If you want to understand the mechanics of it, why its a viable currency, I suggest 3blue1brown's video on it, as well as his video on SHA256 encryption. The blockchain: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBC-nXj3Ng4 SHA256: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9JGmA5_unY Coindesk also has 101 guides on it's site: https://www.coindesk.com/learn For a beginner, I suggest buying from a site like coinbase, and later moving it to a wallet fully under your control. For which crypto currencies to buy, I suggest spreading your holdings across bitcoin, ethereum, and litecoin. Avoid crypto that seems too good to be true, making a bunch of claims, and seizing at people's fear of missing out. There have been plenty of novelty coins that are defunct, and straight up scams as well. Rmember, bitcoin is designed to be trustless because it's actually secure. Avoid anything begging for your trust.