I've always been aware of cryptocurrencies but it became more prominent in my mind when, through work, I became aware of a financial institution that commenced with producing a dicussion paper. In March Citibank also produced a paper, so it certainly seems that cryptos are gaining more prominence. Like anything, you must do your due diligence, read white papers, check out if any institutions have an upcoming collaboration with a said crypto, but ultimately there will always be an element of risk. Another issue is that cryptos are just too volatile at the moment. What we are seeing at the minute though is the FOMO phenomena, which will likely see more money invested into cryptos.
If you are going to hold a long position, or invest a lot of money, you MUST invest in a hardware wallet, such as a Ledger. I have a position in an altcoin (terminology for any coin other than Bitcoin), and having DCA'd (dollar cost averaged) I'm currently in profit, but I intend on holding long. All my coins are off the exchange and in my hardware wallet. It is near impossible to time when to buy at an appealing price, but as they say, time in the market is better than timing the market. I use Coinbase Pro to purchase my crypto, where you can bank transfer. My limit orders have always filled, and I have no issues when transferring my crypto to my hardware wallet. Fees are also pretty low, though every exchange will charge fees. Binance are known to sometimes have 'down times' where people cannot withdraw their crypto for a said period of time, so it might be worth checking that out. To note, Bitcoin and Ethereum are known for their high fees, due in part to their high gas fees, so it makes no sense to transfer low amounts to hardware wallets.
