How to buy Nano
A beginner's guide to buying and selling Nano (formerly RaiBlocks) in Singapore.
Nano (NANO) is a digital currency designed to offer instant transactions, have zero fees and be infinitely scalable. Formerly known as RaiBlocks, 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 Singapore.
Where to buy Nano (NANO) in Singapore
How to buy Nano in Singapore
If you want to buy NANO in Singapore, 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, better known as SGD/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, if you’re an Australia citizen or PR, cryptocurrency exchange CoinSpot does allow you to deposit AUD. To transfer funds into your account, look for the “Deposit AUD” link from the CoinSpot dashboard and enter the amount you want to transfer.
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 CoinSpot, click the “Buy/Sell” link at the top of the page and search for “NANO”. Click on “Buy NANO” and you can then either type in the amount of AUD you want to spend or the amount of NANO 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 look for the “Sell NANO” link. 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. At the time of writing, there are three wallet options available for NANO holders:
- Web wallet. NanoWallet.io can be accessed through the Nano Wallet website.
- Desktop wallet. The beta version of the desktop wallet for Windows, Mac and Linux is available here.
- App. You can also sign up for the iOS Wallet beta through the Nano website.
What is Nano and how does it work?
Built with the aim of addressing a number of bitcoin’s shortcomings, Nano is designed to provide a viable alternative to traditional fiat currencies. In the Nano white paper, the developers address three main issues that affect bitcoin’s practicality:
- 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 (12/02/2018) 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 with the listing of NANO on major exchange platform Binance in February 2018. The development team is also working to get Nano added to more exchanges.
- Nano and BitGrail. On 10 February 2018, the announcement that 10% of the total NANO supply at the time, worth US$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. Check out our report on the theft for full details. The news saw the price of NANO drop from US$11.83 to US$10 in the space of a couple of hours, and at the time of writing its value had dropped below US$9.
- Rebranding. On 31 January 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 favour 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.
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