There are many ways to buy Bitcoin and other coins. For example, through exchangers and exchanges, for cash, by transferring by phone number, or even exchanged for items from Dota 2 and Counter-Strike. We will tell you how to do it easier and more reliably.
Already at the stage of buying a cryptocurrency, you can make a lot of mistakes and lose both part of the capital and all the funds allocated for investment. Therefore, we have analyzed the main and not obvious ways of acquiring bitcoin and other digital coins.
Exchangers
The easiest way to buy cryptocurrency is through exchangers. As a rule, they provide an opportunity to purchase the most popular digital assets included in the top 20 in terms of capitalization. Among them are Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP and others, as well as the stablecoin USDT. At the same time, you can pay for coins in different ways. For example, using bank cards, payment systems such as Qiwi, Yandex.Money, PayPal and others, by phone number, cash and other methods.
For the purchase of cryptocurrency through exchangers, a commission is taken. Its size can vary over a wide range, for example, be less than 1%, reach 10% and exceed this value. But usually it is 1-2%.
The amount of the commission depends on the cryptocurrency chosen by the user, the payment method and the specific exchanger. If the coin is not popular, the demand for it will be less, and accordingly, the fees will be higher. The size of the commission charged by the exchanger may also differ due to the size of the internal commission set by the payment system. For example, at the time of this writing, bitcoin in rubles is worth 684 thousand rubles. At the same time, the most profitable sale offers on exchangers are as follows:
- Qiwi – 690 thousand rubles.
- Yandex.Money – 699 thousand rubles.
- By phone number – 790 thousand rubles.
- From bank cards – 693-695 thousand rubles.
- Cash – 698 thousand rubles.
The data shows that buying bitcoin through the Qiwi system is the most profitable right now. However, leadership may shift to other payment methods depending on market fluctuations and various factors.
It is usually most rational to buy cryptocurrency with fiat money after a severe market downturn. For example, in May-June 2019, when bitcoin rose in price to $ 14,000, exchangers paid extra 4-5% to users for the purchase of coins. However, in the case of the withdrawal of digital assets, clients, on the contrary, received 4-5% less.
Exchanger aggregators such as Bestchange.ru will help you decide on the most favorable rate. On them, you can select the payment methods of interest and the desired cryptocurrency, and then filter all offers by price and other parameters.
Risks of using exchangers
When purchasing cryptocurrency through exchangers, the user indicates the address to which the coins will be received. This can be a pre-created wallet on the exchange, a cold wallet, and other options. It is very important not to make a mistake when filling in the data during the purchase of funds and their transfer. Otherwise, in 99% of cases, the funds will be irretrievably lost. But if this happens, you should always contact the technical support of the service, employees, if desired and possible, will be able to help.
When using exchangers, as well as when making transfers, it is most reliable to use stablecoins, for example, the USDT token. Its rate is pegged to dollar quotes. There is a risk that during the transfer of funds between wallets in the market, a sharp drop will begin. Because of this, the trader who sent the cryptocurrency may lose capital if its price decreases. Stablecoins eliminate this risk.
To avoid this situation, some exchangers provide an option to temporarily freeze the rate. The trader makes a deal with the service that the cryptocurrency will be sold or bought at a certain price, and it will remain so for the agreed period (usually 15 minutes), regardless of market fluctuations. But for this additional commission may be charged, therefore it is necessary to study the rules for the provision of services in detail.
It should be borne in mind that when buying cryptocurrencies through exchangers, there is a risk of using the services of scammers. Therefore, when looking for a service, you should contact only those who have a good reputation. This can be checked through reviews in aggregators. It is also better to search the Internet for information, whether a specific service has been noticed in illegal activity and whether there are any complaints about it. When using the exchanger for the first time, it will be useful not to transfer a large amount at once, but to start with a small one, for the test.
Without intermediaries
Exchangers are intermediaries who offer services for the sale and purchase of cryptocurrency, and take their own markup for this. However, digital assets can be purchased without a third party, directly from other people. For this, p2p platforms (p2p – person to person – from person to person) were developed. The most popular of these is LocalBitcoins. On it, the user enters into a deal with another user, and the service acts as a guarantor that one will not deceive the other.
For comparison with exchangers, now the bitcoin rate on this platform is 680 thousand rubles. This is even below the market average. However, there are several drawbacks here. Firstly, the price is indicated without the commission that the bank or the system will take for the transfer. Secondly, p2p services are less popular than exchangers and exchanges. Because of this, there are few offers for buying and selling cryptocurrency, and if they are, they are often for small amounts.
It is possible to buy and sell digital coins without intermediaries, if, for example, you negotiate with a familiar person live. In this case, the transaction can be made in person, by paying in cash, by bank transfer or by any other means. However, this is probably the most risky method and should only be used with people you trust. Otherwise, there is a risk that the counterparty will sell the cryptocurrency at an overvalued rate, disappear when receiving money, appropriate it for himself, citing a technical error. And these are not all ways to cheat and rob in person.
Exchanges
Exchangers are often used to deposit and withdraw cryptocurrencies from exchanges. But you can buy digital coins on the trading floors themselves. On the one hand, it is more convenient and safer, because the risk of an unscrupulous counterparty is reduced. If the user buys cryptocurrency on the exchange, he excludes the chance to turn to the services of scammers.
On the other hand, commissions for buying digital assets can be significantly higher than those charged by exchangers. Reason: Most marketplaces do not sell cryptocurrency directly. They form partnerships with other services. It turns out that the user transfers money to a third-party company, it makes an exchange with the exchange, and then the latter credits the user with coins. In this case, the client immediately pays a double commission, so you should carefully check the terms of the deal.
Some exchanges also have built-in p2p services, such as Binance. On it, users can conclude transactions for the purchase / sale of cryptocurrency among themselves without third-party participants. Now in this way you can buy bitcoin for 702 thousand rubles.
However, exchanges do not inspire 100% confidence. Their managers, as in the case of exchangers, may turn out to be scammers. Also, trading platforms can go bankrupt or be hacked. On which exchanges it is not worth keeping money, we described in the previous article.
other methods
Digital money is gradually spreading around the world. In this regard, users have more opportunities for investing in cryptocurrency. Moreover, even banks are starting to work with it. For example, in April, the British online bank Revolut opened the possibility of buying bitcoin and other coins for all of its customers. But the company does not provide services in Russia.
Cryptocurrencies can also be purchased using crypto wallets. In addition to purchasing, they allow you to store digital assets, trade them and exchange them for fiat currencies. In some cases, it is possible to open deposits. For example, the blockchain.com service announced the introduction of Bitcoin deposits with an annual return of 4.5%. Another popular wallet is crypto.com.
Another option is cryptomats. They work in a similar way to ATM machines. The user activates the device, enters the address where the cryptocurrency will be received, and deposits money. However, this method has significant disadvantages. First, commissions can be as high as 5% or more. Secondly, they are very difficult to find. According to a special online card cryptocoinmap.ru , there are now 5 crypto ATMs left in Moscow.
Another non-standard way of buying is through Telegram bots. The messenger has special channels where you can buy and sell cryptocurrency, as well as store it on a wallet linked to your Telegram account. However, this is one of the most risky ways. The user trusts his money to a person whom he does not know and with whom he will not be able to get in touch if something goes wrong.
There are also more creative ways to buy digital money. For example, they can be obtained by exchanging them for gift cards or for items from computer games. At the moment, there are many services that allow selling skins from Counter Strike, Dota 2 and other games for cryptocurrency. However, such platforms take huge commissions, they can be over 10%.
Trust but verify
There are many ways to buy cryptocurrencies. For example, using exchangers, crypto wallets, on exchanges, on p2p platforms, and others. All methods have their pros and cons, as well as risks. To minimize the likelihood of losing funds, users should double-check their data, avoid obscure platforms and services, check reviews for them on the Internet and make test purchases for small amounts.