First of all: I'll answer your last question. No you absolutely did not miss the boat. Cryptocurrency is set to absolutely explode.

Second: Cryptocurrencies are just like any other investment. You must Do Your Own Research (DYOR), or as others put it - do your Due Diligence. There are thousands of cryptocurrencies out there ranging from scams, to meme-coins, to solid projects, and even Avenger tier projects.

Third: Lets talk security. Before you even consider purchasing any cryptocurrencies you must understand that, unlike a bank that insures your currency against theft and cyberattacks, you are responsible for securing your crypto assets. Do yourself a favor and invest in a hardware wallet. Ledger and Trezor are the two most popular hardware wallets around.

https://www.ledger.com/

https://trezor.io/

What is a hardware wallet? A hardware wallet is a place in which you store the keys to your crypto offline and off of your computer. I own a Ledger wallet. It is basically a USB stick that must be connected to whatever computer you are transacting on. It is backed up with a 24 word seed phrase, and a pass code. If anyone attempted to hack into your wallet, they would need to accurately guess these 24 words in order to do so.

Take a look at this XKCD comic on password strength and you will begin to understand why the 24 word seed phrase is so important to securing your assets.

Additionally, hackers have found ways to use unique tokens to drain hardware wallets. If you EVER see a token in your wallet that you did not purchase, DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT interact with it. Don't sell it. Don't trade it. Don't do anything with it. If you interact with these tokens, a hacker can gain access to your wallet and your crypto. So long as you know to look out for these tokens, you will be safe.

Okay, time for the fourth point:

You have your hardware wallet, you've set up your seed phrase, and you are now ready to start purchasing crypto... What now?

Well, you have a couple different avenues of approach. You will need to choose an exchange to purchase from. If you are using a Ledger, they do allow you to use their Ledger Live app to make crypto purchases. Other exchanges to consider would be Binance, Coinbase, and Gemini. Be careful to NEVER store your crypto on these exchanges longer than you have to. Always transfer your crypto away from these exchanges and into your hardware wallet as soon as you possibly can. These exchanges are not secure places to keep your crypto long term.

If you are interested in making an entry level purchase of crypto, I would start with an investment into Ethereum or Bitcoin. If you can get through all of the above steps and make your first purchase of one of these proven coins, you will be ready to begin branching out into other projects as you get used to how purchases work.

One place to consider starting your research on different crypto projects would be coinmarketcap.com. Most coins are listed on this site, even those that do not yet appear on exchanges. You can learn quite a lot about most projects using this site, and discover some really rare gems as well.

Lastly,

If you are interested in what I would consider one of the most important crypto projects in development right now, you should look into Revolution Populi. I won't say anymore. I don't want to come off as a shill for the project, as I am extremely excited for what it promises. If you do find yourself interested in this crypto project, feel free to private message me for more information.