon
Many people get frustrated when it comes to this part. Because there is a lot of risk involved when acquiring bitcoins in Cameroon. I remember back in 2017 when i wanted to acquire bitcoins i got scammed, so you have to be very careful with that. Moreover if you are in Cameroon the sign up process to exchange platforms like coinbase and kraken is very complicated that is why i will share the easiest and safest way to obtain bitcoins.
There are various ways to obtain bitcoins but the one i will recommend is buying them. The platforms where you can buy bitcoins are called ‘exchanges‘ It is just like an exchange office where you can use local currency to obtain foreign currency,
Bitcoin exchanges exchange your physical money for bitcoins. A bitcoin exchange is the currency’s equivalent of the services offered by banks or other regulated institutions that allow currency exchange — commonly known as FOREX transactions.
You may have an account at the bitcoin exchange where you hold funds in your local currency and you use that account to trade for bitcoins. From that account, you would send the bitcoins to your preferred wallet and use the bitcoins as you see fit, similar to how you would use local fiat currency held in your checking account.
In Cameroon you can easily have access to Local Bitcoins, Pc Crypto Market and Virta cash. The one I highly recommend is LocalBitcoins since i use it several times for my transactions. Moreover, I have never encountered any problem with them.
Now you should also note that on these platforms you can also sell bitcoins. Moreover I made a video explaining the process of buying and selling bitcoins in Cameroon. Watch the Video Below!!
Click Here to Buy and Sell Bitcoins in Cameroon!!
Bitcoins Forex Trading
If you are like many other Cameroonians interested in trading bitcoins because you believe you can profit from the fluctuating exchange rate then this section is definitely for you.
For that exact same reason, a lot of companies supply CFD trading (contracts for difference). In this sort of trading you don’t actually buy the Bitcoins but rather buy a contract on Bitcoin. If the price then goes up you can sell the contract for a profit. If it goes down you lose.
You can also short sell Bitcoin CFDs and buy a contract that will earn you money if Bitcoin prices go down. The problem with this trading type is that it’s usually risky but i guess everything is life is about taking risk.
One of the companies who supply CFD trading are Avatrade and Plus500. Another form of business that is similar to CFD trading are Bitcoin binary options.
Bitcoin Binary Options are a form of trading in which you predict if the price of Bitcoin will rise or fall in a certain amount of time. If you’re correct you earn the option’s payoff, if you’re incorrect you lose your investment.
Further Training on Bitcoins
In this article I gave a brief overview on how to get started with Bitcoins in Cameroon. What is Bitcoins, where to store your coins, how to acquire and trade bitcoins. Now you have to understand that this is just a little snippet of what bitcoins is all about. I tried as much as possible not to use some terminologies that might appear difficult for you.
To better serve and help you on your journey with Bitcoins in Cameroon, i made an in depth course: Masters in Cryptocurrencies and Bitcoins. This course will guide you through the entire process of bitcoins and cryptocurrencies. Below is a view of the membership area.
What You will Learn in the Course
Everything you need to succeed in Bitcoins for just $49 which is equivalent to about 30000frs. On top of that there is a free bonus: I give you free access to my Affiliate Bootcamp. In this Bootcamp you will learn how to get started and earn money from Affiliate Marketing. Ranging from email marketing, Social Media Marketing to Video Marketing. So what are you waiting for, click below to get started.
Click Here to Get access to the Course Now!
I hope this article helped you. Remember helping you is our passion. Feel free to comment below on what you think about bitcoins, the evolution in Cameroon and the various difficulties you encountered while using it.
To your Success!