so i want to experiment with attempting the new fad...
hold up right there.
Don't jump in because everyone's doing it, its on the news front pages and Leonard Hofstede earned a pile of bucks on it.
You probably don't know the technology or economics of cryptocurrency, the pros and cons surrounding it, and you want to go straight into technical implementation - it's directly analogous to people with neither investing nor business knowledge opening up stock exchange accounts and sinking money into penny stocks.
Yes, you ARE putting in money. "Mining" cryptocurrency is very costly for your electricity bill, particularly for developed countries with high power tariffs.
If you have an interest in this, online literature about cryptocurrency has exploded exponentially along with prices. Read. READ. READ until you are able to understand what its all about.
If you don't, you are falling afoul of Rule #1 of Investing: don't invest in what you don't understand.
Frankly, if you don't do all the above, you would be better off spending your time and energy working your way up the corporate ladder.
On the upside, if you are a gambler, then you might consider putting in your casino money into Bitcoin, withdrawing it into a secure wallet*, and not touching it for the next year or so. But only if this course of action can replace gambling. Frankly if you enjoy gambling to start with, I might say that at least when you gamble you pay the casino for entertainment value. If you do this you might lose your gambling money AND not even have the peripheral fun of doing it.
*if you don't understand what this means, either find out, or don't do it.
(insert pointless disclaimer about investment advice here. Heck, if you're listening to some unknown online persona for investment advice in the first place, you have more problems to reflect upon than where to put your money.)