Whether you’re an amateur seeking to make your first bounce into the crypto markets, or you’re already a pro crypto investor searching to find the best place to buy bitcoin. If you’re one of these then this weblog is for you.
Are you geared up to shop for a few cryptos? Let’s go.
If you’re new to crypto then there’s a big possibility that Coinbase is the sole exchange you’ve heard of.
Coinbase is primarily based in San Francisco and people from over one hundred nations are accepted.
Coinbase has around 56 million users and a mind-boggling 335 billion dollars trading volume. This crypto exchange has been in the cryptocurrency market since 2013, an eternity in crypto terms. What’s important to note though is that Coinbase has two separate platforms:
Regular Coinbase: it is easier to use but it’s super expensive when it comes to fees.
Coinbase pro: it allows you to access a wider range of coins, offers lower fees and the option to place more advanced trades. The good thing is when you sign up and create a basic Coinbase account you can use that log in and password to get into Coinbase Pro.
There are numerous options of deposit methods at Coinbase. Major payment options includes bank transfer, PayPal, debit and credit card are supported, it depends on the place that you’re living in.
Two main fees are charged by Coinbase:
Deposit and withdrawal fees: in Coinbase not all deposit methods are equal. Use a debit card to deposit on Coinbase and you’ll be charged a whopping 3.99% for the privilege. US wire transfers are charged at $10 for a deposit and $25 for withdrawals. However, ACH deposits for US users are free. The same thing is true for the people based in Europe, use that debit card and you will get pounded with a 3.99% fee, however, if you deposit via super bank transfer then that deposit or withdrawal will only cost 15 cents. Another thing is that if you want to get your crypto off the exchange and transfer to, let’s say a Trezor or a hardware wallet, you’ll need to pay a fee for that.
Trading fees: Coinbase demands a spread 0.5% for crypto fiat trades, and a further 2.99% as a flat fee for the transactions that range between $50 -$200, which means that in case you buy a hundred dollar in btc on the main Coinbase, you’d be paying a 2.99% flat and a 0.5% spread. So you’d essentially be paying 3.5% in fees, plus that preliminary deposit fee to finally get that crypto.
If you exchange crypto to crypto on Coinbase then the spread charged is as much as 2% added to that the flat fee. However, those buying and selling fees are smaller with Coinbase Pro, wherein the maximum rate you’ll pay for buying and selling crypto is 0.5% and there aren’t any spreads whatsoever.
Also discount on this rate is available and it depends on how much you buy and sell. That means the further you exchange the inexpensive it gets.
Nearly 60 cryptos are indexed on each Coinbase and Coinbase Pro.
Of all the exchanges we’re going to hint at here, Coinbase might be the best place to buy bitcoin in terms of easiness. However, the truth is that you’re getting that privilege for very high fees.
It’s been dubbed as the king of crypto exchanges.
No one really knows in what place Binance is headquarted, but after all Binance is global and has offices and staff in about 50 countries.
Binance has been in cryptocurrency market since 2017 and currently processes 2 billion dollars in daily trading volume. It is great place to get into crypto cheaply and has some of the best trading fees on the planet. You are offered also a plethora of additional services like crypto lending, access to early stage projects, fire the Binance launch pad, crypto visa card and much more, but what best makes Binance the king of crypto exchanges is the fact that it gives you access to purchase hundreds of different cryptocurrencies and the best liquidity out there.
When it comes to regular currency deposits, Binance has offers some of the best services. What’s amazing is that some of those deposit methods are completely free, and most countries have a fee-free deposit option at Binance.
The highest trading fees you’ll pay on Binance is 0.1%. That’s five times cheaper than Coinbase, and you could further reduce those fees by trading a lot of volume. There’s also an easy way to reduce those fees further, if you pay those trading fees using BNB coin then you’ll automatically get a 25% trading fee discount and cut them down to just 0.75%.
Literary dozens of different currencies are available to choose from, and that’s include some pretty spicy ones like the Thai Baht.
Everyone should have an account there. It really is a one-stop shop for cryto.
Unlike many other crypto exchanges we know that KuCoin is based in Seychelles.
Although KuCoin is incorporated in Seychelles, its main base of operation is in Singapore, another country that has embraced crypto. Like Binance, this exchange opened its door to traders back in 2017, however, the team behind KuCoin has been dabbling in blockchain sincec way back in 2011. So these guys have certainly been around the block a few times.
In addition, one out of every four crypto holders has a KuCoin account, so the exchange is pretty popular.
You can deposit using Visa, mastercard, CPA or even Apple Pay, WeChat Pay or Alipay. However the cheapest way to deposit would be using KuCoin’s fast buy option which attracts no fees at all. This is perfect for buying crypto felis when using currencies like the Australian, Canadian or US dollars.
When it comes to trading fees, KuCoin’s fee structure looks very similar to Binance’s. You can use their KCS token to pay their trading fees and get 20% fee discount.
Another thing that makes KuCoin outstanding place is that it offers you an access to hundreds of different cryptocurrencies, and that makes KuCoin the best go-to-place if you want to dabble in an exotic altcoin or two.
KuCoin supports 50 different global currencies, so you have your regular USDs, Euros, Canadian dollars, Aussie dollars, and good old British pounds, along with tons of other more exotic currencies supported.
It is the best place to buy bitcoin when it comes to super low trading fees. Beside that it gives access to some super exotic altcoins. If that’s your interest then you’ll definitely be wanting to give KuCoin a try.
As the name suggests, they have their main office in Switzerland, they also have a secondary office in Estonia as well.
SwissBorg is a beautiful looking mobile app that allows you to purchase crypto online with 15 different fiat currencies. So if you’re based in Europe or countries like the UK, Canada, Singapore, or Switzerland and want to get into crypto using a mobile app, this would be the best way.
All deposits on the app are entirely free. If you’re trading fiat to crypto, or crypto to crypto you’ll be charged 1% in fees. You can reduce those to 0.25% and even get some trades for free when you upgrade to SwissBorg premium. You can do that by holding a balance of 5000 CHSB tokens and locking them for 365 days, that’s about $5.500 worth of tokens.
The important thing to know is that these tokens are not gone forever, and you can get them back after a year.
Right now 14 different cryptos are available on the app and that includes bitcoin, ethereum and a bunch of other high market cap coins.
SwissBorg is even easier to use than Coinbase, so if you’re really looking for the easiest way to buy crypto, and you want to do that on a mobile app, then this is probably the best option for you.
The best way to describe LocalBitcoins is that it is a bit like Gumtree or a Craigslist but it’s for crypto and has built in escrow.
based in Finland and accepts people from every country in the world.
This peer-to-peer marketplace basically allows buyers and sellers to communicate with each other directly, and buy or sell bitcoin. The platform was actually founded back in 2012, so this place is one of the oldest places to get into crypto. Like many other p2p platforms each user has a reputation rank, and you can see their historical activity online on the platform. And needless to say, you only want to deal with people with the best reputation.
Another good thing is that LocalBitcoins offers support and a conflict resolution service if things got bad, so it’s not exactly the Wild West here.
You can pay LocalBitcoins with an extensive variety of ways that aren’t supported elsewhere. Standard options like PayPal, transfer, and CPA are supported, however you may additionally purchase crypto with Nutella, MoneyGram, Skrill, or maybe cash.
You may even purchase bitcoin by contacting the vendor and paying for bitcoins by using cash. However this path is understandably riskier and in case you are thinking about it make sure that you conduct deals with the most trusted people and set the meetings in open and public places.
Transactions here are free, however, customers who create commercials are charged a 1% fee on each completed trade.
Another issue to observe is that in case you execute transactions outside the platform, then you may no longer be covered by LocalBitcoins escrow service.
It’s the best place for anyone who wants to use an exotic payment method to buy bitcoin.