Do you know that major companies are now accepting Bitcoin as payment? In case you want to diversify your investments or just want to make some money, we will take a look at the most popular and trusted Bitcoin exchanges.
Bitcoin is a type of digital currency that you can use for digital purchases or you can trade like stocks. To buy and sell cryptocurrency including Bitcoin, you’ll need to use a Bitcoin exchange.
In this article, we’ll list the best places to buy Bitcoin. If you are looking to conveniently buy Bitcoin using the best Bitcoin exchanges, then you will want to check out this list.
Where Can You Buy Bitcoin?
If you’re trying to buy Bitcoin, these bitcoin exchanges can help.
1. Coinbase – Best Overall
Coinbase has emerged as one of the high-profile names in the Bitcoin world placing itself on the top as a one-stop solution for Bitcoins. Coinbase is a San Francisco based digital asset exchange that lets you turn your fiat currency into cryptocurrency. It is the main entry point into the cryptocurrency space for most people. It’s currently is the quickest and easiest way to buy Bitcoins in the US.
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Create your Coinbase account and get $5 in free Bitcoin at Coinbase.
Details
- Fees: Coinbase charges 3.99% fees for credit/debit card purchases but you can get your coins instantly. 1.49% if you buy from your bank account.
- Pro: “Instant Buy” option available with credit card or debit card
- Con: Purchases made with bank transfer can take up to 5 days to complete
Summary
- User Interface: Easy to Navigate
- Fees: Average
- Reputation: Trusted
If you wanted to create a Coinbase account you can create a Coinbase account by clicking this link.
Related: Coinbase vs eToro: Cryptocurrency Trading Comparison
2. Robinhood – Best for No Cost
Robinhood is a great option for those who want to buy Bitcoin but want to avoid paying any fees. Robinhood is an investing app that allows you to buy and sell Bitcoin with no commissions.
If you’re already familiar with how to buy and sell stocks, then buying Bitcoin on Robinhood will be super easy. In addition to buying Bitcoin (BTC) — you can buy Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Bitcoin SV (BSV), Dogecoin (DOGE), Ethereum (ETH), Ethereum Classic (ETC), and Litecoin (LTC).
Overall, using Robinhood to buy Bitcoin is smart, easy, and straightforward. Plus, you’ll even give you a free stock worth up to $225 for joining. Then you can sell that stock and buy free Bitcoin with it.
Details
- Fees: Free
- Pro: Easy to use and you can buy or sell bitcoin without commissions.
- Con: Limited supported currencies and no crypto wallets.
Summary
- User Interface: Easy to navigate and fully customizable
- Fees: Low
- Reputation: Trusted
Related: Robinhood Review: My Experience Day Trading on Robinhood
3. Kraken – Best for Security
As one of the largest and oldest Bitcoin exchanges in the world, Kraken is consistently named one of the best places to buy and sell crypto online, thanks to its excellent service, low fees, versatile funding options, and rigorous security standards — but this is only part of the story. They’ve been at the forefront of the blockchain revolution since 2011.
Details
- Fees: The fee per transaction for buying Bitcoin is 0.9%.
- Pro: Lightning-fast engine allowing 1,500,000 transactions per second gives users a great trading advantage.
- Con: No credit/debit card deposits.
Summary
- User Interface: Sleek design, a good overview of the trading market with lots of customizations.
- Fees: Low
- Reputation: Trusted
If you are trying to take your crypto investments to the next level, you can get started with Kraken here.
4. Gemini – Best Beginner Friendly Platform
Gemini is the best place to buy Bitcoin with debit card instantly. Gemini makes it simple to research the crypto market, buy Bitcoin and other cryptos, and build a portfolio for the future of money.
You can also buy DOGE on the platform and is one of the only exchanges where your deposits are FDIC-protected.
Details
- Fees: Gemini charges 3.99% fees for credit/debit card purchases but you can get your coins instantly. 1.49% if you buy from your bank account.
- Pro: You can buy Bitcoin right now with a debit card, very easy to use app-based interface, available in all 50 states, you can even earn interest on your crypto.
- Con: Customer service support is not the best.
Summary
- User Interface: Easy to navigate and fully customizable
- Fees: High
- Reputation: Trusted
5. Coinbase Pro – Best Crypto Trading Platform
Coinbase Pro (Coinbase’s exchange), is one of the largest Bitcoin exchanges in the United States. Users can fund their accounts via bank transfer, SEPA, or bank wire. Coinbase Pro offers good prices and low fees, but their confusing user interface may initially prove difficult to navigate unless you are used to trading/investing in cryptocurrencies. In order to join Coinbase Pro, you’ll have to create a regular Coinbase account.
Details
- Fees: Possible to buy bitcoins for 0% fees.
- Pro: One of the lowest fees available for US and UE users.
- Con: The user interface is not easy to navigate for beginners.
Summary
- User Interface: Difficult to Navigate
- Fees: Low
- Reputation: Trusted
If you wanted to create a Coinbase Pro account you can create a Coinbase account by clicking this link.
Other Places to Buy Bitcoins
You should stick to the Bitcoin exchanges above as they are the safest, quickest, and offer the lowest fees. However, these are the Bitcoin exchanges that didn’t quite make the top 4 list.
6. ProBit Exchange
ProBit Exchange supports over 150 currencies with 5 major coins as quote currencies bitcoin included. ProBit aims to provide users with a wide array of the most trusted coins and tokens on the market and abundant trading pairs. As a global coin-to-coin (C2C) exchange, they provide users with a fast and robust trading experience with its massive processing capacity of 1,500,000 transactions per second – one of the world’s fastest among competitors.
Signing up at ProBit.com with at least $50 worth of digital asset deposit earns you 4USDT in your ProBit wallet. Once signed up, you can earn more rewards through the referral program by simply inviting your friends.
Details
- Fees: ProBit uses PROB tokens as the currency for platform transactions. They charge a low fee of 0.10% for takers and 0.05% for makers.
- Pro: Lightning-fast engine allowing 1,500,000 transactions per second gives users a great trading advantage.
- Con: Relatively new platform, yet to gain bigger following.
Summary
- User Interface: Easy to navigate and fully customizable
- Fees: Average
- Reputation: Trusted
You can sign up to ProBit.com and be one of the first to try this new upcoming exchange for yourself.
7. Coinmama
Coinmama is one of the most popular digital currencies exchanges available. It allows customers in almost every country to buy bitcoin with a credit or debit card as long as it’s a Visa or MasterCard.
Details
- Fees: Coinmama charges a 6.6% fee on each purchase. 5% additional fee for credit/debit card purchases, but you can get your coins instantly.
- Pro: Reliable and trusted broker and works in almost all countries.
- Con: Some of the highest fees among credit/debit card bitcoin brokers.
Summary
- User Interface: Easy to Navigate
- Fees: High
- Reputation: Average
If you wanted to create a Coinmama account you can create a Coinmama account by clicking this link.
8. CEX.io
CEX.io lets you buy bitcoin with a credit card, ACH bank transfer, SEPA transfer, cash, or AstroPay. Purchases made with a credit card give you access to your bitcoin immediately. CEX.io works in the United States, Europe, and certain countries in South America.
Details
- Fees: Low 0.2% trading fee.
- Pro: CEX.io is one of the oldest Bitcoin exchanges around so it is trusted.
- Con: Verification process more intensive than most exchanges and requires a photo ID.
Summary
- User Interface: Easy to Navigate
- Fees: Average
- Reputation: Trusted
If you wanted to create a CEX.io account you can create a CEX.io account by clicking this link.
9. BitQuick
BitQuick allows you to conveniently buy bitcoin. BitQuick is one of the fastest ways to buy bitcoins in the United States using cash deposit. Users can browse a wide range of offers at various prices. Once the desired offer is found, buyers visit a bank to make a cash deposit into the seller’s account. Buyers then usually receive their bitcoins within an hour.
Details
- Fees: 2% fees for buyers.
- Pro: One of the fastest ways to buy bitcoins.
- Con: 2% fees for buyers are a bit high for cash trading.
Summary
- User Interface: Easy to Navigate
- Fees: Average
- Reputation: Trusted
If you wanted to create a BitQuick account you can create a BitQuick account by clicking this link.
10. LocalBitcoins
LocalBitcoins is an escrow service which also helps to match bitcoin buyers and sellers. The most common method of payment for the purchase is cash deposit. However, users may advertise trades for whichever payment method they prefer.
Buying bitcoins via an in-person meeting, secured and facilitated by LocalBitcoins, may be one of the fastest and most private ways to buy bitcoins in any country.
Details
- Fees: Transactions to wallets of other LocalBitcoins users are free.
- Pro: One of the fastest and most private ways to buy bitcoins in the United States.
- Con: Can be more difficult to purchase larger amounts of bitcoins.
Summary
- User Interface: Difficult to Navigate
- Fees: Low
- Reputation: Trusted
If you wanted to create a LocalBitcoins account you can create a LocalBitcoins account by clicking this link.
11. Bitbuy
Bitbuy is one of Canada’s most popular and trusted platform to buy Bitcoin and other digital currencies. Bitbuy is registered with FINTRAC and is audited annually. Their easy to use interface is designed for both beginners and experienced traders. Customer service is available by phone or chat for any user that requires assistance. They also offer over-the-counter trading.
Details
- Fees: Transparent fee model, with trading fees as low as 0.10%
- Pro: Trusted Canadian platform that is regularly audited
- Con: Available only in Canada
Summary
- User Interface: Easy to Navigate
- Fees: Low
- Reputation: Trusted
If you want to create a Bitbuy account, you can create a Bitbuy account by clicking this link.
Bitcoin for Dummies: What is Bitcoin?
Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency that is open source and created for peer to peer money transfers. Imagine Paypal or Venmo without a central authority. No one to tell you what to pay, how to buy, when to buy with no worries of a huge fee.
Now imagine all your transactions becoming open to the public eye through pseudonymity. Bitcoin was created to combat the financial crisis that happened as the banks had too much power.
Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin created it to give the people the power of their money. No need for banks to hold your money. You hold your money in your own wallet.
Your wallet can consist of a paper wallet with just your Bitcoin hash address, a mobile/computer wallet or a cryptocurrency hardware wallet.
Benefits
- Quick: One major advantage of cryptocurrencies, in general, is that they are quick. If you buy something, the seller will get their coins pretty quickly. If you purchase with a Visa, they need to wait for the transaction to be accepted, then settle then go to your bank account in 3 days.
- Cheaper Transactions: Paypal and payment processors generally charge 3-4% of the fees and charge that from the seller. In this case, the buyer is paying the fees but it amounts to fractions of a percent.
- Paperless: Going into the age of digital, paperless is becoming bigger as more people are liking it. Digital currencies do not need a reason to be with paper as everything is done on your phone or computer.
- Irreversible Transactions: Some people think an irreversible transaction is a bad thing but there are ways to go around it. For sellers, it is a great idea because people cannot make unnecessary chargebacks as we see it being done on sites like eBay and Amazon. To make sure you’re not sending it to the wrong address, always send a minimal amount to the hash address to make sure it is correct.
- Appreciating Asset: With the way things are going, it seems like Bitcoin can’t keep going up forever. To be frank, not everything will go up forever. However, the difference between fiat and Bitcoin is that the government keeps printing more money while Bitcoin has a set amount that there will ever be which is 21 million total coins.
How do I get started investing in cryptocurrency for beginners?
The first step is to open an account with one of the exchanges above. The main one is Coinbase, which allows you to exchange US dollars for Bitcoin or Ethereum, which can then be transferred to a different exchange to buy cryptocurrencies. Learn how to get started with cryptocurrency trading and investing with cryptocurrency guides.
Understand how coins like Bitcoin, Litecoin and Ethereum work. Also, understand the risks. The risk is high, but the reward is high too. If you wanted to get in on the action, you can do it with the Coinbase app. If you sign up through this link you’ll get $5 for signing up!
Only invest what you can afford to lose.
Tip: Coinbase only has 25 cryptos, if you wanted the most popular exchange that lets you buy all cryptos you want to check out Binance.com.
What’s next?
If you’re new to the cryptocurrency space or looking to learn more about it? These lectures (Total time 13hr 20min) will help you understand cryptocurrency better! Here are sixty free lectures from Princeton on Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies.
This video series is available with a community and some assignments on Coursera. The professors from Princeton also wrote a book to go with the free course (Free pre-release pdf, Amazon hardcover and digital, as well as Chinese, and Japanese translations).
Intro to Crypto and Cryptocurrencies
1.0 Welcome – 2 mins
1.1 Cryptographic Hash Functions – 18 mins
1.2 Hash Pointers and Data Structures – 8 mins
1.3 Digital Signatures – 9 mins
1.4 Public Keys as Identities – 5 mins
1.5 A Simple Cryptocurrency – 14 mins
How Bitcoin Achieves Decentralization
2.1 Centralization vs. Decentralization – 4 mins
2.2 Distributed Conesensus – 13 mins
2.3 Consensus Without Identity: the Blockchain – 17 mins
2.4 Incentives and Proof of Work – 19 mins
2.5 Putting It All Together – 18 mins
Mechanics of Bitcoin
3.1 Bitcoin Transactions – 11 mins
3.2 Bitcoin Scripts – 15 mins
3.3 Applications of Bitcoin Scripts – 14 mins
3.4 Bitcoin Blocks – 5 mins
3.5 The Bitcoin Network – 18 mins
3.6 Limitations & Improvements – 11 mins
How to Store and Use Bitcoin
4.1 How to Store and Use Bitcoins – 6 mins
4.2 Hot and Cold Storage – 13 mins
4.3 Splitting and Sharing Keys – 11 mins
4.4 Online Wallets and Exchanges – 19 mins
4.5 Payment Services – 8 mins
4.6 Transaction Fees – 5 mins
4.7 Currency Exchange Markets – 16 mins
Bitcoin Mining
5.1 The Task of Bitcoin Miners – 10 mins
5.2 Mining Hardware – 23 mins
5.3 Energy Consumption & Ecology – 14 mins
5.4 Mining Pools – 14 mins
5.5 Mining Incentives and Strategies – 23 mins
Bitcoin and Anonymity
6.1 Anonymity Basics – 26 mins
6.2 How to De-anonymize Bitcoin – 18 mins
6.3 Mixing – 21 mins
6.4 Decentralized Mixing – 14 mins
6.5 Zerocoin and Zerocash – 19 mins
6.6 Tor and the Silk Road – 11 mins
Community, Politics, and Regulation
7.1 Consensus in Bitcoin – 6 mins
7.2 Bitcoin Core Software – 10 mins
7.3 Stakeholders: Who’s in Charge – 9 mins
7.4 Roots of Bitcoin – 9 mins
7.5 Governments Notice Bitcoin – 9 mins
7.6 Anti Money-Laundering – 5 mins
7.7 Regulation – 11 mins
7.8 New York’s BitLicense Proposal – 10 mins
Alternative Mining Puzzles
8.1 Essential Puzzle Requirements – 5 mins
8.2 ASIC Resistant Puzzles – 13 mins
8.3 Proof-of-useful-work – 9 mins
8.4 Nonoutsourceable Puzzles – 7
8.5 Proof-of-Stake “Virtual Mining” – 8 mins
Bitcoin as a Platform
9.1 Bitcoin as an Append-Only Log – 16 mins
9.2 Bitcoin as Smart Property – 16 mins
9.3 Secure Multi-Party Lotteries in Bitcoin – 10 mins
9.4 Bitcoin as Randomness Source – 18 mins
9.5 Prediction Markets & Real-World Data Feeds – 23 mins
Altcoins and the Cryptocurrency Ecosystem
10.1 Short History of Altcoins – 21 mins
10.2 Interaction Between Bitcoin and Altcoins – 15 mins
10.3 Lifecycle of an Altcoin – 15 mins
10.4 Bitcoin-Backed Altcoins, “Side Chains” – 11 mins
The Future of Bitcoin?
11.1 The Blockchain as a Vehicle for Decentralization – 14 mins
11.2 Routes to Blockchain Integration – 28 mins
11.3 What Can We Decentralize? – 24 mins
11.4 When is Decentralization a Good Idea? – 16 mins
