Despite recently celebrating its tenth anniversary, buying Bitcoin can still be a challenge for the average retail investor. With many shady exchanges, services and sellers around, users need to know that they are purchasing their Bitcoin from a trustworthy source. We have to put together this guide to help you avoid these bad actors and ensure you only do business with a trustworthy, reliable service.
This guide is for anyone and everyone looking to get started in the sometimes-confusing world of cryptocurrency buying and trading.
Our detailed walkthrough will help new investors learn how to buy and store the world’s most popular cryptocurrency, Bitcoin.
- Step 1: Choose a Bitcoin exchange:
- Step 2: Deposit cash
- Step 3: Exchange cash for Bitcoin
- Step 4: Withdraw your Bitcoin to a hardware wallet:
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Created in 2008 by the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin (ticker symbol: BTC) was the first blockchain and cryptocurrency ever to be deployed successfully and has largely remained dominant in terms of both market capitalization and volume for the entirety of its trading history.
During its lifetime, Bitcoin saw dizzying heights of around $20,000 in December 2017, now trading at just under $7000. It’s little wonder then, that it still captivates the minds of investors, with some industry experts even predicting it could reach highs of $250,000, prompting people to continue to invest speculatively.
But despite Bitcoin’s long history, for many uninitiated retail investors, the process of buying Bitcoin still eludes them.
Fiat to Bitcoin conversions, wallet addresses, private keys, network fees, and exchange platforms – to the seasoned cryptocurrency enthusiast, these processes may all seem second nature, but to newcomers in the crypto-space, the complexity involved in buying your first Bitcoin can be overwhelming, and sometimes off-putting.
The continued adoption of cryptocurrency relies on its usability and ease of access. That’s why we’ve written this guide, to walk you through the most crucial steps of buying, exchanging and storing your Bitcoin.
These steps include:
- Purchasing Bitcoin with fiat currency on major exchanges
- Purchasing Bitcoin peer-to-peer
- Bitcoin ATM’s
- Deciding when to purchase Bitcoin
- Storing your BTC in a secure hardware wallet
Buying Your First Bitcoin
Buying Your First Bitcoin
There are multiple ways to buy Bitcoin, and some are easier and more secure than others. We’re going to explore in detail how you can buy Bitcoin from a trusted exchange, such as Kraken or Coinbase (see our full Coinbase review here) using a debit card or bank transfer; and also, look at the process of buying Bitcoin via a peer-to-peer (p2p) marketplace, such as LocalBitcoins.com.
This is a good time to point out that even though we talk about buying ‘Bitcoin,’ you don’t have to buy a whole coin. Bitcoin is divisible to 8 decimal places, so…
Read more:How to Buy Bitcoin – The Best Ways to Buy BTC in 2020
