How to buy Bitcoin
Written by R. A. Stewart
The decision to purchase Bitcoin is a decision which should be made after careful consideration with the main one being, “Can I afford to lose this money?”
Buying Bitcoin is speculation rather than investing. It is a bet that the price will increase in the future, therefore, money used for the purchase of Bitcoin or other cryptocurrency should be money which you can fully afford to lose.
The first thing you will need is to register for a bitcoin exchange. The ones I use are Coinbase, Blockchain, and Kraken. There are a lot of others such as Etoro, Swyftx. It is best to do your research to find one which suits you.
Etoro has a minimum transaction of $1,000 which is too much. I prefer to drip feed my money into these things. The problem with putting a lump sum into Bitcoin is that the price may be high when you buy your bitcoin and then it drops and your original investment is worth a lot less; if you are drip feeding your money into Bitcoin then you will at least have purchased Bitcoin at the lower price if it drops in value.
It is important to point out that Bitcoin is volatile, therefore, you only invest what you can afford to lose.
The signing up process is simple. You need a username and password. You also need some form of ID to upload, this is either a driver’s license or a passport. Then you will be asked some questions, one will be “What is the source of your funds?”
Once you have completed the sign up process you are set to go. You will be asked to type in your card details. This should be a debit card rather than a credit card so that the money which is on your card is your own. Never purchase cryptocurrency on credit because the crunch always comes when it is time to pay it back and there is always the possibility that your Bitcoin balance if it drops significantly will be less the size of your debt.
It is about being responsible with your money.
Two factor signing in
When you sign in the Blockchain you will be sent an email to authorise the signing in. Coinbase will send you a text with a sign in code while Kraken is similar to Blockchain where you will be sent an email.
It is important to stress that you should use a different email for your cryptocurrency from your normal banking. This is because scammers will try to trick you into giving you your personal information and you cannot always be sure whether the email you receive from your cryptocurrency exchange is really from them or a scammer, therefore type in the URL address of the website rather than clicking on a link.
Unfortunately there are so many different ways of losing money when buying cryptocurrency and being scammed is one of them. It is imperative that you exercise common sense and don’t believe everything that you are told about making money on bitcoin. This form of investing has such a short history that its future cannot be forecast with any degree of certainty. Best advice is to never invest money on bitcoin which you cannot afford to lose.
About this article
The information here is of the writer’s own opinion and experience and may not be applicable to your personal circumstances therefore discretion is advised. You may use this article as content for your blog/website or ebook.
Read my other articles on www.robertastewart.com
The Bitcoin’s Investor’s Handbook explains everything about Bitcoin.
