We’ve recently seen a massive price appreciation in RaiBlocks (XRB), and with the recent announcement that Binance will be adding them to their exchange, many new cryptocurrency traders are wondering what the best way is to pick some up.

This guide will show you the in’s and outs of everything you’ll need to buy your first XRB, and also has a wealth of tips and tricks from a seasoned crypto investor.

As always, rule #1 of cryptos — DON’T PUT ANY MONEY INTO CRYPTOS THAT YOU AREN’T WILLING TO LOSE 100% OF. This is honestly true of any investment, but for cryptos especially due to their unforgiving and volatile nature. Now that that’s out of the way, let’s get started

The Short and Sweet

If you already do have some experience with cryptos (hell, maybe you even have some ETH or BTC already), then you can use the quick-start guide below to skip all of the details and advice. *NOTE: All exchange links included in this guide are referral links to the respective exchanges.*

Register for Coinbase (if you aren’t already) Purchase ETH or BTC (I recommend using ETH because of lower transaction fees) Register for KuCoin Transfer ETH to KuCoin Buy XRB with ETH

If you’d like a more in-depth explanation (pretty pictures included), you can continue reading below. It may seem like a long journey, but it’s important to be thorough in crypto-land so you don’t get completely screwed over.

An Introduction to RaiBlocks

I think it’s important to understand at least the very basics of what you’re purchasing, so this and all future articles will include a short introduction to get you started.

RaiBlocks is intended to be an entirely new currency, much like Bitcoin, but it has several differences and advantages over the existing blockchain technologies.

Traditional Blockchain Layout

Traditionally, a blockchain is a single file line of blocks that all contain transactions. This line starts from a “genesis block” and new blocks are added one at a time after that first block. A blockchain can record transactions that take place on the network, but the individual balances of wallets isn’t directly stored on the blockchain. To get around this, blockchain coins (like Bitcoin) must reference previous transactions in the chain to ensure that an address can’t send the same Bitcoins twice (most people call this double-spending).

RaiBlocks is taking an entirely different approach to this with a concept they call the Block Lattice. With this system, every account holder maintains their own private blockchain with each block holding a single transaction in it. This collection of accounts and individual blockchains is called the Ledger. This means that each transaction requires two parts, a Send and Receive Address.

The RaiBlocks Block Lattice

When User A receives funds from User B, User A generates a Receive Address on their blockchain, and User B generates a Spend Address directed at User A’s account.

This system may seem familiar if you know about IOTA and the Tangle, and for good reason. Both of these system are called Directed Acyclic Graphs. Similar to IOTA, RaiBlocks has no miners, no transaction fees, and near instant transactions. However, it differs from IOTA in the sense that it’s designed for person to person transactions, where as IOTA is primarily designed for micro payments between machines. Additionally, the foundation of RaiBlocks is essentially a lot of small blockchains, so it’s not as unproven as IOTA. If you want to dive deeper into how RaiBlocks works you can start with their whitepaper, but Google is also your friend :D. If you want to know more about IOTA, click here to read my purchasing guide!

Now that all that’s out of the way, let’s get back to buying.

Coinbase is a very trustworthy exchange, and is hands down the most simple way to buy Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), and more recently Bitcoin Cash (BCH). What’s more, you also have access to GDAX, which opens the doors to more advanced trading options like limit and stop orders (not covered in this guide).

Start by Registering for your account here (this lovely link will give both me and you $10 of BTC after you deposit $100, cool huh?). Make sure you pick a strong password, and I highly recommend turning on 2 factor authentication — this is your hard earned cash after all

That actually brings up a side rant, which is this: Cryptos are very unforgiving to the inexperienced, which makes it ironic that I’m making a “for dummies” guide. While this will get you started, I recommend immersing yourself in this culture and doing as much research as you can before YOLOing too hard.

After confirming your email, you can move on to adding a payment method! You have a few different options here, and it depends on how quickly you want to purchase your XRB. See screenshot below for the buttons to click