A beginner’s guide to buying and selling Nano (formerly RaiBlocks) in the US.
Nano (NANO) is a digital currency designed to offer instant transactions, have zero fees and be infinitely scalable. Formerly known as RaiBlocks (XRB), Nano uses a hybrid of blockchain and directed acyclic graph (DAG) technology and aims to offer an efficient and viable alternative to fiat currency.
This guide takes a look at how Nano works, the factors that affect its price and how you can buy NANO in the US.
Quick guide: How to buy NANO
- Go to the Coinswitch website.
- Select your payment currency in the “You Send” box.
- Select your desired cryptocurrency in the “You Get” box.
- Click “View All Offers”.
- Select the offer that’s best for you.
- Enter your cryptocurrency wallet address.
- Click “next”.
- Follow the steps Coinswitch provides to complete your purchase.
This is our quick guide to just one way to buy NANO. Compare some other options in the table below.
Where to buy, sell and trade Nano (NANO) in the US
How to buy Nano in the US
If you want to buy NANO in the US, here’s an example of how to do it:
Step 1. Create an account at an exchange that offers NANO
There are several exchanges where you can currently buy Nano, so you’ll need to choose one of them to purchase your NANO. To register for an account, you’ll need to provide your email address and create a password, while most exchanges will also require your full contact details and proof of ID before allowing you to trade. Don’t forget to add two-factor security to your account to make sure your coins are protected.
Step 2. Deposit funds into your account
Most crypto exchanges don’t support the direct deposit of fiat currency, such as USD, so you’ll often need to make your deposit in bitcoin (BTC) or Ethereum (ETH). If you currently don’t have any BTC or ETH, you can follow our guide here on how to purchase.
However, Canadian cryptocurrency exchange Kraken does allow you to deposit USD. To buy from Kraken, create an account there and make a deposit.
Step 3. Buy NANO
The final step is to navigate to the markets section on your chosen exchange and place a buy order. If you’re using Kraken, sign into your account, go to the markets section and search for “NANO”. Click on NANO/USD and you can enter the amount you want to buy.
If you’re using a platform that only allows crypto-to-crypto exchanges, search for your desired currency pair (for example BTC/NANO or ETH/NANO), click on “Buy NANO” and then follow the prompts.
Whichever exchange you choose, make sure you remember to review all the details of your transaction, including the number of NANO you’re buying and the total cost, before finalising your purchase.
How to sell NANO
If you’d like to sell your NANO holdings, the process for doing so is essentially the same as that outlined in step 3 above, with the obvious difference that you’ll need to select sell instead of buy. It’s also important to remember that crypto exchanges don’t offer every available currency pairing, so it may not be possible to directly exchange NANO for the currency you want.
Which wallets can I use to hold NANO?
Storing coins and tokens on a crypto exchange for any length of time is not recommended. To provide a higher level of security for your funds, it’s best to store them in a secure wallet. Two of the many options available for NANO holders are:
- Official wallet. NanoWallet.io can be accessed through the Nano Wallet website.
- Atomic Wallet. Atomic Wallet is a popular third party wallet that supports Nano.
What is Nano and how does it work?
- High transaction fees due to scalability issues
- An average transaction time of 164 minutes
- The power inefficiency of the bitcoin network
Nano aims to overcome these three obstacles.
Built using a directed acyclic graph algorithm, Nano also employs a unique block-lattice structure. Each Nano account (wallet) has its own blockchain known as an account-chain, which is equivalent to that account’s transaction/balance history. Each account-chain can only be updated by the account owner, which means it can be updated asynchronously of the rest of the network.
Each transaction sent through the network is its own block. When you send NANO, two transactions are required – a send transaction that deducts the balance from the sender and a receive confirmation by the recipient. Think of it like the two ticks you see when you send a WhatsApp message – one tick when you have sent a message and a second tick when your recipient confirms it has been received. The result of this structure is near-instant transactions and zero fees.
Originally known as RaiBlocks, the currency was rebranded to Nano in January 2018.
What to consider before buying NANO
Cryptocurrencies are complicated and speculative, and buying any crypto coin or token comes with a high level of risk attached. It’s essential that you’re fully aware of all the risks involved before you decide to buy. If you’re thinking of purchasing NANO, make sure you consider the following factors first:
- Supply. According to CoinMarketCap at the time of writing (2/12/18), the circulating supply of Nano was 133,248,289 NANO out of a maximum supply of 133,248,290 NANO.
- No mining. Nano is not mined and was initially distributed via a captcha-based faucet distribution system that ended in October 2017. If a website claims to mine Nano, it actually mines another cryptocurrency and then trades them to Nano on an exchange before paying Nano to miners.
- Adoption. The value of NANO will depend largely on whether or not it can achieve widespread adoption. While it certainly offers plenty of advantages compared to some other cryptocurrencies, whether or not it breaks into the mainstream as a viable alternative to fiat currency remains to be seen.
- Exchanges. One of the key factors affecting the adoption of Nano will be its listing on a variety of popular exchanges. While it is only listed on a handful of exchanges, that list has grown recently. The development team is also working to get Nano added to more exchanges.
- Nano and BitGrail. On February 10, 2018, the announcement that 10% of the total NANO supply at the time, worth $170 million, had gone missing from cryptocurrency exchange BitGrail sent shockwaves through the crypto community. There was some speculation that an inherent vulnerability in Nano had resulted in the theft, although at the time of writing it appeared that fault for the problem lay with crypto exchange BitGrail. The news saw the price of NANO drop from $11.83 to $10 in the space of a couple of hours, and at the time of writing its value had dropped below $9.
- Rebranding. On January 31, 2018, RaiBlocks was rebranded to Nano. In a Medium blog post, the Nano team explained that the old and hard-to-pronounce name was scrapped in favor of the new moniker, which is designed to reflect the fast and fee-free transactions the currency is designed to provide. Following the announcement, the price of NANO rose 41% in 24 hours.
By taking all of the above factors into account and doing your due diligence on Nano, you’ll be able to decide whether or not you should buy NANO.