Testnet guide: Your first cryptocurrency transaction (without real coins)

Thu Aug 02 2018

The cryptocurrency is usually too much expensive to be used for test today.

Because it runs in mainnet. As a beginner in blockchain, you can finish your

first transaction in testnet, it is also a public network. And you can always

get the testnet coins for free. This guide will tell you how to get and use it.

What's testnet coins ?

In the blockchain world, it usually has 3 networks.

They are mainnet, testnet and private network.

For example:

Different network use different coin, so

You can't send Bitcoin to Ethereum directly
You also can't send coins from mainnet to testnet
You will lost your coin or reject by the wallet if you send to the wrong network

coins that used in the testnet called testnet coins.

Mainnet and testnet are public network
Testnet is a public beta network

It is always used by the programmers, but it can also used by anyone who want to learn about the blockchain
You can try the blockchain apps at the very early stage in the testnet

You can get coins through mining or trading in mainnet.

In testnet, you can also get them through mining, but the quick way is testnet faucet.

Before you get the coins, you need to install the wallet that supports testnet

Blockchain	Testnet Support	Testnet Not Support
Bitcoin	BitPay, Copay	CoolBitx, BRD, Jaxx
Ethereum	Toshi, Status, MetaMask, MyEtherWallet	Trust

NOTE: DON'T BE GREEDY, Take it for testing, donate it back if you don't use it.

If you get testnet coins, now you can make payment. There are a lot of blockchain apps support testnet.

You can find your transactions through any of the Bitcoin Explorer

You can find your transactions through the Ethereum Explorer