Buying Bitcoin online made simple. This page will guide you through your first steps into the world of cryptocurrency, from buying your first Bitcoin to trading.
Step 1: Buying Bitcoin online (how to open Coinbase)
Step 2: Deciding what you want to do after you have bought Bitcoin online
Step 3: How to open a
Step 4: How to send Bitcoin from Coinbase to
Step 5: Basics of trading on
Step 6: How to store your Bitcoin safely
Step 7: How to monetize your profits to Dollars or Euro
Step 1: Buying Bitcoin online
So you’ve decided to enter the world of cryptocurrency and to purchase Bitcoin for the first time. That’s great! Buying Bitcoin online is a simple process, but if you’re new it can be a bit challenging to take the first steps. That’s why we’ve written a simple step-by-step process for new crypto enthusiasts like you.
We’ve found that Coinbase is one of the safest, most reliable and most user-friendly platforms for buying Bitcoin online. Coinbase is an exchange where you can buy Bitcoin and other crypto coins with US Dollars, Euros or British Pounds. You can also easily cash out your Bitcoin to your local currency.
Buying Bitcoin online: Create an account on Coinbase in 15 minutes
1. Click here to sign up and create your own Coinbase account by clicking “Get started” and following steps.
2. Enter your name, email address
3. You will now receive a confirmation email to verify your email address.
4. After verifying your email address, you will be asked to enter your country of residence and phone number.
5. A verification code will be sent to your phone via text message. Enter the 7-digit code to verify your phone number.
6. Next, you’ll need to verify your identity. This can be done by sending a scanned copy of your passport or ID card. Coinbase will then verify your identity.
7. Complete your personal details under Settings > My Profile
8. Enter your payment method under Settings > Linked Accounts
9. Optional: We highly recommend enabling 2-factor authentication (2FA). This is an extra security measure that requires you to fill in an automatically generated code (on your mobile phone) whenever you want to login to your Coinbase account. Enabling 2FA can be done on under Settings > My Profile
Once your account has been created, you can start buying Bitcoin online:
- Login to your Coinbase account
- Go to Buy/Sell
- Select the option to buy Bitcoin
- Select your preferred payment method
- Enter the amount of Bitcoin you want to purchase
- Select Buy Bitcoin
Once you’ve made the purchase, you will need to wait for the Bitcoin to be transferred. If you are using Creditcard, it will only take a few minutes for this transaction to be completed. If you have selected to pay via regular bank transfer, it could take several days for the transaction to be completed. You can view your balance via the Dashboard and Accounts pages.
How much Bitcoin should I invest?
How much Bitcoin to invest varies per person. Our advice is to only invest a fee that you can afford to lose. The great thing is that you do not have to buy a full Bitcoin. You can purchase whatever amount you want. There is always a risk involved with trading, especially with trading cryptocurrencies. The markets are volatile which means that you can win a lot, but also lose a lot. Use common sense when buying Bitcoin online
“PayPal had these goals of creating a new currency. We failed at that, and we just created a new payment system. I think Bitcoin has succeeded on the level of a new currency.” – Peter Thiel (Venture Capitalist and Founder of PayPal)
Step 2: Deciding what you want to do after you have bought Bitcoin online
Congratulations, you have now opened a Coinbase account and purchased some Bitcoin. You are probably wondering: What should I do next?
What to do next after buying Bitcoin online is entirely up to you. There are many options, but we’ll explain to you the simplest and most common options to start with:
What is HODL ?
- Do not have the intention
on selling your Bitcoin in the near future - Do not have the intention of trading your Bitcoin
Bitcoin and whole crypto space have interesting years ahead. The price of Bitcoin has a lot of room for growth, thus there are a lot of
How can I start trading?
Trading basically means buying and selling. If you do not want to
Have you ever heard of bot trading?
Besides trading on
The basics of bot trading on Cryptohopper and opening an account
Step 3: How to open a Binance account
You can easily trade your Bitcoin for hundreds of other cryptocurrencies. One of the reasons for trading Bitcoin for other coins is to eventually trade them back to Bitcoin with profit.
Note: Trading is not the only thing you can do on
Follow these steps to create a
- Go to Binance to register
- Fill in your name, password
- Select the I agree to
Binance’s Terms of Use and then Register.
- A Captcha puzzle will then appear
- Once completed, you will receive a verification email. Go to your email inbox to verify your account
- Now your account has been created. When you login again, you will be asked to setup 2-Factor Authentication. This is an extra security measure that requires you to fill in an automatically generated code (on your mobile phone) whenever you want to login to your Binance account. It is optional but we highly recommend setting up 2FA!
- Once logged in, you’ll first see an account screen with several options. Here you can setup SMS login verification (alternative for 2FA)
- Your account is now fully setup and secured. You can start trading!
Step 4: How to send Bitcoin from Coinbase to Binance
As we’ve explained in step 3,
The most important part of the transaction is finding out what your wallet address on
Login to your account- Go to funds and then deposits
- You’ll see a tab appear that says ‘Select coin/token to deposit’
- Search and select bitcoin. Make sure to select the right bitcoin currency!
- Now you’ll see what your bitcoin wallet address (deposit address) is. It’s a long unique code consisting of numbers and letters in random order.
- Select copy address when you are ready to send bitcoin from Coinbase.
Note that this will always be your bitcoin wallet address on the
- Login to your Coinbase account and go to ‘Accounts’
- Go to BTC Wallet and click the ‘Send’ button.
- Copy your Binance bitcoin wallet address and paste it where it says ‘Enter a BTC address’.
- Choose the amount you want to transfer. You can enter the amount of bitcoin directly, or enter the amount in Euro (or whichever local currency you have), it will automatically convert it to the amount of bitcoin. Or you can select ‘Send Max’ which will send all your bitcoins from Coinbase to Binance. Note: Coinbase will automatically deduct a small fee for the transaction.
- Select continue and then verify the transaction.
It will take a few minutes for your transaction to appear in Binance.
In Binance, go to Funds > Deposits > History. Your transaction needs to be approved by the Blockchain and will take some time. Once approved, you’ll see that the transaction is marked as ‘Completed’ and then you can start trading your bitcoins!
What just happned?
You’ve sent some Bitcoin from a Coinbase wallet to a Binance wallet. For this transaction you have used the Blockchain, the underlying technology of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Blockchain technology is extremely intelligent and safe. For example, the Blockchain knows how to find your wallet address on Binance and also checks to see if you have enough funds on Coinbase to send Bitcoin.
The checking process is done by so-called miners and/or full nodes. Miners are ultra-fast computers that are trying to find a new Blockchain block to add new and old transactions en full nodes check all transactions and once approved, the data of the transaction is added to the Blockchain. Multiple miners and full nodes are involved in checking transactions, which is why it may take a little time before your transaction is visible.
So don’t worry if your transaction is not immediately visible in Binance. By the way, miners are rewarded each time they solve a mathematical problem which finally will produce a new block in the blockchain. At this moment the reward for the miners is 12,5 Bitcoin. The Full Nodes are not rewarded but very important for the trust inside the Bitcoin environment. Everybody with a pretty fast computer is able to run a full node Bitcoin wallet which also gives more safety and anonymity then running a Bitcoin wallet at a third party provider.
Step 5: Basics of trading on Binance
Now that you’ve transferred your bitcoin to the
There are several trading options on
Need help with trading on Binance ? You need a Trading Bot!
Do you need a helping hand with trading your bitcoin on
Step 6: How to store your Bitcoin safely
After buying Bitcoin online via Coinbase, you may have transferred it to
Hardware Wallet
A hardware wallet is
With a hardware wallet your store the bitcoin private keys yourself through a smart safety method. Even if your hardware wallet gets damaged or lost, you can still access your bitcoin by buying a new hardware wallet and accessing your bitcoin using your own personal codes. There are several hardware wallets on the market, but our preferred on is de Ledger Nano S.
Step 7: How to monetize your profits to Dollars or Euro
You are now well familiar with the Crypto world. After buying Bitcoin online you’ve hopefully stored (part of) it on a hardware wallet. Or perhaps you’ve been trading with it on
There comes a moment that you start thinking about what to do next with your bitcoin. You can choose to keep them on your hardware wallet, but you may also decide that it’s time to cash out to ‘normal’ money on your bank account.
If that is the case, Coinbase is the place to be. Just as easily as it was to purchase your first bitcoin online, it is just as easy to exchange bitcoin for your local currencies like US Dollars, Euros or British Pounds.
To monetize your profits, you’ll need to transfer your funds from the hardware wallet and/or
Disclaimer: This is not trading or investment advice. The above article is for