The easiest and safest way to buy Bitcoin is to buy it via an online exchange. Some of the most popular and trusted exchanges for buying Bitcoin are FTX, Gemini, Kraken, and Coinbase.
Bitcoin is now so popular that there are well-established exchanges in many countries around the world.
Less well-known, smaller exchanges are more risky and likely to have fewer compliance procedures in place. It therefore, makes the most sense to buy your first Bitcoin from a large, well-established company that you find on the internet or high up the rankings on the Google Play Store or Apple Store. But even if you buy your Bitcoin from there, you may then want to store your bitcoin elsewhere for extra security once you have purchased it.
To buy some Bitcoin, you will typically need to deposit some money onto the exchange and then you can switch that money for some Bitcoin. Once you click a button to 'buy bitcoin' you will be asked to type in how much of your deposited funds you would like to spend on Bitcoin. Once you have entered the amount and click 'buy' you should see that you now own some Bitcoin in your account. Congratulations!
You can then decide whether you want to keep it on the exchange, or whether you feel more comfortable storing it yourself somewhere else, such as on a hardware wallet. If you want to store it yourself, you will need to send the funds to another wallet address that you control.
The exchange will give you instructions on how to do this, but in summary, it involves:
- Carefully entering (copy-paste is useful here) the wallet address you want to send funds to
- Entering the amount of Bitcoin you want to send
- Clicking send. That’s it! Sometimes you will have to confirm the transaction by entering a code sent to your phone by the exchange.
Bitcoin ATMs
The number of ATMs that sell Bitcoin is increasing all the time. They offer a private way to purchase Bitcoin. They are also a convenient way to get access to Bitcoin if there is one near where you live.
You can use this ATM finder to see if there is a Bitcoin ATM near you:
Bitcoin ATMs often charge a high fee anywhere between 5-15% and you may be quoted a price slightly higher than the current market price. For this reason, it can be significantly cheaper to buy Bitcoin from online exchanges as opposed to buying it through a Bitcoin ATM.