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How Do You Buy Cryptocurrencies?

How Do You Buy Cryptocurrencies?

How Do You Buy Cryptocurrencies?

This question originally appeared on Quora, the knowledge sharing network where compelling questions are answered by people with unique insights.

Answers are by Steve Smith, Knut Andre, Mahesh Shah, Emily Long, Priyanka Suman, Terry Floyd, Ryan Soury, Greg Matthews, Daniel and Mathew Chan.

Steve Smith, former Blogger, Hacker

Answered Dec. 31, 2017

You’ll require a wallet if you want to buy cryptocurrency. Without it, trading, investing, buying and selling of cryptocurrency is not possible.

As Ethereum is the top blockchain-based platform and the most profitable, it is considered good to invest in it.

How to Invest in Ethereum

Free Ethereum mining: Here you’ve just got to visit the online websites and submit your wallet address, The websites then uses your computer resources for mining and give you a little amount of Ethereum.

Building a mining rig: This is a profitable way if you know how to do it. All you’ve got to do is build a rig with powerful and super fast graphics, make sure the hash rate of the rig is high. Join the top Ethereum mining pool and you’ll start mining some good Ether.

Knut Andre, studied Business & International Economics

Answered Feb. 1, 2018

As a newbie to cryptocurrencies, it can be difficult to know where to start when you want to start buying your first coins. However it is quite simple to purchase and hold different cryptocurrencies and you don’t even need to have several different accounts to hold different coins, as some sites have chosen to integrate more or less all the larger coins that exist today. Amongst those sites are Bitmex, as well as Coinbase for Bitcoin only.

There are many different ways to obtain cryptocurrencies. Always remember to only deal with people or sites whom you trust, in order to not lose any money to scams.

Open Up a Cryptocurrency Wallet

The very first step you have to take in order to purchase and be able to hold your coins is to open up a cryptocurrency wallet. There are different choices of wallets depending on if you want to simply hold the largest coins – Bitcoins and LiteCoins – or hold many different types.

All the different cryptocurrency coins have their own wallet that you can download from their website, which can also be used to mine for coins. They can work fine if you plan on only having a few different coins, so you will only have a few different wallets. However choosing this kind of wallet eliminates the option of buying coins through a cryptocurrency exchange without having to open yet another wallet. So if you open up the coin’s own wallet, remember that you either have to buy coins through a forum or similar or from friends without having to open up yet another wallet account.

The most simple way to start is to instead open up a cryptocurrency wallet with one of the large cryptocurrency exchange sites, where you can buy all the different coins and hold them all in the same wallet, so you can easily transfer or sell them if you don’t need them again.

Buying Coins From a Cryptocurrency Exchange

The safest and most commonly used way for new users to purchase any sort of cryptocurrency coins is through a cryptocurrency exchange site. If you choose one of the large and trusted cryptocurrency exchange sites you will not only be sure that your money is safe, but that all transactions are fast and secure, so you avoid doing deals with people who don’t have good intentions. All you have to do is to choose a site of your liking and create an account with them.

The next thing you need to do in order to purchase any kind of coins is to upload funds to your cryptocurrency wallet account, which can be done through different regular payment methods such as credit cards and bank transfer. The money transfer can take from a few minutes and up to several days, depending on the method you have chosen, so you will not always be able to begin buying coins instantly.

Once the money has hit your account, you are ready for the next and final step of the process of obtaining coins. This process is once again very simple as you simply have to choose which cryptocurrency you want to buy, how many coins you want of the currency and which price you wish to pay. Once you have decided all of these factors, you simply place an order in the system and the cryptocurrency exchange site will match up your preferences with what the sellers have and make the deal happen.

Mahesh Shah

Answered Nov. 26, 2017

You should only consider reputed Bitcoin and Ethereum exchanges like Bitcoin Exchange, trading BTC USD, BTC EUR – CEX.IO, or Coinbase.

My personal favourite, Bitcoin Exchange, Trading BTC USD, BTC EUR – CEX.IO is the best Destination to buy and sell Bitcoins, Ethereum and Litecoins. It is a Bitcoin exchange and former cloud mining provider, established in London in 2013. As an online digital currency exchange, it offers the ability to trade Bitcoins for fiat money, such as USD, EUR, GBP and RUB. They have a global reputation as a bitcoin exchange, and they offer high grade security.There are customers from all around the world.

All you need is to register on their portal and submit some documents to get verified. Once you have done so you can use their pre-decided buying option or you can alternately create a custom price by entering the amount of bitcoins and expected value. You can pay using your selected payment method, your card or your bank account.

Emily Long

Answered Dec. 22, 2017

Firstly you can set up an account with Coinbase. If you are not living in one of the supported countries for Coinbase, you can use Cex.io to buy bitcoins.

Both Coinbase and Cex.io are user-friendly, fast and made for beginners. Coinbase has over 13 million users.

Then you have to move them to bigger exchanges like Bitfinex or Kucoin where you can exchange them to other cryptocurrencies if you’d like. If you want to buy coins from Coinbase just to transfer to exchanges, I recommend buying Litecoin or Ethereum on Coinbase due to the lower transaction fees.

On Kucoin you can buy Kucoin shares which give you a passive income in dividend every day since the platform returns 50 percent of its fees to people who own Kucoin. Kucoin doesn’t require verification, just your own email address and a password and you’ve got an account. But always do your own research before investing in a coin.

If you’d just like to hold Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies for the long term, it’s best to buy a hardware wallet to make sure they are secure. This way you are in possession of your private keys and no one else has access to them.

If you keep them on an exchange you are at their mercy, as they could close the exchange and run of with your coins. Or if the exchange gets hacked, you could lose your coins (it has already happened). If you keep them on a desktop wallet you are in danger of hackers stealing your coins.

The only way that you are in possession of your private keys and that your crypto coins are out of reach of malicious people is to buy a hardware wallet.

Priyanka Suman, Cryptocurrency Enthusiast | BlogOrganization.com

Answered Dec. 30, 2017

There are hundreds of cryptocurrencies and all are not available at one place. There are so many options to buy cryptocurrencies but your choice of exchange also depends on where you live. All exchanges need to have a license to do business. In the United States, all states give licenses individually so companies have to apply for licenses individually before getting approved to allow customers to buy at their exchange. Some exchanges are more popular in Europe and the U.K. while some are popular in France or any other countries. So your choice will totally depend on where you live. If you are in the U.S., then Coinbase and Binance can be your best choice to purchase hundreds of cryptocurrencies.

Only four cryptocurrencies are available on Coinbase while hundreds are available on Binance. If your aim is to do trading then I will suggest joining an exchange where there are a sufficient number of people making purchases and buying to allow good liquidity. Otherwise, you will not have a good chance to earn. Exchanges in countries like India and other Asian countries don’t have much liquidity while U.S. and Chinese exchanges have good liquidity.

Terry Floyd

Answered Dec. 21, 2017

Originally Answered: How do I buy cryptocurrency?

The easiest and most secure way is to find someone nearby who is selling Bitcoins by using a site like Localbitcoins, or attending a local cryptocurrency meetup, where you can meet other enthusiasts who will be happy to help you out. You can also purchase bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies through a growing network of bitcoin ATM machines.

You could just download and install a bitcoin wallet on your smartphone or computer, which you will need to have anyway to manage your coins. Many of these apps include links to the above-mentioned ATM locator websites, or to cryptocurrency exchanges where you can purchase a wide range of different crypto-assets.

I would only recommend using an exchange as a last resort. These are the least secure ways to obtain bitcoin, and many have been hacked and lost customer funds. Coinbase, the largest of these exchanges in the United States, has suffered extensive outages when trading is at its peak. The only way you can truly “own” your bitcoin is to possess your own private keys, so this is why I discourage new users from falling into the trap of using an online exchange.

Finally, once you have your keys and a small amount of crypto, always back up your keys and keep the seed in a secure place.

Ryan Soury, Founder at Buyte Mobile Payments

Answered Jan. 3, 2018

Get started by doing research on currencies/coins you would like to invest in. I’d advise taking some time to track coins you have on a watchlist. This will get you used to trends so that you optimise the timing of your investments, conversions and sales.

Do research on the available wallets on the market, exchanges on the market, and how coin transfer works. There are a lot on the market. Be aware of what you invest in. eToro trades CFDs, not the actual underlying asset, which essentially means you’re under that contract’s restrictions and that you can’t spend/manipulate the asset as if you owned it. Coinbase trades the actual asset, which means you can send and convert your assets using their respective addresses.

I highly recommend and am partnered with The Digital Escrow which basically lets you ask in chat for the asset you’re after, and then handles the acquisition and storage until you’re ready to sell, trade, or convert into another currency. The Digital Escrow also acquires any currency on the market for you, leaving your opportunities open beyond any single exchange.

Greg Matthews, 5+ Yrs Cryptocurrency Researcher & Developer @ MicroGuy.com

Answered Jun. 28, 2017

Since Bitcoin is the root currency in which all others are traded, you will need to buy bitcoin first. I recommend Coinbase for general users just getting started. One-hundred-dollars worth is generally a good starting amount.

Next, you’ll need to find an exchange for placing trades. I recommend Bittrex, because it’s a stable and reliable U.S.-based exchange built by security professionals from Blackberry and Amazon.

Next, you’ll need to go to your wallet on Bittrex and copy your BTC deposit address, then navigate back to Coinbase and make a withdrawal to this address. This will take the funds from Coinbase and deposit them into your Bittrex account.

Now you’re ready to begin trading the majority of top cryptocurrencies. Remember to always do your homework and only exchange back into fiat what you are willing to lose.

Daniel

Answered Jan. 2, 2018

As previous posters have pointed out, there are plenty of places to purchase a cryptocurrency; however, I want to mention this additional item because I don’t know what your long term goals are, flipping/day-trading or HODL.

Do not forget to consider your wallets for these currencies. If you want to purchase cryptocurrency for long term holding then you will not want to keep your purchase on the exchange. There is no one wallet that can handle all currently existing cryptocurrencies, so depending on what you buy you may need a variety of wallets.

Ideally, you will have an offline paper wallet, or device, and you’ll send your currency from the exchange to the public address of this paper wallet. This significantly reduces the likelihood of you losing your currency due to some security incident at the exchange because your money would no longer be controlled by the exchange. You’ll also want to plan for the long-term storage of this wallet. It is estimated that nearly four million Bitcoins have been lost forever. You wouldn’t want your hard earned money to end up the same way.

Please always remember that no one can tell you what the “next big thing is”. There are lots of very smart people in the world that deal with finance, and they can’t predict what stocks will go up this week or month or year. On that same note, there are many very smart people that work with, work on, research, invest in cryptocurrencies, and no one can predict where any cryptocurrency will end up nor what the next big thing is in this space.

Mathew Chan, Founder at MatrixPortfolio.com

Answered Jan 21, 2018

Before investing in any cryptocurrencies, there’s a few hard rules you should follow:

Do your own research – It’s important to understand that cryptos are not stocks, or sports teams, or horses you bet on. There is an underlying technology which is fundamentally changing the modern world as we know it, and that technology is called blockchain, which enables cryptocurrencies.

Never invest more than you can afford to lose. There are plenty of stories of people overextended, and in the event of a correction and they panic sell, losing all of their life savings. This is not a good idea.

If you do invest, invest in fundamentals, not hype, then hold for the long term.

You’ll also need a good understanding of how cryptocurrency wallets work, as that’s how you’ll be storing your cryptos, as well as the popular exchanges you will want to trade on, which ones are reputable and has a good selection of tokens, and basic security knowledge so you can protect your holdings.

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Illustration by Fabien Roché