You’re still here! Excellent… It’s time to do the important bit, let me show you how to sign up to Coinbase and lead you by the hand to buy your very first Bitcoin. Exciting times! (Sounds patronising but it’s actually not, I was well excited my first time… I also enjoyed buying Bitcoin as well.)
Note: At this point you should start to have a dislike for Fiat (normal currency). According to all chat boxes on every crypto exchange that you’re going to use from this point forward, Fiat is evil.
Blockchain cryptocurrency… It’s the future, man. Well, is it? Who knows. That being said though it has done pretty well in the past 10 years.
Disclaimer:
From this point when I am explaining online cryptocurrency exchanges, wallets and everything else to do with cryptocurrency it is for educational purposes only. I do not expect you to do this because of anything I have written in this blog, neither do I expect for anyone to try and hold me accountable for anything to do with a decision to invest or trade.
Cryptocurrency is extremely risky and you risk getting less back out than you put in.
Now for the good stuff:
The one thing I really, really, really hate in this world are ‘fees’ – I’m a tight git!
For those who live in the UK you know the McDonald’s adverts of “Like getting your money’s worth?” Yep, that’s me! – if you’re not from the UK YouTube it, you’ll understand.
The reason that Bitcoin even exists is to remove power from centralised systems and distancing money from the banking sector. (So I bought XRP, go figure). Thus, very low fees.
Free bank transfer
When I buy Bitcoin * I use a free bank transfer method and I never use a credit card. To me if you don’t have the liquid available funds to invest/trade then don’t. Getting credit for cryptocurrency in my view is madness.
Cryptocurrency is available for anyone and you can invest very small amounts. There is no need to go crazy and throw thousands of dollars, pounds or euros at this.
To get fiat (money) into a cryptocurrency account I always transfer straight from my bank to my Coinbase account *
Free PayPal transfer
Coinbase is great for transferring money to as you can link to your bank account, or PayPal address, and you can send money (for free) to your online account with them.
You can use PayPal with all accounts in the US and the UK, with no fees.
** Click on image to visit Coinbase **
For European users you maybe able to use PayPal with Coinbase but due to their roll out schedule (since 2019) to introduce this method it may not be available to you just yet, please check.
Free SWIFT transfer
All is not lost if you cannot use PayPal. Coinbase also accept SWIFT payments. This is done in Euro’s but again is free and incurs no fees. I have used this method many times before they made it very easy to link UK bank accounts.
SWIFT transfers are usually quick, although they do state it can take up to 24 hours, I remember mine used to complete in less than 4-5 hours.
Conclusion
UK and US bank account transfers are fast and free using ACH transfers (US) and SEPA (UK) – (Standard bank to bank transfers)
Coinbase give you their bank details to transfer funds to and you can just use your online banking to do a normal ‘Payments and transfers’ to a person.
Still interested? Transferring money costs nothing! Boom…
Sign up:
** Click on image to visit Coinbase **
Coinbase verification
Once you have done the sign up, you will be asked to verify your ID. This is perfectly safe with Coinbase and everyone has to do it.
Verification for me was quick. This may not be the case if your ID isn’t clear enough, wrong type, or if there is information missing.
Please take the time to ensure that your ID is provided correctly and you will be good to go.
If you have any issues contact the Coinbase team and they will provide support to resolve them.
That’s the sign up out of the way.
What’s next?
Step one complete. Coinbase will be used as your “gateway” to get funds in and out of cryptocurrency.
I will break the process of buying Bitcoin down in to steps. I feel this will be easier to follow than all being lumped into one post here.
Follow me on to the next step:
Step 3 – Using Coinbase exchange pro.coinbase to purchase Bitcoin.