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The original was posted on /r/monero by /u/fancyrolling on 2024-02-27 16:40:21.

Trading Monero (XMR) and other digital assets is like walking through a minefield. You start with the premise that almost all digital assets do NOT have a valid use case, sufficient adoption or decentralization. Let’s say you get past that massive hurdle and find one you think checks all 3 of those boxes (XMR being the best example). Then you have to actually have to figure out how to purchase XMR. Since many so-called exchanges, CEX or otherwise are outright scams or selective scammers it takes a lot of time to find a somewhat trustworthy one. Even if you find one that is trustworthy, the fees can be astronomical, think Bitcoin ATMs with a 15% fee of the amount purchased. You find one that trades XMR and seems to have a good reputation with relatively low fees (example Kraken Pro with fees of 0.26% or less). See

Then you have to jump through a bunch of hoops to open an account, provide KYC documents, proof of residence, etc. Then you have to transfer fiat currency to the exchange without having your bank account closed for “suspicious activity”. If you do manage to buy Monero, then you have an IOU from the CEX. Being a wise digital asset speculator, you know the adage “not your keys, not your coins” so you know you have to withdraw your XMR to a non-custodial wallet. So you look at what’s available at

You realize that while a mobile wallet like Cake Wallet is a perfect fit for small quantities of Monero it’s probably not the best idea to be carrying large quantities of XMR on your mobile phone where you could easily be robbed. You realize a better place to store your private keys would be on a desktop or laptop computer at your home. You’ve heard that Windows computers have a lot of malware that could potentially steal your Monero so instead of using your main computer, you buy a second computer for the sole purpose of holding your precious XMR. Instead of Windows, you’ll install Linux which is a safer option. But which Linux distribution to choose? You decide on a Linux distro that is supposed to be easy for beginners, Ubuntu. But which version (LTS or non-LTS). LTS versions are generally more stable and reliable so you install Ubuntu 22.04 LTS instead of the non-LTS version 23.10. Which wallet do you put on this Ubuntu computer? Since you do not have a computer science degree and know next to nothing about a Command Line Interface (CLI) you correctly choose the Monero GUI Wallet with a (Graphical User Interface). Next you have to wait up to 24 hours, depending on the speed of your internet connection, to sync your Monero GUI Wallet with the Monero blockchain. Once your GUI Wallet is synced you now transfer your XMR from Kraken to your laptop GUI wallet. You have set up 2FA at Kraken to mitigate the chance that your account could be hacked. Also, instead of transferring all of your XMR at once from Kraken you make 2 withdrawals, the first withdrawal for 0.1 XMR and once that withdrawal goes through without a hitch you withdraw the rest of your XMR. You backup your seed phrase, password and private keys in multiple other places in case your laptop malfunctions. Congratulations! You have successfully navigated the level 1 of the real life game that is Monero minefields and have emerged on the other side with your XMR intact and possession of your private keys. How many levels of Monero minefields are there? Only time will tell.