Basics
A quick guide to relevant cryptocurrency basics, including exchanges, wallets and fees
Last updated
A quick guide to relevant cryptocurrency basics, including exchanges, wallets and fees
Last updated
If you are new to cryptocurrency, finding where to start can be overwhelming. Regarding cryptocurrency exchanges, you will often hear two terms tossed about, centralized and decentralized. There is much more nuance in the differences between these exchange types than this guide will go into. However, this guide will provide a contextual introduction to the topic as well as a jumping off point for acquiring the currency you will need to purchase ecocredits from the Regen Marketplace.
In order to purchase a cryptocurrency, you will need to use an exchange with fiat onboarding, meaning currency can be purchased with a bank account, debit or credit card. Centralized exchanges are well suited for this purpose.
A centralized exchange is owned by a single entity, including all liquidity for trading pairs/pools, which are the mechanism that allow users to swap currencies in both centralized and decentralized exchanges. Because all assets are owned by the same individual or company, they are enabled to sell new users cryptocurrency in exchange for a fiat currency. However, this also means that available currencies are limited. One might easily purchase $USDC or $ATOM (Cosmos native coin), but not $REGEN.
These exchanges vary in ease of use, fees, payment options, and global availability. Some exchanges require a day or two to verify your identity before purchased currency can be moved. Some exchanges require a minimum amount of currency be purchased in a single transaction. We highly encourage you to research exchange options before selecting the one that will best meet your needs.
Below are some popular and trusted exchanges with fiat onboarding options.
A decentralized exchange, also known as a DEX, is an on-chain exchange where all liquidity for trading pairs/pools is provided by its users. Users are generally incentivized to provide liquidity with interest, most often paid in the chain's native coin.
These kinds of exchanges enable swapping one cryptocurrency for another, but not purchasing a cryptocurrency with a fiat one. Decentralized exchanges will provide more options specific to a particular audience.
Thanks to the bridges available, Gravity USDC and Axelar USDC may be purchased through Cosmos Ecosystem DEX chains. As long as currencies are bridged through the provided channels, they will work in the Regen Marketplace. Currency bridged through other means may not be accepted.
Below are a couple of trusted DEX chains built with Cosmos SDK and offering a wide array of coins and tokens from within the Cosmos Ecosystem.
In order to move around purchased currency, you will need the appropriate wallet. Centralized exchanges will provide an address who's key is managed by the exchange. However, in order to move your assets through one of the bridging options provided, you will need to withdraw your assets to a more neutral location.
Keplr is an important tool for managing Cosmos Ecosystem assets, like $REGEN or USDC purchased through Osmosis. To manage assets like USDC purchased through a centralized exchange, you will need a MetaMask wallet.
Fees, or gas fees, play an important role within blockchain. In most cases, fees are a small amount of the chain's native currency and are distributed to the blockchain's validator set in order to offset server costs.
Fees will always be displayed clearly during a transaction and you will most often have options to set your gas fee. When approving most transactions through your Keplr wallet, you will be prompted to select a low, average, or high fee. The difference between each is minimal, but selecting a higher fee may speed up the time a transaction takes to process.
When purchasing ecocredits on the Regen Marketplace, you will need a small amount of $REGEN. Below is a Keplr window that was generated during a purchase of ecocredits. Fees for the transaction range from .002 $REGEN to .008 $REGEN, each equivalent to a fraction of $0.01.
So far, our community has elected three currencies for use in the marketplace: Gravity USDC, Axelar USDC, and $REGEN. Gravity USDC and Axelar USDC will need to be bridged to your Regen wallet and will require an additional bridging fee. Unlike the $REGEN fees covered above, these are used to pay the relayers who make the bridge possible. Each bridge approaches fees in a slightly different way.
When bridging USDC with Gravity Bridge on Blockscape, you will need a small amount of ETH to pay for fees. This fee is dynamically updated based on current bridge traffic. An open transaction window will update its fees periodically until the transaction is approved. This allows Gravity Bridge to ensure their relayers' costs are covered, while offering users the lowest possible bridging fee.
Find the Gravity USDC bridging guide here.
To bridge USDC with Axelar you will need additional USDC to pay bridge fees. This bridge fee is manually set by the Axelar team and updated as necessary to accommodate relayer costs.
Find the Axelar USDC bridging guide here.