New to Steem(it), New to Cryptocurrency, Advice?

Why I am here

Recently I started researching investing to try and be more creative and productive with my cash. I quickly found cryptocurrencies, learned of the basic tech behind Bitcoin and Ethereum, and now I have started playing around with small amounts of cash in learning how to use wallets and exchanges. I am here to learn more about this stuff and participate in this growing crypto community!

Current Status - Any Advice?

First thing I did was grab $50 of Bitcoin from an ATM near my home in Detroit, MI. I have just kept the paper wallet (thinking about framing it) for long term growth. Now I am hearing of Bitcoin possibly imploding? I am not a programmer or anything so the tech stuff gets over my head fairly quickly. Regardless of that, is keeping a paper wallet a bad idea? Are there extra steps that I should take to protect it?

Second was signing up for Coinbase, and purchasing $25 of ether and Litecoin. Both grew immediately, including Litecoin basically doubling. Fireworks! Right? Those are just chillin'.

Third was Kraken and Fourth was Bittrex. Using Ether and then Bitcoin from my Coinbase. I have bought small amounts of Iconomi, Antshares, and Monero. Used the bit of Bitcoin I had left to grab 300 Siacoins. Bittrex seems far superior as far as ease of use.
Are any of these poor choices?

Now, I am looking forward to collecting Steem but TBH I am somewhat confused. Do I have to buy steem to transfer here to upvote and donate? Do I collect it and then share it? Sorry for the rookie questions.

Conclusion

I am excited about cryptocurrency's potential for both its technology and its effect on finances & the world at large. I am looking to produce here all kinds of good content on my path through crypto and on other topics too, I am trying to be a philosophical lawyer/golf pro/finance trillionaire, after all. Before that though I got more learnin' to do so lets start with that.

Any advice on these currencies or others is greatly appreciated! Looking forward to the future!

All photos are mine

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Welcome to this incredible platform - We've taken similar paths. Great shout on Iconomi .. Love that coin and really looking forward to interacting on the platform.
Hope you enjoy this place as much as I do. It's not difficult to get started.
A little effort will truly go a long way.
A great way to start is by Following ,Upvoting & Resteeming people and they will do the same for you. Good luck !

You can follow my blog @wannerbet

Makes sense I am going to start following more now.

Make sure you don't purchase any Steem or Steem dollars on poloniex, they have disabled both deposits and withdrawls. You can purchase @bittrex and other exchanges and transfer to your account here on Steemit.com. If you buy Steem on Bittrex for example, when you have the steem in your bittrex account. Goto the wallets tab and check the box that says hide zero balances(makes things less busy looking). Press the litlle "-" button to the left of the Steem name. In the window that opens up, under address put your name on steemit, or "atonyatlaw" without the quotes. Now, in another browser window or tab you will need to go into your steemit.com account, click on your avatar in the upper right corner, and click on wallet. Now you will see your wallet there and you want to click on the "Permissions" tab. Scroll all the way down to the bottom, you need to copy the string of text beside the QRCODE for the last entry titled "MEMO". That string needs to be pasted into the "memo" field at bittrex. Now all you have to do is decide how many of your steem you wish to transfer, if you want to send all of them click the double up arrow on the left of the "quantity" field in the bittrex window. Now VERIFY the address, the amount, the memo field, if you make a mistake here you can send your funds into the abyss so PLEASE verify. Click the Withdraw button. It will ask you to confirm and if you have 2 factor authentication set up(you really should if you haven't yet) it will ask you for your 2fa. That's it, fairly straight forward. This process will be similar on other exchanges, although I have only ever done this from bittrex...

So any posts or replies that you agree with or like, you'll see an up arrow beside the dollar amount located under the post. Click that arrow and it should turn blue. That's how to upvote a post and or comment. Remember the more helpful/relevant your posts/replies/comments are the more likely they are to get upvoted which makes you money.

I hope this was somewhat helpful if so, please upvote this reply, thanks, and welcome to the Steem community...

That is some great info! Thanks a lot! You are followed fellow Steemian? Steemer?

Yeah, I thought the info might be of use, glad to hear that it was...

Welcome to this incredible platform, hope everything will work out for you. Being here it’s not easy but not difficult neither only an extra effort will go a long way, engagement is the key good luck I’m @tinashe Start by Following ,Upvoting &Resteeming people and they will do the same. 

Support steemit Zimbabwe👉 CLICK HERE

Thank you

 

Great post !
Ok I need help so I follow you, please foolow me to increase my tokens from steemit.
Vote Up or you can see my last post and why I need.

Nice first post. So many questions! Sounds like you are doing well and having fun. I think bittrex is the best exchange. But first rule of crypto.. don't leave anything on an exchange. Unless you are going to be trading. It's just too high risk. Also, if you frame a paper wallet and put it in the wall, anyone that comes I to your house can pull out heir phone are transfer it in 2 seconds :)

Haha! That's a good point about framing it, I was just thinking of protecting its fragile paper-ness. Thanks for that. But alright, I do think of these initial investments as more long term so how do I go about finding reputable wallet services to get them off of the exchange?

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