So you are a new cryptocurrency enthusiast, and you just heard about this amazing new thing called Skycoin. I imagine your expression was something like this when you learned about it:
Well, you are not the first one who wants to get in on this SKY action. But how do you actually buy this amazing, awesome coin?
I am here to teach you just that! Get yourself a nice beverage and take my hand. Let's go above the clouds together!
Before anything, you need to gain access to an exchange that offers SKY. Unfortunately, SKY is not available on major exchanges like Binance or Bittrex yet. Instead, you need to dig deeper into less popular exchange websites. For purchasing SKY, C2CX is a good choice, and so I will use it for this tutorial.
Head over to C2CX and create an account. Make sure you are visiting the correct URL to avoid exposing yourself to phishing scams.
Fill in the account creation form with your desired username and a valid email address. As always, choose a secure password that you can recall in the future.
Once you have filled out the form, you need to follow the instruction to activate your account by checking your mailbox for the confirmation email.
Lastly, after you have successfully activated your C2CX account, you may provide your real name (I would not recommend this unless you plan on using C2CX as your primary exchange in the future). You may also set up your Google 2FA here, which you absolutely should consider for security purposes. If you don't know what 2FA is, and how you can set it up, you can click here for a short summary of how it works. Alternatively, if you do not want to set up 2FA now, just click "I do not want to setup Google 2 Factor Authentication now" at the bottom of this window.
Before you can get your hands on that sweet SKY stash, you need to deposit some funds to your brand new C2CX account. You can buy SKY with BTC, USDT or DRG. In this tutorial, I am assuming that you will be buying SKY with Bitcoin (because if you own USDT or DRG, you probably would not be here in the first place).
If you are not already logged in, log into your new C2CX account, and go to 'Transfers' section. Then, click the 'Deposit' button under the BTC row. Here, you will be assigned a new BTC deposit address. In order to fund your account, you must deposit BTC to this address. Always make sure you check your destination address before transferring your funds.
Once you have successfully sent your Bitcoins to the deposit address, you should see the transaction inside C2CX as it goes through confirmations. Simply relax, go enjoy a nice delicious cup of coffee, and come back here. Transferring Bitcoin can take several minutes.
Finally, you should have your deposit available, and your BTC balance updated.
With your brand new account loaded and juiced up with all that delicious Bitcoin goodness, you are ready to buy some Skycoin!
Navigate to the 'Trades' tab in C2CX, and click on the SKY/BTC trading pair.
Then, simply fill out the order form. You can either place an order to buy SKY at a price that you like (i.e. Limit Order), or you can buy SKY at the current market price (i.e. Market Order). Because neither of us has any patience when it comes to buying SKY, I'm going to teach you how to place a Market Order.
In the order form, click the Order Type dropdown and select 'Market'.
Now, pick how much SKY you want to buy. You can either use the Buy % slider, or enter an exact amount (in BTC value) in the 'Money' box. Alternatively, if you want to convert all of your BTC to SKY, just click the 'All' button as shown below. When you are ready, click 'Buy SKY'.
Your order now gets placed on the exchange, and if you have placed a Market Order it should fill almost immediately. When it is filled, you will see it in your order history as 'Completed'.
Congratulations, you now own some SKY! Welcome to the club!
But you are not done yet. You know you want those sweet Coin Hours... ;)
Coin Hours is a unique feature of Skycoin that rewards all Skycoin holders with a token that accumulates over time. This token is then used to utilize the Skywire. I am not going into the details of Coin Hours, but if you are curious to learn more, you can always check out this guide.
Even if you are not interested in getting Coin Hours, it is never a good idea to leave your assets on the exchange unless you plan on trading them frequently. So I am going to teach you how to get those Skycoins you just bought into a Skycoin wallet.
To start, go to the official Skycoin website, and click 'Downloads' at the top.
Then, depending on which platform you use, click the appropriate download link. I would not recommend the portable versions of the wallet unless you are sure that is what you want.
Once you have downloaded the wallet, simply run the executable and follow the instructions on the installer.
When the installation is finished, open up the Skycoin application, and you should see something like this:
You can use this application to create as many SKY wallets as you need, and manage them. As you can see, I have one wallet, which has some Skycoin in it already. On the right side, you can see how many Coin Hours I have accumulated so far.
Now you need to transfer those shiny new Skycoins that you purchased with your shiny new C2CX account into your shiny new Skycoin wallet!
To reveal your wallet address, click on your wallet in the Skycoin application.
This reveals some extra options, along with your address. Highlight your address, and copy it. You will need this for the next step.
Now, go back to C2CX. If you are not logged in, log in again, and go to the 'Transfers' page. Scroll down until you find the SKY section, and click 'Withdrawal'.
Before you can withdraw from C2CX, you need to set up a Withdrawal Password. Click the link in this page to set that up.
Simply fill in the fields to set up your Withdrawal Password. Make sure you choose a strong password that is different from your login password. If you have set up 2FA, you need to use it here to complete this step.
Once your Withdrawal Password is set, go back to the Withdrawal page, and fill in the Withdrawal form as shown in the picture above.
Uncheck the 'Use Existing Address' checkbox, and instead use a New Address. Fill that box with the address of your Skycoin wallet. Select the amount you want to transfer (or just click 'All' if you want to transfer everything), enter your new withdrawal password, and your 2FA code. When you are ready, click 'Withdraw'.
At this time, C2CX will most likely send you a confirmation email to confirm the withdrawal request. If that happens, simply follow the instructions, check your email, and confirm the withdrawal.
When your withdrawal is confirmed, it will show up in your C2CX account as such:
It may take a while for your withdrawal to complete, so just relax and be patient.
Eventually, your new Skycoins will show up in your wallet.
That's it! You're done! Congratulations! You now own a bunch of shiny new Skycoins that you purchased from C2CX with your shiny new account, and moved to your shiny new Skycoin wallet, so that you can enjoy those shiny new Coin Hours!
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I hope you found this post useful. If you did, let me know that, so I can post more stuff like this!
If you wanna chat with me, or if you have any questions, you can always find me in the Apollo Project Discord Server. It's a place full of nerds who get aroused by blockchain, trading, and all things crypto related. So if you also feel something tingling in your nether regions whenever you look at trend lines, you'd feel right at home.
Cheers!
