As the popularity of Bitcoin is increasing every day, many users are interested to buy and trade with them. Bitcoins are not only easy to use, but they also help in maintaining anonymity of the parties involved in transactions; therefore, it is considered to be one of the safest modes of digital currencies. In spite of many vendors accepting Bitcoins as a mode of payment, the general public still doesn’t possess enough knowledge and awareness about using these coins. They only know that it is popular; they don’t know how to practically buy them, places to buy them, and how they can be used for transactions. This article aims to throw some light on these areas.
How can I buy Bitcoin?
There are many online exchanges where one can purchase Bitcoins. It is better to refer to the rules and regulations of your respective countries and choose the most authentic source to buy Bitcoins. You can pay for these coins through cash, credit cards, internet transfers, and other modes of digital currencies. However, certain countries restrict payment through cards. This is where having a thorough knowledge about the existing jurisdiction proves to be of great help.
Credit cards – Some of the places where you can easily use credit cards to buy Bitcoins are:
- Cubits- compatible with 17 currencies and makes the buying/selling of Bitcoins a very simple process
- VirWox (Virtual World Exchange)- where you need to first purchase Second Line Lindens with the help of your Paypal account and then change these SLLs to Bitcoins
- CoinMama- where you can purchase Bitcoins through Western Union with the help of your credit card
Internet bank transfers – You can easily purchase Bitcoins by doing a bank transfer as well. In the US, some of the places where you can buy/sell Bitcoins via a simple bank transfer are Coinbase, Bittylicious, BitQuick.co, Bitalo, and BitBrothers LLC. In the UK, you can buy Bitcoins through wire transfers at bitcoinmagnet.co.uk. In Europe, Bitstamp supports SEPA transfers and is a viable option.
Cash – When buying Bitcoins with cash, you need to be very careful as there are lots of chances for fraud here. Some of the most authentic and safe sites for this purpose are Local Bitcoins, BitQuick.co, BitBrothers LLC, and Asia Nexgen.
As mentioned above, it is important to know which of these above options is valid in your respective country before you choose the source and mode of payment. You can also buy Bitcoins with the help of personal checks, gift cards, money orders, iDEAL, and MoneyGram.
Where can I buy Bitcoin?
There are a lot of Bitcoin exchanges all over the world that offer these coins to buyers. However, you should remember that it is best practice to only use exchanges for active trading and purchases. For storing your coins, it is safer to use a Bitcoin wallet. This way, you can be assured of the safety of your coins. Ever since the introduction of Bitcoin exchanges into the markets during the great financial crash of 2008, there have been certain unfortunate incidents of where exchanges have cheated people of their coins. Some of the popular and authentic Bitcoin exchanges across the world are:
- US & UK- Coinbase, Circle, and Indacoin
- US- Kraken, LocalBitcoins and BitQuick
- UK- Bittylicious
- Canada- QuickBT
- South America- SatoshiTango and LocalBitcoins
You can refer to the internet for a more extensive list of authentic Bitcoin exchanges.
Some notes before buying
You need to store your coins somewhere when you buy them. For this purpose, you need a Bitcoin wallet. You can create a wallet by downloading Bitcoin software on your computer and get your address within minutes. Your Bitcoin wallet address is the address by which your identity will be known for all future transactions. There are many ways to get online wallets. If you store your address/wallet on your system, it is susceptible to virus attacks. Therefore, it is always recommended to store your coins in online wallets. This way, it gets saved in a cloud system. Coinbase.com is one of the most trusted and genuine online wallets available today.
Once you get your wallet and your exclusive address, you can start buying Bitcoins from any of the above sources and can start using them right away. On the site where you have your wallets, you will have a list of exchanges from where you may buy coins. After purchasing your coins on the exchange, enter in your wallet address, number of coins that you want in your wallet, and then press send. Your transaction is complete. The request then goes through the blockchain where miners check the authenticity of the transaction. In a matter of ten minutes, you will see coins sitting in your wallet. It is as easy as that. Due to its liquidity and convenience, Bitcoin is rapidly growing in popularity today. It is also for the same reason that many leading vendors have started accepting this as a mode of payment.