How To Buy Bitcoin

Before You Buy Bitcoin

There are several things that every aspiring Bitcoin investor needs. A cryptocurrency exchange account, personal identification documents if you are using a Know Your Customer (KYC) platform, a secure connection to the Internet, and a method of payment. It is also recommended that you have your own personal wallet outside of the exchange account. Valid methods of payment using this path include bank accounts, debit cards, and credit cards. It is also possible to get Bitcoin at specialized ATMs and via P2P exchanges. However, be aware that Bitcoin ATMs were increasingly requiring government-issued IDs as of early 2020.

Privacy and security are important issues for Bitcoin investors. Even though there are no physical Bitcoins, it is usually a bad idea to brag about large holdings. Anyone who gains the private key to a public address on the Bitcoin blockchain can authorize transactions. Private keys should be kept secret; criminals may attempt to steal them if they learn of large holdings. Be aware that anyone can see the balance of a public address that you use. That makes it a good idea to keep significant investments at public addresses that are not directly connected to ones that are used for transactions.

Anyone can view a history of transactions made on the blockchain, even you. But while transactions are publicly recorded on the blockchain, identifying user information is not. On the Bitcoin blockchain, only a user's public key appears next to a transaction—making transactions confidential but not anonymous. In a sense, Bitcoin transactions are more transparent and traceable than cash, but the cryptocurrency can also be used anonymously.

That is an important distinction. International researchers and the FBI have claimed that they can track transactions made on the Bitcoin blockchain to users' other online accounts, including their digital wallets. For example, if someone creates an account on Coinbase they must provide their identification . Now, when that person purchases Bitcoin it is tied to their name. If they send it to another wallet it can still be traced back to the Coinbase purchase which was connected to the account holder's identity. This should not concern most investors because Bitcoin is legal in the U.S. and most other developed countries. .

Step One: Choose an Exchange

Signing up for a cryptocurrency exchange will allow you to buy, sell, and hold cryptocurrency. It is generally best practice to use an exchange that allows its users to also withdrawal their crypto to their own personal online wallet for safer keeping. For those looking to trade Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies, this feature may not matter.

There are many types of cryptocurrency exchanges. Because the Bitcoin ethos is about decentralization and individual sovereignty, some exchanges allow users to remain anonymous and do not require users to enter personal information. Such exchanges operate autonomously and, typically, are decentralized which means they do not have a central point of control.

While such systems can be used for nefarious activities, they are also used to provide services for the world’s unbanked population. For certain categories of people – refugees or those living in countries with little to no infrastructure for government credit or banking – anonymous exchanges can help bring them into the mainstream economy.

Right now, however, the most popular exchanges not decentralized and do require KYC. In the United States, these exchanges include Coinbase, Kraken, Gemini, and Binance U.S., to name a few. Each of these exchanges has grown significantly in the number of features they offer.

Coinbase, Kraken, and Gemini offer Bitcoin and a growing number of altcoins. These three are probably the easiest on-ramp to crypto in the entire industry. Binance caters to a more advanced trader, offering more serious trading functionality and a better variety of altcoins to choose from.

An important thing to note when creating a cryptocurrency exchange account is to use safe internet practices. This includes using two-factor authentication and using a password that is unique and long, including a variety of lowercase letters, capitalized letters, special characters, and numbers.

Step Two: Connect Your Exchange to a Payment Option

Once you have chosen an exchange, you now need to gather your personal documents. Depending on the exchange, these may include pictures of a driver's license, social security number, as well as information about your employer and source of funds. The information you may need can depend on the region you live in and the laws within it. The process is largely the same as setting up a typical brokerage account.

After the exchange has ensured your identity and legitimacy you may now connect a payment option. At most exchanges, you can connect your bank account directly or you can connect a debit or credit card. While you can use a credit card to purchase cryptocurrency, it is generally something that should be avoided due to the volatility that cryptocurrencies can experience.

While Bitcoin is legal in the United States, some banks do not take too kindly to the idea and may question or even stop deposits to crypto-related sites or exchanges. It is a good idea to check to make sure that your bank allows deposits at your chosen exchange.

There are varying fees for deposits via a bank account, debit, or credit card. Coinbase is a solid exchange for beginners and has a 1.49% fee for bank accounts, with a 3.99% fee for debit and credit cards. It is important to research the fees associated with each payment option to help choose an exchange or to choose which payment option works best for you.

Exchanges also charge fees per transaction. This fee can either be a flat fee (if the trading amount is low) or a percentage of trading amount. Credit cards incur a processing fee in addition to the transaction fees.

Step Three: Place an Order

Once you have chosen an exchange and connected a payment option you can now buy Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. In recent years, cryptocurrency exchanges have slowly become more mainstream. They have grown significantly in terms of liquidity and their breadth of features. The operational changes at cryptocurrency exchanges parallel the change in perception for cryptocurrencies. An industry that was once thought of as a scam or one with questionable practices is slowly morphing into a legitimate one that has drawn interest from all the big players in the financial services industry.

Now, cryptocurrency exchanges have gotten to a point where they have nearly the same level of features as their stock brokerage counterparts. Once you have found an exchange and connected a payment method you are ready to go.

Crypto exchanges today offer a number of order types and ways to invest. Almost all crypto exchanges offer both market and limit orders and some also offer stop-loss orders. Of the exchanges mentioned above, Kraken offers the most order types. Kraken allows for market, limit, stop-loss, stop-limit, take-profit, and take-profit limit orders1.

Aside from a variety of order types, exchanges also offer ways to set up recurring investments allowing clients to dollar cost average into their investments of choice. Coinbase, for example, lets users set recurring purchases for every day, week, or month2

Step Four: Safe Storage

Bitcoin and cryptocurrency wallets are a place to store digital assets more securely. Having your crypto outside of the exchange and in your personal wallet ensures that only you have control over the private key to your funds. It also gives you the ability to store funds away from an exchange and avoid the risk of your exchange getting hacked and losing your funds.

While most exchanges offer wallets for their users, security is not their primary business. We generally do not recommend using an exchange wallet for large or long-term cryptocurrency holdings.

Some wallets have more features than others. Some are Bitcoin only and some offer the ability to store numerous types of altcoins. Some wallets also offer the ability to swap one token for another.

When it comes to choosing a Bitcoin wallet, you have a number of options. The first thing that you will need to understand about crypto wallets is the concept of hot wallets (online wallets) and cold wallets (paper or hardware wallets).

Hot Wallets

Online wallets are also known as “hot” wallets. Hot wallets are wallets that run on internet-connected devices like computers, phones, or tablets. This can create vulnerability because these wallets generate the private keys to your coins on these internet-connected devices. While a hot wallet can be very convenient in the way you are able to access and make transactions with your assets quickly, storing your private key on an internet-connected device makes it more susceptible to a hack.

This may sound far-fetched, but people who are not using enough security when using these hot wallets can have their funds stolen. This is not an infrequent occurrence and it can happen in a number of ways. As an example, boasting on a public forum like Reddit about how much Bitcoin you hold while you are using little to no security and storing it in a hot wallet would not be wise. That said, these wallets can be made to be secure so long as precautions are taken. Strong passwords, two-factor authentication, and safe internet browsing should be considered minimum requirements.

These wallets are best used for small amounts of cryptocurrency or cryptocurrency that you are actively trading on an exchange. You could liken a hot wallet to a checking account. Conventional financial wisdom would say to hold only spending money in a checking account while the bulk of your money is in savings accounts or other investment accounts. The same could be said for hot wallets. Hot wallets encompass mobile, desktop, web, and exchange account custody wallets. 

As mentioned previously, exchange wallets are custodial accounts provided by the exchange. The user of this wallet type is not the holder of the private key to the cryptocurrency that is held in this wallet. If an event were to occur where the exchange is hacked or your account becomes compromised, your funds would be lost. The phrase “not your key, not your coin” is heavily-repeated within cryptocurrency forums and communities.

Cold Wallets

The simplest description of a cold wallet is a wallet that is not connected to the internet and therefore stands at a far lesser risk of being compromised. These wallets can also be referred to as offline wallets or hardware wallets. 

These wallets store a user’s private key on something that is not connected to the internet and can come with software that works in parallel so that the user can view their portfolio without putting their private key at risk. 

Perhaps the most secure way to store cryptocurrency offline is via a paper wallet. A paper wallet is a wallet that you can generate off of certain websites. It then produces both public and private keys that you print out on a piece of paper. The ability to access cryptocurrency in these addresses is only possible if you have that piece of paper with the private key. Many people laminate these paper wallets and store them in safety deposit boxes at their bank or even in a safe in their home. These wallets are meant for high security and long-term investments because you cannot quickly sell or trade Bitcoin stored this way.

A more commonly used type of cold wallet is a hardware wallet. A hardware wallet is typically a USB drive device that stores a user’s private keys securely offline. Such wallets have serious advantages over hot wallets as they are unaffected by viruses that could be on one’s computer. With hardware wallets, private keys never come in contact with your network-connected computer or potentially vulnerable software. These devices are also typically open source, allowing the community to determine its safety through code audits rather than a company declaring that it is safe to use.

Cold wallets are the most secure way to store your Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies. For the most part, however, they require a bit more knowledge to set up.

A good way to set up your wallets is to have three things: an exchange account to buy and sell, a hot wallet to hold small to medium amounts of crypto you wish to trade or sell, and a cold hardware wallet to store larger holdings for long-term durations.

How to Buy Bitcoin with PayPal

It is also possible to buy Bitcoin through payment processor PayPal. There are two ways to purchase Bitcoin using PayPal. The first, and most convenient method, is to purchase cryptocurrencies using your PayPal account. The second option is to use the balance of your PayPal account to purchase cryptocurrencies from a third-party provider. This option is not as convenient as the first one because very few third-party sites allow users to purchase Bitcoin using the PayPal button.  

Four cryptocurrencies – Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash – can be purchased directly through PayPal. With the exception of Hawaii, residents of all states can either use their existing PayPal accounts or set up new ones.

To set up a crypto account with PayPal, the following pieces of information are required: Name, Physical address, Date of Birth, and Tax Identification Number. There are a number of ways in which you can buy Bitcoin through PayPal.

Some of them are:

• Existing balance in your PayPal account.
• Debit card linked to your PayPal account
• Bank account linked to your PayPal account

It is not possible to use a credit card to purchase Bitcoin using PayPal. During the purchase process, PayPal will display a price. However, the inherent volatility of cryptocurrency prices means that those prices are subject to change quickly. You should make sure that you have sufficient funds in your account to make the purchase.

When you buy Bitcoin directly from PayPal, it makes money off the crypto spread or the difference between Bitcoin’s market price and exchange rate between USD and the cryptocurrency. The company also charges a transaction fee for each purchase. These fees depend on the dollar amount of purchase. For example, a flat fee of $0.50 is charged for purchases between $100 to $200. Thereafter, the fee is a percentage of the overall dollar amount. For example, a fee of 2% of the total amount is charged for crypto purchases between $100 to $200.

One disadvantage of purchasing cryptocurrencies through PayPal is that you cannot transfer the crypto outside the payment processor’s platform. Therefore, it is not possible for you to transfer cryptocurrencies from PayPal’s wallet to an external crypto wallet or your personal wallet.

The other disadvantage of using PayPal is that very few exchanges and online traders allow use of the payment processor to purchase payment. eToro is among the few online traders that allows use of PayPal to purchase Bitcoin on its platform.

How to Buy Bitcoin with Credit Card

The process to purchase Bitcoin with credit cards is similar to the one for buying the cryptocurrency with debit cards or through automated clearing house (ACH) transfers. You will need to enter your credit card details with the exchange or online trading firm and authorize the transaction. In general, however, it is not a good idea to purchase Bitcoin with credit cards. There are a couple of reasons for this.

First, not all exchanges allow Bitcoin purchases using credit cards due to associated processing fees and the risk of fraud. Their decision to do so may work out in the best interests of customers. This is because credit card processing can tack additional charges onto such transactions. Thus, in addition to paying transaction fees, you will end up with processing fees that the exchange may pass onto you.

The second reason is that credit card purchases can be expensive. Credit card issuers treat Bitcoin purchases as cash advances and charge hefty fees and interest rates on such advances. For example, American Express and Chase both count purchases of cryptocurrencies as cash advance transactions. Thus, if you purchase $100 worth of Bitcoin using an American Express card, you will pay $10 (current cash advance fee for such transactions) plus an annual percentage fee of 25%.  

An indirect method of purchasing Bitcoin using a credit card is to get a Bitcoin Rewards credit card. Such cards function like your typical rewards credit card except they offer rewards in the form of Bitcoin. So, they invest cash back earned from purchases into Bitcoin. An example of a Bitcoin Rewards card is the BlockFi Bitcoin Rewards Credit Card3. Beware, however, that the annual fee on these cards may be steep and there may be additional costs associated with conversion of fiat currencies into crypto.

Alternate Ways of Buying Bitcoin

While exchanges like Coinbase or Binance remain some of the most popular ways of purchasing Bitcoin, it is not the only method. Below are some additional processes Bitcoin owners utilize.

Bitcoin ATMs

Bitcoin ATMs act like in-person Bitcoin exchanges. Individuals can insert cash into the machine and use it to purchase Bitcoin that is then transferred to a secure digital wallet. Bitcoin ATMs have become increasingly popular in recent years; Coin ATM Radar can help to track down the closest machines.

P2P Exchanges

Unlike decentralized exchanges, which match up buyers and sellers anonymously and facilitate all aspects of the transaction, there are some peer-to-peer (P2P) exchange services that provide a more direct connection between users. Local Bitcoins is an example of such an exchange. After creating an account, users can post requests to buy or sell Bitcoin, including information about payment methods and price. Users then browse through listings of buy and sell offers, choosing those trade partners with whom they wish to transact.

Local Bitcoins facilitates some of the aspects of the trade. While P2P exchanges do not offer the same anonymity as decentralized exchanges, they allow users the opportunity to shop around for the best deal. Many of these exchanges also provide rating systems so that users have a way to evaluate potential trade partners before transacting.

How to Sell Bitcoin

You can sell Bitcoin at the same venues that you purchased the cryptocurrency, such as cryptocurrency exchanges and peer-to-peer platforms. Typically, the process to sell Bitcoin on these platforms is similar to the process used to purchase the cryptocurrency.

For example, you may only be required to click a button and specify an order type (i.e., whether the cryptocurrency should be sold instantly at available prices or whether it should be sold to limit losses) to conduct the sale. Depending on the market composition and demand at the venue, the offering price for Bitcoin may vary. For example, exchanges in South Korea traded Bitcoin at a Kimchi premium during the run up in its prices back in 2018.  

Cryptocurrency exchanges charge a percentage of the crypto sale amount as fees. For example, Coinbase charges 1.49% of the overall transaction amount as fees.

Exchanges generally have daily and monthly withdrawal limits. Therefore, cash from a large sale may not be immediately available to the trader. There are no limits on the amount of cryptocurrency you can sell, however.