Skycoin is one of the most ambitious and advanced blockchain projects in the crypto space right now, and it has a very bright future. Here are the steps to join this revolution by acquiring some Skycoin, beginning with the most important step…

The Wallet

The Skycoin team has created an intuitive, fully-functional Skycoin wallet for mobile devices and desktop computers. Go to skycoin.com/downloads to get your wallet.

In addition to the Skycoin software wallet, the Skycoin team has created an elegant and affordable hardware wallet that you may also want to check out, which will soon be available at the Skycoin hardware webstore.

Name your wallet, confirm your seed, enter an encryption password and you’re done. (Just don’t lose that seed!)

The steps to create a wallet address are simple; just make sure you record your 12 or 24-word seed in a secure place, preferably offline where it cannot be remotely hacked or stolen. That seed will allow you to regenerate your wallet, so treat it with care. If you wanted your Skycoin wallet on both your desktop and your mobile device, you would create your new wallet on one machine, and then “load” it on another, entering your seed phrase when asked. It’s also a very good idea to encrypt your wallet with a strong password that you will remember, though you may use your seed to reset your password if you need to.

Get that Skycoin!

Head over to Skycoin.com again, and click “Buy Skycoin”. You’ll see three options:

Your options may vary based on the country you are in at the time.

This option allows you to convert cryptocurrency that you already own into Skycoin. This is done through a third-party service called CoinSwitch, which is essentially a marketplace for exchanges. (There are other similar exchange services online that trade Skycoin, like SwapLab.)

You will need to select the cryptocurrency you wish to exchange, and copy/paste your Skycoin address into the address field.

CoinSwitch will find the best exchange rate for your conversion pair, and perform the exchange as a middle-man between you and the exchange. You will need to copy and paste your Skycoin wallet address into the relevant field and the system will generate an address that you will in turn send your existing cryptocurrency to in order to begin the exchange process. The time it takes the Skycoin to appear in your wallet depends on which cryptocurrency you choose to exchange. Note that CoinSwitch charges a small fee, less than .5 percent, for the convenience of transacting without having to create an account on an exchange that trades Skycoin.

This is a great option if you already own cryptocurrency on an exchange like CoinBase that doesn’t yet trade Skycoin on its platform.

You may not see this screen if you are attempting to access it from within the United States.

This transaction is handled through a third-party company called Indacoin if you are outside the United States, which is not authorized to work within the U.S. Again, a fee will be charged for the convenience of buying Skycoin with a credit card; in the case of Indacoin, it it 20% if done through their website and 9% if you download their app and transact there. That seems like a hefty fee, but if you don’t own Cryptocurrency already and don’t want to deal with exchanges, then using a service like Indacoin might be what you are looking for. Note that many banks will not allow cryptocurrency purchases with their credit cards, and may block the transaction; likewise, there are limits to the amount of crypto you can purchase at a time.

More exchanges are starting to pick up Skycoin, so watch the Skycoin blog for updates.

Skycoin is listed on several of the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges like Binance, and LBank. You will need to open an account at one of these exchanges, and then fund that account before you can buy Skycoin. For instance, Binance currently offers Skycoin purchase via Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Binance Coin (BNB). So once you have opened your account at Binance, you will need to purchase one of those coins before you can use it to buy Skycoin. These are what are known as trading pairs. Once your account is approved, and you purchased Ethereum (for example), then you can simply select the SKY/ETH trading pair and place an order. If this is your first time trading on an exchange, I recommend you read up on what a limit order is, vs. stop limit and market orders, to ensure you get the most out of your experience.

Bear in mind that although you may be able to purchase and hold Skycoin on an exchange, it is always best practice to then transfer that Skycoin to your own software or hardware wallet, where it can generate Coin Hours, the innovative parallel currency that, among other things, helps keep Skycoin transfers virtually free, and will one day form an important part of the economy of Skywire, Skycoin’s revolutionary decentralized Internet.

Peer-to-Peer Trading in Meatspace

BuySky.org will let you acquire Skycoin with cash, but you’ll pay a slight premium for the privilege.

Of course, you can also try to find someone who already has Skycoin, and pay them to send some of their Skycoin to you. You can go to BuySky.org to find sellers in your area who are willing to accept cash for Skycoin. Be aware that the price you pay for Skycoin through BuySky.org will always be some percentage above the current market value of the coin, which may be worth it to you if you wish to avoid using an exchange altogether.

Earn Skycoin While You Sleep

The most fun you can have plugging something in. Lucrative, too! Skyminers will literally pay for themselves.

Finally, one of the most exciting ways to get Skycoin is to purchase a Skyminer or build one yourself and then get paid Skycoin in exchange for providing services to Skywire. Running Skyminer nodes helps build a faster, more secure, and more private Internet, bypassing Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to create a truly decentralized network.

Good luck, and welcome to Skycoin, the best community in crypto!