Want to jump straight to the answer? You can buy GLM on Coinbase and Changelly.
Computational power can be bought from companies like Amazon, but the price of its web services are high. Most computer hardware isn’t being used to its full capacity, but Golem Network solves this problem with a decentralized marketplace for computational power.
The network lets anyone sell their unused computational power, creating a much higher supply of computing power on the market. If Golem succeeds, companies will be able to purchase immense amounts of computational power for a much lower cost than any other alternative.
Learn how you can buy Golem (GLM) now.
What is Golem?
Golem is an Ethereum-based ERC-20 token. This means that Golem’s network is built on top of Ethereum’s blockchain.
Tokens that are built on Ethereum’s network are made with smart contracts –– smart contracts are code on the blockchain that are capable of holding money in escrow, so they can be used for a variety of financial functions.
Golem Network aims to democratize computational power through a decentralized marketplace. There are 2 main parties involved on Golem’s network: requesters and providers. Requesters are companies or people seeking to borrow computational power, and providers are companies or people who lease their computational resources.
Brief History of Golem
Golem Network was announced in 2016 by Golem Factory, a company based out of Switzerland. The company was founded by Julian Zawistowski, Andrzej Regulski, Piotr Janiuk and Aleksandra Skrzypczak. The Golem Network was launched in 2018, about 2 years after its initial coin offering (ICO).
Golem Token (GNT) sold for a price of 1 cent in its initial coin offering. During the 2017 bull market Golem’s price rose dramatically, reaching just over a dollar. After the cryptocurrency craze cooled off, Golem reached a low of 2.5 cents before appreciating to over 30 cents in the recent bull market.
Step 1: Open an online account.
In order to purchase Golem, you need to make an account with a cryptocurrency trading platform that supports the token. Some popular exchanges that support Golem are Coinbase Pro, Binance and Uniswap.
To open an account with a cryptocurrency exchange, you’ll need to provide the company with personal information to comply with regulation, similarly to a stock exchange. Some information you’ll need to make a crypto exchange account is your full name, address, Social Security number, email and phone number.
Alternatively, you can use a decentralized exchange like Uniswap or Kyber Network to swap your cryptocurrency for Golem. This is a good option if you already own Ethereum or Ethereum-based tokens, as no account sign up is needed.
And because you interact with decentralized exchanges from your crypto wallet, you don’t need to transfer your assets to another account to make a trade.
Step 2: Buy a wallet (optional).
It’s recommended that you store your cryptocurrency in a cryptocurrency wallet. Exchanges can claim they’re secure, but several exchanges have been breached by hackers in the past. Centralized exchanges hold huge amounts of digital assets in one place, making them an attractive target for hackers.
Cryptocurrency wallets come as hardware and software wallets. Hardware wallets are the most secure way to store crypto. They store your assets on a physical device offline.
Software wallets are computer programs that store your crypto, and most software wallets on the market today are free to use.
Best Hardware Wallet: Ledger Nano S
The Ledger Nano S is the go-to wallet for many cryptocurrency investors. It’s the biggest name in the crypto wallet industry and supports hundreds of altcoins and cryptocurrencies.
Ledger also has a software application called Ledger Live that you can use to download wallet applications for lesser-known cryptocurrencies.
If you plan to invest in different types of cryptocurrency and want to store them in the most secure way possible, you should consider buying a Ledger wallet. The Ledger Nano S comes in at an affordable price of just over $50 on Amazon.
If you’re looking for a more premium crypto wallet, Ledger offers the Ledger Nano X for just over $100.
Best Software Wallet: Argent
Because Golem is an ERC-20 token, you can store your tokens on any Ethereum software wallet. Note that Ethereum wallets don’t support Bitcoin, so you need to purchase wrapped bitcoin if you want to store bitcoin in your Ethereum wallet. Argent is the best software wallet on the market due to its several unique features, like social recovery, smart contract integration and Ethereum staking.
Typically, if you lose your crypto wallet’s private keys, then you lose access to your crypto assets. Argent mitigates this risk with its social recovery feature. This feature allows you to assign friends to approve access to your wallet in case you lose your private keys.
Argent also lets you earn interest on your crypto investments. Argent supports Ethereum staking, so if you own Ethereum you can deposit it on Argent to earn over 7% annual interest.
Alternatively, you can stake a variety of Ethereum-based tokens on different DeFi protocols to earn rewards and competitive interest rates.
Step 3: Make your purchase.
Once you’ve chosen where to store your Golem tokens, you’re ready to purchase your Golem on an exchange. You can buy cryptocurrencies in a similar way to a stock: as a market or limit buy order.
A market order for Golem will purchase the token at market price, usually instantly. Limit orders, however, only purchase Golem at a specified price.
For example, if you place a limit buy order at $0.29, Golem’s price will have to decrease to that price for my limit order to be executed.
Trade or Sell Golem
If you plan to actively trade your Golem tokens, you need to keep your funds on the exchange. You can’t trade crypto on most cryptocurrency wallets, but some high-tech Ethereum wallets like Argent can interact with smart contracts on Ethereum’s network. This allows you to swap tokens directly from your wallet.
If you use a centralized exchange, you’ll need to transfer your tokens from your crypto wallet to your exchange of choice. Then you can place a sell order as a limit order or a market order.
Once your order is filled, USD will be credited to your account, and you can transfer the funds to your bank via wire transfer.
Current Crypto Prices
If you haven’t already been watching the cryptocurrency markets, you should keep an eye on major cryptocurrencies to get an idea where the prices are moving. The cryptocurrency market is currently in a bull run, and prices are moving up fast.
However, it’s not uncommon to see a 30% dip in crypto prices, even in a bull run. To get an idea of the state of the cryptocurrency markets, check out the table below.
Is Golem a Good Investment?
If Golem succeeds as a marketplace for computational power, it will be an extremely lucrative investment.
But Golem is not without competitors. Holochain is a blockchain project that is attempting to create marketplaces for computational power, and it recently surpassed Golem in market capitalization.
Sign on with a cryptocurrency platform, and look into an investment in Golem today.
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