I'm sorry but I can't fathom why you would "invest" in a cryptocurrency you yourself don't even know how to use. This comment reads as an object lesson in exactly what is wrong with the current world of crypto. The entire value prop of crypto currency is that you are in control not major financial institutions, but it sounds like you are very much not in control.
I think the best strategy for someone in your case is to cashout from coinbase into whatever fiat currency you use locally and put that into your bank account.
Tens (hundreds?) of millions of Americans "invest" in stocks they have no idea how to "use" (disclosure: I'm one of them). They're just numbers on a computer screen and nothing more.
Should be more encouraging that this guy wants to figure it out instead of pointing and jeering at him.
How do you "use" a stock? You give a company money in the hope they are able to turn it into more money over a certain period of time than you would holding it in a bank account.
If the company pays a dividend it gets sent to you (or to whoever holds the stock on your behalf), but that doesn't seem like "using" the stock. I suppose you could "use" it by voting at the AGM.
Crypto you can make use of (such as it is), but no one does that. They hold it like a stock, same as the OP who doesn't know how to create a wallet.
First of all, I don’t even have any idea what this means:
> I suppose you could "use" it by voting at the AGM
Is my stock anything other than the number of shares I see on TDAmeritrade.com? If I wanted to take this thing that I supposedly own and sell it or store it in a way that doesn’t involve TDAmeritrade.com, is that even possible? No fucking clue.
Of course it is possible, you don't have to use "TDAmeritrade.com" to manage your investments. You can hold the contract paper yourself if you like. A broker will charge more for those type of direct holdings when a trade is made however. Which is why it is popular to use the retail brokers that manage the contract for you.
My point was, there is really no "use" for a stock holding aside from the obvious as an investment. So simply investing in and holding a stock is fine.
The popular Crypto coins are supposed to have other uses, like a cash replacement. In fact cash replacement was intended to be the primary use for Bitcoin. But most people treat them as an investment they can just sit on and watch go up, like a stock.
It's not that hard for me to fathom. Cryptocurrency is a speculative bubble, and it has attracted a huge number of investors who are looking for easy ways to invest. Coinbase makes speculating in cryptocurrency easy. Managing your own wallet is not easy for the average speculator.
I think the best strategy for someone in your case is to cashout from coinbase into whatever fiat currency you use locally and put that into your bank account.