> I still think "investing" in bitcoin is a gamble
Maybe there's more to be gained than an increasing exchange rate.
I've gained a lot of knowledge by running Bitcoin Core on testnet, grabbing some free test coins from a faucet, and learning how to use the API.
There's a lot to learn! Not only sending and receiving, but also importing and exporting private keys, signing and verifying messages, M-of-N multisig transactions, paper wallets, brainwallets, etc.
And there are now several implementations of the Lightning Network for instant and very low cost transactions which make micropayments feasible that you can learn using the testnet.
Then once you understand the fundamentals of Bitcoin, you might do the same for Ethereum and its smart contracts, solidity, and ERC20 tokens.
Maybe there's more to be gained than an increasing exchange rate.
I've gained a lot of knowledge by running Bitcoin Core on testnet, grabbing some free test coins from a faucet, and learning how to use the API.
There's a lot to learn! Not only sending and receiving, but also importing and exporting private keys, signing and verifying messages, M-of-N multisig transactions, paper wallets, brainwallets, etc.
And there are now several implementations of the Lightning Network for instant and very low cost transactions which make micropayments feasible that you can learn using the testnet.
Then once you understand the fundamentals of Bitcoin, you might do the same for Ethereum and its smart contracts, solidity, and ERC20 tokens.