Buying and Selling Cryptocurrency: Wallets, Exchanges, and NFTs

Book: Cryptocurrency QuickStart Guide
Author: Jonathan Reichental
ISBN: 978-1-63610-041-8

Getting Crypto Used to Be Hard. Now It’s Almost Too Easy.

Back in 2009, you had two options if you wanted Bitcoin: mine it yourself or find another enthusiast and negotiate a transfer. That second path led to the famous pizza purchase of 2010. Fast forward to today, and you can buy crypto through PayPal, Robinhood, Goldman Sachs, Ally Bank, and hundreds of dedicated exchanges.

Chapter 8 of Jonathan Reichental’s Cryptocurrency QuickStart Guide walks through the practical side of all this. Wallets, exchanges, buying your first coins, even snagging an NFT. It’s the chapter where crypto stops being theory and starts being something you can actually do.

No Keys, No Crypto

The core idea is simple: your ownership of crypto is defined by your key pairs. No keys, no crypto. Your private keys let you send and receive. Your public keys (wallet addresses) let others pay you.

This is what Reichental calls “monetary sovereignty.” You alone are responsible for your money. Send a payment to the wrong address? Nobody reverses it. Lose your private keys? Nobody recovers them. Cool concept, obvious drawbacks.

That makes your wallet choice a big deal. Here are the main types:

• Online/custodial wallets (hot wallets): A third party stores your keys. Convenient, but you’re trusting someone else.
• Software wallets (light wallets): Apps on your phone or computer. Some offer cold storage features.
• Full node wallets: Download the entire blockchain. Tori Forrest in the book runs Bitcoin Core this way. Hundreds of gigabytes, but maximum control.
• Hardware wallets (cold wallets): Physical devices like thumb drives with encryption and passcodes. Keys stay offline.
• Paper wallets: Write your key on paper. Technically cold storage, but not very secure in practice.

Reichental’s security tips are worth taking seriously: use a VPN on public WiFi, keep antivirus updated, enable multi-factor authentication everywhere, and back up your recovery phrase (split it into two parts stored in separate locations). And consider telling someone you trust where your keys are, including in your will. If you die and nobody can access your keys, that crypto is gone forever.

Picking an Exchange

Exchanges are where buyers and sellers meet. Over 400 exist according to CoinMarketCap. Setting up is straightforward: create an account, verify your identity, fund it with fiat via bank transfer or credit card, then buy.

But not all exchanges are equal. Reichental suggests asking:

1. How secure is it? Mt. Gox got hacked twice. FTX collapsed in 2022. Check if they use cold storage, require strong passwords, and offer MFA.
2. What coins are supported? Some exchanges only list a handful.
3. What are the fees? Transaction fees (Gemini charges 1.49% on BTC/ETH trades), spread fees (Coinbase charges about 0.5% above their cost), and random “convenience fees” stacked on top.
4. Is it available in your country? Binance has had ongoing issues with US regulators.

Peter Forrest Buys His First Bitcoin

The book walks through a detailed example. Corporate lawyer Peter Forrest wants to buy $100 of BTC on Coinbase with help from his daughter Tori. The process: verify identity, link a bank account, click Buy/Sell, confirm the order.

Peter gets 4.7 mBTC for his $100 (minus a $2.99 Coinbase fee). The price moved slightly between preview and purchase, so he got a tiny bit less than expected. Sound familiar if you’ve ever bought stocks or exchanged currency abroad.

Then comes the withdrawal lock. Coinbase holds new deposits for a few days before you can move crypto off the exchange. Binance does something similar with a 10-day wait. Reichental’s tip: fund your exchange account ahead of time so you’re free to move keys whenever you want.

Peter moves $50 of his BTC to an Electrum software wallet. He generates a receive address, copies it into Coinbase’s Send panel, and waits about 10 minutes for confirmation. The keys are now in his wallet, not Coinbase’s custody.

Banks Want In Too

Peter eventually decides he’s done with the DIY approach. He goes through his financial advisor Mariana and lets traditional finance handle his crypto. Higher fees, less control, but more comfort for a high-net-worth investor.

The pros: regulations create baseline liability, and legacy banks have strong security track records. The cons: higher costs (banks rarely beat exchange fees of 0.1% to 1.5%) and limited coin selection. Major banks like Deutsche Bank, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America hired three times as many crypto professionals in 2021 compared to 2015.

Buying an NFT in Three Steps

Tori convinces Peter to try one NFT purchase before handing everything to Mariana. The steps:

1. Get the right crypto. NFTs mostly trade in ether. Peter converts his remaining $50 of BTC to ETH on Coinbase.
2. Move ETH to a compatible wallet. Electrum only holds Bitcoin, so Tori sets up a Coinbase wallet app (browser extension + phone). Peter now controls his own keys.
3. Go shopping. They browse OpenSea.io and buy a low-cost “Bored Apes” variation for 0.01 ETH (about $16) plus gas fees.

Peter now owns a digitally signed artwork recorded on the Ethereum blockchain. He can keep it, gift it, or resell it. Tori’s response when he jokes about auctioning it at Sotheby’s: “Maybe someday, Dad. Anything’s possible.”

What Is Crypto Actually Worth?

Reichental’s short answer from Chapter 1 still holds: a crypto is worth whatever you’re willing to pay, and its worth is whatever someone else will give you for it. NFTs are even more speculative, like traditional art where pricing can be whimsical.

For deeper analysis, he lists factors that drive demand:

• Supply and demand (Bitcoin’s 21 million cap vs. BNB’s quarterly burns)
• Strength of the team behind the coin
• Noteworthy applications and real use cases
• Market longevity (scams tend to be “here today, gone tomorrow”)
• Competition for developers and market share
• Community strength (the network effect)
• Media attention and PR strategy
• Exchange presence

Stacks (STX), which powers CityCoins, gets singled out as potentially more worthy than hype-only coins with no purpose.

My Take

Chapter 8 is where the book gets practical in a way that matters. The wallet security stuff isn’t glamorous, but it’s the difference between owning crypto and losing it. The exchange fee breakdown is honest about how those “free” platforms make money. And the Forrest family walkthrough makes the whole process feel doable rather than intimidating.

The valuation section at the end is a preview of the investing and trading chapters ahead. Reichental doesn’t pretend there’s a magic formula. He gives you a checklist of things to look at before you put money in.

If you’re new to crypto, this chapter is your starting point. Pick an exchange, buy a small amount, and decide whether you want custody yourself or trust a third party. Both paths are valid. Just know what you’re trading off.

Previous: Crypto Tokens and NFTs Explained
Next: Trading Cryptocurrency Basics