How to Buy Bitcoin Online

Bitcoin has exploded since its release in 2009. In the last year alone, Bitcoin saw new all-time highs as well as record-breaking levels of corporate adoption and media coverage. With public interest pushing Bitcoin to greater heights and no sign of the leading cryptocurrency losing steam, the question of how to buy Bitcoin online is on everyone’s minds.

To buy Bitcoin, you’ll need to use a cryptocurrency exchange, an online crypto trading platform. Some exchanges only accept cryptocurrency, while others will allow users to buy Bitcoin directly with fiat money like euros and pounds.

Decide Where to Buy Bitcoin

To choose the best place to buy Bitcoin and trade cryptocurrencies, it’s important to know a bit of background. You’ll be buying Bitcoin from an exchange and storing it in a wallet. Let’s take a look at what that means.

How a Bitcoin Wallet Works

A Bitcoin wallet is a piece of software that stores the information used to access crypto funds. This includes your wallet’s private key, like a password, and public key, similar to a bank account or address.

Crypto wallets are encrypted so that both of these keys are required to make a transaction. Technically, Bitcoin is data stored on a computer network, and your wallet is what lets you use your BTC. A secure wallet is paramount to the safety of your funds.

Hardware wallets store funds offline on a physical device, whereas exchange wallets or “online hot wallets” do not. Hardware wallets are often more secure but less convenient than hot wallets, and exchanges will have an insurance policy to protect hot wallets against losses.

What to Know Before You Buy Bitcoin

Bitcoin (BTC) was created anonymously in 2009 as the world’s first cryptocurrency, a solution designed to act as “digital cash” or virtual currency. Unlike pre-existing forms of digital currency, Bitcoin can be transacted by peer exchange (peer-to-peer) at any time of day, and because the Bitcoin network is spread across many community-run computers, no centralized authority can seize funds or block transactions.

Bitcoin is a volatile asset class subject to price swings, and it was the best performing asset of 2020. Companies like Tesla and MicroStrategy recently adopted and made an initial investment in Bitcoin, bringing BTC into the mainstream.

How We Chose the Best Places to Buy Bitcoin

When choosing a Bitcoin exchange or service, there are a few key factors to consider.

Security
Ease of use
Fiat compatibility
Other cryptocurrencies
Other features

We’ve chosen online brokerages based on their security features as a priority, followed by other aspects of the user experience. All of these exchanges allow you to buy Bitcoin and store it in a Bitcoin wallet on the platform (an online wallet), and all of them are considered to be secure.

Buy BTC with Bank Transfer

Some fiat-compatible exchanges allow you to buy Bitcoin by depositing cash on the exchange via bank transfer. This is usually the cheapest fiat option, although the transfer will often take 1 – 3 working days.

Buy Bitcoin with Credit Card

Some exchanges also let you make cryptocurrency investments with a credit card. Typically, this is a little more expensive than a bank transfer but comes with the benefit of immediate purchase. If you want to get started right away, this is the best option.

CryptoWallet.com is an all-in-one platform and mobile-only Bitcoin wallet that allows users to buy and trade Bitcoin and other digital currencies with fiat by bank draft or credit card.

It supports BTC, ETH, LTC, XRP, and USDT. Users can actually spend crypto in the real world with a crypto debit card, a groundbreaking advancement in the crypto world. You can earn fees from users you refer to the platform, and gain access to a unique IBAN for fiat.

As a custodial exchange on mobile, it was designed with user-friendliness in mind.

Ease of Use: Easy
Fiat Compatibility: Yes (EUR, GBP)
Fees: Fees vary based on trading activity
Limits: Limits vary based on trading activity

Coinbase is one of the biggest exchanges out there, attracting institutional investors as well as retailers. It was one of the first exchanges to allow fiat purchases, and it’s known for being user-friendly. There is a wide selection of cryptocurrencies, hot wallets, and fiat currencies to choose from, but there are no added features such as crypto

Ease of Use: Easy
Fiat Compatibility: Yes
Fees: 1.5% – 4% for fiat purchases, up to 0.5% for crypto trades
Limits: $25,000 daily for KYC verified users

Gemini supports 20 cryptocurrencies for trading and accepts 7 fiat currencies. The desktop version can be complex to use, but the exchange offers a simpler mobile solution as well. Wire transfers are free, while debit card transfers come with a fee of 3.49%.

Gemini is an exchange and exchange wallet only, with no added features to spend cryptocurrency as money on real goods and services.

Ease of Use: Intermediate
Fiat Compatibility: USD, AUD, CAD, EUR*, GBP*, SGD, and HKD (*EU users can only hold EUR and GBP)
Fees: 3.49% for card transfers, 0.50% for trades
Limits: $10,000 daily

BlockFi is a crypto exchange that doubles as a lending platform. Users can earn APY on lended funds, or borrow crypto as well as trading it. There is no way to spend funds on actual goods or services, nor do users have their own IBAN. BlockFi does not support fiat, so you’ll need existing crypto funds to begin your Bitcoin trades.

Ease of Use: Advanced
Fiat Compatibility: No
Fees: 0.00075 BTC per transaction
Limits: High limits, such as 100 BTC per week for Bitcoin

Kraken is a major crypto exchange with fiat support and a wide selection of crypto coins, including Bitcoin. Fees can drop to 0.9% when users buy stablecoins with fiat currency. Kraken charges 1.75% for other crypto pair trades, 3.75% for card transactions, and 1.7% for bank transfers. Private insurance secures user accounts. Kraken doesn’t come with crypto tools or banking features like IBANs or crypto debit cards.

Ease of Use: Easy
Ease of Use: Easy Fiat Compatibility: USD, EUR, CAD, AUD, GBP, CHF and JPY Fees: 0.9% – 3.75% Limits: $5,000 – $10,000,000 daily depending on verification level
Fees: 0.9% – 3.75%
Limits: $5,000 – $10,000,000 daily depending on verification level

Coinmama supports 8 cryptocurrencies for trading including BTC, and fees are 3.9% to buy and 4% to sell for new users, with lower ranges based on the in-platform loyalty system. Users can buy Bitcoin by credit or debit card, bank transfer, PayPal, or Apple Pay. The site offers limited education for investors, unlike most which offer blog resources and self-help tools for Bitcoin buyers.

Ease of Use: Easy
Fiat Compatibility: GBP, EUR, AUD, CAD, JPY, USD
Fees: Up to 3.9% for buys, up top 4% for sells
Limits: $15,000 USD daily

eToro allows traders to buy stocks and CFDs as well as crypto coins, offering a wider variety of options than most crypto exchanges. It also allows users to mimic the trades of other successful traders. However, the traditional stock brokerage and crypto exchange still need to withdraw their funds from eToro’s hot wallets to a bank account in order to spend them on anything in the real world.

Users must deposit a minimum of $500 USD by bank transfer or card to begin eToro trading whether to purchase coins or stocks.

Ease of Use: Intermediate
Fiat Compatibility: Dozens of supported currencies
Fees: 0.75% on BTC trades
Limits: $10,000 daily deposit

What is a Bitcoin Exchange?

A Bitcoin exchange is an online platform that allows you to buy and sell Bitcoin, either directly from other market participants or from the exchange’s own Bitcoin hot wallet or on-site BTC cache. You can check exchange reviews such as this to get a sense of the options. As well as the centralized options listed above, there are decentralized exchanges with nobody in control, the vast majority don’t support fiat and aren’t suitable for getting started.

Why buy bitcoin with a credit/debit card?

Some people want to capitalize on market movements they think will happen too fast for a bank draft. Others just don’t want to wait for the bank draft and are ready to enter crypto right away! The sale price will be higher, but the purchase is instantaneous.

Why Should I Buy Bitcoin Instead of Mining?

Whether you buy or mine Bitcoin depends on your goals. Bitcoin mining requires a serious investment of time, money, and specialized mining hardware, and miners compete with industrial mining farms with advanced mining hardware for fees. An investment plan for either mining or buying Bitcoins is a good idea.

Can I use Multiple Exchanges?

Absolutely, you can use as many exchanges as you want. Check exchange reviews to get a sense of the options. However, it’s more convenient to simply use one exchange that suits your purposes, particularly for secure storage. That’s why we designed Crypto Wallet to act as an exchange, banking solution, and passive income generator all in one!

How to buy cryptocurrency online

Hopefully, this article has taught you a bit about bitcoin, and we’ve provided you with all the information you could need when it comes to choosing how and where you might want to get some for yourself. But let’s do a quick refresh.

Looking into the background of bitcoin, it is easy to recognize its value and its potential for volatility. If you’ve weighed the potential risks and rewards and you are looking to buy, take a look at our provided list of vendors that you might want to choose from. After you’ve selected an exchange that suits your needs you are going to have to register an account.

For example, if you’re using our very own CryptoWallet.com you’ll have to sign up to our platform and create an account.

Once all of this is completed you will be free to send fiat cash to your account and use this to buy your very own bitcoin. In addition, thanks to CryptoWallet.coms handy exchange, you will also be able to avail of our handy digital wallet, to keep your new bitcoin safe.

How to buy Bitcoins in the Netherlands

The Netherlands is quite a friendly environment for crypto so you shouldn’t have any trouble finding somewhere to buy and sell bitcoin.

One of the first things you might want to think about when looking to buy bitcoin is identifying how you wish to purchase it. Perhaps with a credit card, by sending money to an exchange platform, or by trading an already owned crypto?

The crypto scene is a vast and diverse ecosystem, with many different exchanges offering the buying and selling of bitcoin. The trick for you will be identifying your own trading needs and finding the platform that best suits you. Here is a shortlist of vendors that you can use to purchase bitcoin via a variety of different methods that you might want to take a look at. CryptoWallet.com, eToro, and Binance.

Once you’ve figured that out, you’ll likely have to set up an account on your chosen platform. The registration process will differ slightly from provider to provider, but generally, you’ll have to give personal information, proof of identity, KYC information, and set up some security such as a password or two-step verification. (2FA)

Once you’ve done this and followed the platform’s instructions, you’ll be informed that you are free to trade for some bitcoin.

How to Buy Bitcoin Online