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Getting-Ether.md

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Documentation chat

Outlines how to get Ether.

Note that you should only buy Ether (or any cryptocurrency except for stable ones like DAI or USDT) with risk capital, i.e. money that you can afford to lose, because of the volatile nature of Ether.

Contents

In order to obtain Ether, you need to either:

  • trade other currencies for ether using trustless/decentralized or centralized marketplaces or exchanges
  • not recommended as it's not very user friendly: use the user friendly Mist Ethereum GUI Wallet that as of Beta 6 introduced the ability to purchase ether using the http://shapeshift.io/ API.
  • not recommended: become an Ethereum miner (see here. Note that this Homestead guide is outdated, which is the same as this mining wiki). However, this is not recommended as Ethereum is going to transition to proof-of-stake, making mining obsolescent. Becoming a miner would involve investing in a mining rig (several GPUs, plus maybe other hardware if needed, like a compatible computer), which is unlikely to get a return on investment before PoS is implemented.

After you get Ether it is recommended that you transfer it to a wallet which you have the private key for, such as MyEtherWallet, MyCrypto or imToken. Then to use Ether to make transfers, you can use MetaMask (a browser extension which allows Ethereum dApps to be run through your browser).

Trustless services

Note that the Ethereum platform is special in that the smart contracts enable trustless services that obviate the need for trusted third parties in a currency exchange transaction, i.e. disintermediate currency exchange businesses. Note that these services may still require some level of trust, e.g. in the service provider.

Projects that have launched includes:

  • Those listed in this Etherscan chart.
  • LocalEthereum allows exchanging Ether for fiat currencies, like Localbitcoin. "The smart contract allows users to safely exchange ether with one another, and to name a trusted third-party to mediate a trade if a dispute arises. Currently, the trusted mediator is always localethereum.com, but the contract will be adapted in the future to switch over to a reputation-based distributed arbitrator pool." The source of this quote is here.
  • EtherDelta. The charts on the site weren't very good on January 1, 2017, so I sent a tweet giving feedback. Additionally to get to a token you have to scroll down in the dropdown menu, rather than searching for it. It does work. Some tokens may be illiquid due to insufficient demand, or teams spending the supply, but that is a more systemic issue.
  • ForkDelta claim to have "a ton of improvements including a much faster order processing system. It interacts with ForkDelta's revamped API and EtherDelta's original contract."
  • Trade Ogre apparently are fast and have low fees, but they don't have many tokens listed.
  • Next.Exchange call themselves a hybrid decentralized crypto exchange, although it is vague/unclear how their exchange model works.

Projects that have not been released yet (as of Dec 14 2017) includes:

[BTCrelay](http://btcrelay.org/)

:   -   [More
        information](https://medium.com/@ConsenSys/taking-stock-bitcoin-and-ethereum-4382f0a2f17)
        (about ETH/BTC 2-way peg without modifying bitcoin code).
    -   [BTCrelay
        audit](http://martin.swende.se/blog/BTCRelay-Auditing.html)

List of centralised exchange marketplaces

Exchange Currencies

Poloniex BTC Kraken BTC, USD, EUR, CAD, GBP Gatecoin BTC, EUR Bitfinex BTC, USD Bittrex BTC Bluetrade BTC, LTC, DOGE HitBTC BTC Livecoin BTC Coinsquare BTC Bittylicious GBP BTER CNY Yunbi CNY Metaexchange BTC

You can also search for "<insert your country> Ether exchange".

There's also this: https://myetherwallet.github.io/knowledge-base/faq/buying-selling-exchanging-eth-tokens-fiat.html. For further info (which lists more exchanges), see here.

Centralised fixed rate exchanges

Exchange Currencies

Shapeshift BTC, LTC, DOGE, Other Karsha 75+ Crypto/ERC20, 3 Fiat (USD) Bity BTC, USD, EUR, CHF Switchain BTC, DAI, DOGE, ZRX, Other

Trading and price analytics

Online wallets, paper wallets, and cold storage

::: {.todo} This is here just a dumping ground of links and notes Please move this over in a listing form to ecosystem

Keep examples here, maybe explain paranoid practices, list dangers :::

Mist Ethereum Wallet

:   -   [Releases to
        download](https://github.com/ethereum/mist/releases)
    -   [Mist Ethereum Wallet developer
        preview](https://blog.ethereum.org/2015/09/16/ethereum-wallet-developer-preview/) -
        foundation blog post
    -   [How to easily set up the Ethereum Mist
        wallet!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6lE0Ctaeqs) -
        Tutorial by Tommy Economics

Kryptokit Jaxx

:   -   [Jaxx main site](http://jaxx.io/)
    -   [Mobile
        release](http://favs.pw/first-ethereum-mobile-app-released/#.VsHn_PGPL5c)

Etherwall

:   -   [Etherwall website](http://www.etherwall.com/)
    -   [Etherwall source](https://github.com/almindor/etherwall)

MyEtherWallet

:   -   [MyEtherWallet website](https://www.myetherwallet.com/)
    -   [MyEtherWallet
        source](https://github.com/kvhnuke/etherwallet/)
    -   [Chrome
        extension](http://sebfor.com/myetherwallet-chrome-extension-release/)

Cold storage

:   -   [Icebox](https://github.com/ConsenSys/icebox) by
        [ConsenSys](https://consensys.net/) - Cold storage based on
        lightwallet with HD wallet library integrated.
    -   [Reddit discussion
        1](https://www.reddit.com/r/ethereum/comments/45uvmy/offline_cold_storage_question/offline_cold_storage_question)
    -   [How to setup a cold storage
        wallet](https://www.reddit.com/r/ethereum/comments/48wfbv/eli5_how_to_setup_a_cold_storage_wallet_as/)

Hardware wallet

:   -   [reddit discussion
        2](https://www.reddit.com/r/ethereum/comments/45siaq/hardware_wallet/)
    -   [reddit discussion
        3](https://www.reddit.com/r/ethereum/comments/4521o4/crowdfunding_ethereum_hardware_cold_storage_wallet/)

Brain wallet

:   -   brain wallets are not safe, do not use them.
        <https://www.reddit.com/r/ethereum/comments/45y8m7/brain_wallets_are_now_generally_shunned_by/>
    -   Extreme caution with brain wallets. Read the recent
        controversy:
        <https://reddit.com/r/ethereum/comments/43fhb5/brainwallets>
        vs
        <http://blog.ether.camp/post/138376049438/why-brain-wallet-is-the-best>

Misc

:   -   [Kraken Wallet Sweeper Tool](https://www.kraken.com/ether) -
        Pre-sale wallet import
    -   [Recommended ways to safely store
        ether](http://ethereum.stackexchange.com/questions/1239/what-is-the-recommended-way-to-safely-store-ether)
    -   [How to buy and store
        ether](http://sebfor.com/how-to-buy-and-store-ether/)
    -   [A laymen\'s intro into brute forcing and why not to use
        brain
        wallets](http://www.fastcompany.com/3056651/researchers-find-a-crack-that-drains-supposedly-secure-bitcoin-wallets)
    -   [Pyethsaletool](https://github.com/ethereum/pyethsaletool/blob/master/README.md)
    -   [Account vs
        wallet](https://www.reddit.com/r/ethereum/comments/47j3r5/eli5_accounts_vs_wallet_contracts_on_mist/)

This page is modified from http://ethdocs.org/en/latest/ether.html#getting-ether.