The cryptocurrencies are here to stay, there is no doubt. Technological giants, banks and a large number of companies adopt them and express their potential. Even those who one day criticized them and branded them as a bubble and scam, now look at them with different eyes. But, how to buy cryptocurrencies?
The ordinary citizen also sees how his interest in buying and investing in cryptocurrencies grows, and it is at that moment when the first doubts and questions begin to arise.
In this guide we are going to give the steps and advice that should be followed to resolve this issue.
How to buy or invest in cryptocurrencies?
When buying cryptocurrencies there are many options, cryptocurrency exchanges, ATMs, purchases in person, etc. Each of them has its pros and cons, let’s analyze them in more detail and thus be able to define which is the best option to invest in cryptocurrencies depending on the interests of each one.
Buy cryptocoins in Coinbase
Starting from the basis that it will be your first “crypto-purchase” and therefore you do not have cryptocurrencies yet, the first step is to find platforms that give the possibility of acquiring these digital assets with fiduciary money.
One of the most common and most used platforms by the new cryptocurrency investors is Coinbase.
Coinbase is a platform for buying, selling and storing cryptocurrencies that was launched in 2012, and is dedicated to making changes as a broker of different cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin [BTC], Ethereum [ETH] or Litecoin [LTC] among others.
In this platform, the sale of cryptocurrencies is done directly at the price marked by Coinbase, it is not necessary to wait for another person to sell at that price and how it would occur in an exchange more focused on trading.
Before starting the purchase process, you must register on the platform, the step-by-step registration process can be found in our Coinbase review.
Once the registration has been done and verified by the platform, you can start with the cryptocurrency purchase process, for which you must follow these steps:
- Access and identify yourself on the Coinbase website.
- Click on the top right button “Operate”.
- Select the option “Buy”.
- Enter the amount to be purchased and the number of your debit/credit card.
- In just a few minutes the purchase of cryptocurrencies will have been successful.
As you can see it is a fast and simple way, that is why this platform is used by both expert users and newcomers to the sector.
Buy cryptocurrencies in an Exchange
To invest in cryptocurrencies through an exchange, based on the same premise (it is the first purchase and you do not have cryptocurrencies), you must search for exchanges that allow you to send funds in fiat money.
For this example, we will use the cryptocurrency exchange, Kraken, an exchange that allows the sending of fiduciary money to make an investment in cryptocurrencies.
As in Coinbase, Kraken requires registration and verification of its users, otherwise the platform will not allow operations or withdrawals.
This platform has 3 levels of identification: Starter, Intermediate and Pro, each of them has deposit and withdrawal limits, with the starter level being the lower level and the Pro one, the superior level.
These levels are obtained by providing the documentation requested by the exchange, in order to obtain a higher level, more user data will be requested, you can see the necessary documentation and the limits of each level in the following picture:
Once the verification in the platform, will proceed to the entry of funds to be able to make the investment in cryptocurrencies.
To add funds to our Kraken account, we must follow the following steps:
- Go to the Funding page.
- Click on Deposit.
- Select the fiduciary currency in which you wish to make the deposit USD, EUR, etc.
Next we will see the steps to follow to make a deposit in these 2 fiduciary coins.
Deposit in Euros [EUR]
- Once you have reached the Deposit – Euros option, select the option “SEPA”.
- The details of the bank account, a deposit reference and other instructions will be displayed.
- Start a SEPA transaction from your bank’s website using the instructions given.
Deposit in Dollars [USD]
To deposit or withdraw USD, you must first activate this function in your Kraken account.
- Activation: Log in to your account and go to the Funding page.
- Click on Withdraw.
- US Dollar (USD), then select US Domestic Wire under the withdrawal method and click on the “Activate” button.
- Once activated, you can deposit using a FedWire or ACH transfer after accepting the Terms of Service (ToS).
The names must match between the bank account and the Kraken account.
You can see information about the fees and limits of depositing and withdrawing fiat in kraken in the following link.
Buy cryptocurrencies on an ATM
The purchase of a cryptocurrency through an ATM is quite limited, because the cryptocurrencies that usually admit these ATMs are usually Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Dash, etc. depending on the manufacturer will dispense one or the other.
If one of these cryptocurrencies is the one we want to acquire, the steps to follow will be the following:
- Choose the option to Buy (If the ATM admits several cryptocurrencies, choose previously which one you want to acquire).
- Enter your identification (In some ATMs a previous registration is necessary).
- Indicate to the ATM the Bitcoin address or the desired cryptocurrency to which the purchase should be sent.
- Make the payment in cash by inserting your fiduciary currency in the ATM.
- Wait for the transaction to be verified.
Cryptocurrencies that can not be bought with fiat
In the assumptions explained, we have seen the process of acquiring cryptocurrencies for the first time using fiduciary money, but what happens if the cryptocurrency we want to buy is not available in any of the platforms that allow fiat?, imagine that we want to buy the GRIN cryptocurrency, the response is simple and the steps to follow in this case would be the following.
Step 1 – Search in coinmarketcap the cryptocurrency you want to acquire and see what exchanges they have it.
Step 2 – Choose one of the exchanges and see what pairs are available, for example the Exchange Poloniex has the GRIN/BTC pair.
Step 3 – Buy BTC with fiat money on one of the platforms explained above.
Step 4 – Send the purchased BTCs to the Poloniex exchange.
Step 5 – Once the transaction is confirmed in the exchange, you can now exchange the BTC with GRIN and obtain the desired cryptocurrency.
Why invest in cryptocurrencies?
There are several reasons why a person may be interested in making an investment in cryptocurrencies, whether you are betting on a project and a technology that you believe will be revolutionary in the future, striving for financial independence, making transfers faster and more economical than the banks or simply make money, you choose which one or which of these reasons is the one that has led you to want to invest in cryptocurrencies, or if there are others.
The amount of available cryptocurrencies grows day by day, new projects bring to market theirs and to be able to get them you have to be clear about the points previously explained.
