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How to buy IOTA


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What is IOTA?

IOTA is a revolutionary new transactional settlement and data transfer layer for the Internet of Things. It’s based on a new distributed ledger, the Tangle, which overcomes the inefficiencies of current Blockchain designs and introduces a new way of reaching consensus in a decentralized peer-to-peer system. For the first time ever, through IOTA people can transfer money without any fees. This means that even infinitesimally small nanopayments can be made through IOTA.

 

IOTA is the missing puzzle piece for the Machine Economy to fully emerge and reach its desired potential. We envision IOTA to be the public, permissionless backbone for the Internet of Things that enables true interoperability between all devices.

 

What can I do with IOTA?

IOTA currently does two things really well: transactional settlement (especially micropayments) and data integrity. Through these two features you can derive most use cases that make sense and are most of the time, only possible with IOTA. More features (such as Oracles, Smart Contracts, etc.) are on our roadmap and will be added in the near future.

The main focus of IOTA is the Internet of Things, with machines paying each other for resources, services or access. This includes smart cities, smart grids, infrastructure, supply chain etc. where IOTA makes certain use cases possible.

 

How to buy IOTA

Buying IOTA is a lot different than the other currencies we did so far, most currencies we bought by using Shapeshift and Changelly, however to buy IOTA you will need to use the Bitfinix exchange (Hong Kong based, so there’s that).

 

The process is simple to understand, but it gets a little bit tricky/overwhelming at stages. A simple overview will be that you transfer Bitcoins from luno to the Bitfinix exchange and then from there you put a buy order in to buy IOTA which you will then transfer from the Bitfinix exchange to your IOTA wallet.

 

First step, download the IOTA wallet (this thing is primitive as hell). Go to the Github page to download the latest release: https://github.com/iotaledger/wallet/releases if you are on windows then click on the download labeled: IOTA.Wallet.Setup.2.4.0.exe

 

Install the wallet, you will be greeted with a choice between light mode or full mode, the IOTA GUI makes it possible to choose between Full Wallet, and Light Wallet. The Full Wallet automatically runs an IRI (IOTA Reference Implementation) instance in the background, which in turn means that you need neighbors in order to participate in the network and be synchronized. If you run the full wallet, you have no "trust requirements", as you are completely and independently participating in the network.

 

The Light Wallet makes it possible to connect to a remote node (whether it is your own node, or someone else's), and it's users to get the latest state of the network, most importantly branch/trunk transactions which are required for making a transaction. When running a Light Wallet, it should be noted that your seed never leaves your wallet, and all the sensitive work (such as signing) is done client-side.

 

For this tutorial, I would suggest going with the light wallet until you are comfortable with how it all works.

 

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Choose the Bitfinex node.

 

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Now you need to create your own seed, I will save you some time, click on this link and the site will generate a random seed for you: https://coindata.co.za/iota-seed.php (Secure).

 

NOTE: Save this seed, this is your key. If you lose this seed you lose your wallet. Gone, no way to get it back ever.

 

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Before you can receive any IOTA, you have to generate an address. This is fairly simple. Click on the 'Receive' tab and there should already be an address there.

 

Click ATTACH TO TANGLE and it will attach the address to the tangle.

 

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Now comes the harder part, buying IOTA’s on the exchange, Create a Bitfinex Account. Sign up button is at the top right. Do use a real email address as you'll need to confirm the withdraw at the end via email.

 

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Next step is to generate a Bitcoin address to send the BTC too, Now I know there's a lot happening on this screen, but hit deposit at the top right.

 

Now click on Bitcoin as shown below

 

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Then make sure you copy the exchange wallet address and then paste that into luno so that you can send bitcoins from luno to bitfinex.

 

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Now it is time to purchase IOTA with bitcoin, so hover your mouse over the top left where it says BTC/USD, it will open the sidebar, navigate to bitcoin in the IOTA category.

 

Now the screen will show trading of BTC to IOTA. Click "Limit" from the dropdown box and select Market. This is the easiest option for someone new at this but if you understand markets you can limit buy as well.

 

Hit this green button! This will calculate the maximum amount of mIOTA you can buy with your available funds. Hit Exchange buy and you finally own some IOTA!

 

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Success, now you need to transfer you IOTA from Bitfinex to your IOTA GUI wallet you downloaded in the beginning.

 

Click on withdraw in bitfinex. click the value amount on the right side of the screen and insert your receiving address.

 

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Your receiving address can be found in the GUI wallet under the receive tab. Just click it and it should copy to the clipboard for copy pasting.

 

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After you have taken your receiving address, place it into the address entry field on bitfinex, Check the read and understand box (of course you read it) and hit Request Withdraw.

 

You'll have to confirm the withdraw twice. The first is a confirmation number you enter on the next page. After that, you will get an email to finally approve the withdraw. That's it!

 

Seems like a process but it really doesn't take too long. It involves 2 websites and the IOTA Wallet application, so best of luck!

 

Tips: If you found this guide useful, please send some IOTA our way by using this wallet address OFOPVYUIMACJKWZB9DAAZUNRIODHBZYTGKIE9POHBHUOMGKPCGNZ9NEOCALOHCYRVDI9BLTKSCRYCLOTW9LGGFBGYX or scan the QR code of the wallet in the screenshots.

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Thanks for the tutorial, hope you dont mind me asking a question.

 

I followed everything 100%. I sent the coins from bitfinex to the wallet and whilst it was processing I exited the wallet and then opened it again and now I cant see my coins in the wallet.

 

The seed changes every time you go to that link so I am not sure where my coins are now. Whem I sent it I could se umder the history tab that its processing but after going back in again I cant see it, it just shows 0.

 

Sent from my LG-H815 using Tapatalk

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Hold up, what do you mean the seed changes.

 

You generate your own 81 character seed the first time.

 

Then you save that seed (it becomes your wallet's private key of sorts.) so if you lose the seed you lose your coins.

 

So before we continue, just need to confirm are you using the original (first) seed you created to log into the wallet?

Join the official JSE Discord Channel

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Ah well that sucks. I did not know I needed to save that seed string.

 

Sent from my LG-H815 using Tapatalk

 

Oh boy - that's a bad one.

 

I think we'll need to update the OP to indicate that the seed is your lifeline and MUST be saved. It's your key for all intensive purposes.

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Hi there, 

 

Nice tutorial. Thanks for the pointers, as a newbie it was easy to follow and very helpful.

 

I only have one question. I have a dynamic IP and I'm using a VPN, therefore I will never get the same IP. I heard this might be an issue with the nodes - is that true? Specifically, every time I log in my Receive address changes and I have to attach it to the Tangle - is that normal? I have the previous receive addresses in the history still - can I use them for my seed? Will my IOTA arrive in the wallet? 

 

Thanks in advance.

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...
  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

 

What problem? I have an account and dont remember any problem

Trying to register, and get the following message:

New account registrations are currently suspended due to DDoS attacks. Thank you for your patience and understanding. Please come back and try again later.

 

I am hoping that there is a referral or similar system to register in the meantime.

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