Buy Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin — What is the best way?

I have been involved with Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for a few years now. The last all-time high of late 2017/early 2018 has now been surpassed, and I’m getting that more and more people are considering getting in as well.
Bitcoin has been able to perform quite well alongside stocks like those of Tesla, Apple or Amazon and has been able to rake in whopping price gains. Cryptocurrencies are bought on exchanges, OTC (over the counter) or from vending machines. However, most individuals obtain their coins through exchanges.

Here, in addition to my own experiences, I will also provide guidance on what to look for when buying cryptocurrencies. But first of all it is important to say that I hereby do not give financial or investment advice.

KYC — KNOW YOUR CUSTOMER

The first and most important point is that you need to register properly with exchanges, as with any bank or money business. This process is called KYC “Know your Customer”. The brisk payment traffic with cryptocurrencies in recent years, has various regulatory bodies in Germany, the EU and around the world, on the scene. These require platforms to know who traded cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin or Ethereum, how and in what quantity. So you also have to register with all exchanges with your address and your ID data.
In the meantime, video identification is also possible with some platforms, i.e. registering via a company that specializes in authenticating people. The whole process takes about 10 minutes.

In the following, I will give some instructions on how to deposit money and buy cryptocurrencies on certain exchanges. I will only present those platforms that I use myself.

Here’s a quick list of each exchange:

Coinbase
Binance
Crypto.com follows…
Kraken follows..

COINBASE

Coinbase is probably one of the largest and best known exchanges in the world. The interface is simply structured, you are not overwhelmed with price trends and can deposit by bank transfer or credit card. Withdrawals also always worked smoothly for me, in 2–3 days my money was in my account.
A rough guide on how to proceed looks something like this:

STEP 1

TIP! Register on the website with this link and get about 8,56€ for free : https://www.coinbase.com/join/keil_t (Affiliate Link)

App Store:
https://apps.apple.com/de/app/coinbase-bitcoin-kaufen/id886427730

Google Play:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.coinbase.android

STEP 2: ENTER DATA AND REGISTER AT COINBASE

• Enter name and data
• Tip. Use secure email address
• Use secure password

STEP 3: CONFIRM EMAIL ADDRESS

STEP 4: CONFIRM KYC IDENTITY

STEP 5: MAKE DEPOSITS

• Click on “Portfolio
• At the bottom of the currencies select “Euro” (or the other cryptocurrencies)
• In the “Euro” window, click on “Deposit” to the right
• Choose between “SEPA Deposit” and “Immediately
• Enter data, press “Continue” or “Next” and follow the instructions.
• SEPA deposits are usually free of charge, but take a few days. With certain banks you can make real-time transfers, but this requires a minimal fee, but the money is immediately at Coinbase.
• Be sure to include the reference number in the transfer!
• You will be notified by email when the money arrives.
• When the money is there, you will see the amount in the “EUR Wallet”.

STEP 6 BUY CRYPTOCURRENCIES LIKE BITCOIN WITH EURO

• To buy a currency, go to “Prices” and press “Trade” on the currency you want. A window will open, with “Buy”, “Sell” and “Convert”.
• In the window under “Buy”, select the desired payment method. Below you should also see the contents of your “Euro” wallet. Enter the desired amount and also click “Purchase Preview”.
• Now the amount, the number of cryptocurrency and the fees will be displayed.
• Now just click on “Buy now”. Done!

BUY CRYPTOCURRENCIES DIRECTLY WITH CREDIT CARD

Under “Prices” at the respective cryptocurrency under “Trade”, under the tab “Buy” and “Pay with”, you can add your credit card details and use them.

CRITICISM OF COINBASE

• The main criticism of Coinbase is that Germany is not officially “supported”. Thus, there is a risk for German customers. Personally, nothing has ever happened to me and I can’t report anything negative. However, there are forums and groups in social networks where there are reports every now and then where accounts are frozen and a new verification is required. So there is a certain risk here in principle.
• On the other hand, the fees for purchases of cryptocurrencies with euros or credit cards are relatively high. (On 03.01.2021) Examples are:
• Purchase of bitcoin worth €400 from your Wallet. You have transferred the money via bank transfer free of charge. When buying Bitcoin you pay here about ~5.80 € fees.
• With the credit card Bitcoin worth 400 € currently cost ~15,30 €.
  Purchases and sales: 1.49% instant purchases 3.99% deposits: Free withdrawals: 0,15 € Instant withdrawals with card: Max. 2 % and min. 0,55 €.
• Each SWIFT payment includes 5 € fee. So if you deposit less than 5 €, your money has gone to fees alone and is non-refundable at Coinbase.
• You can read more about the fees here: https://help.coinbase.com/en/coinbase/trading-and-funding/pricing-and-fees/fees.html

COINBASE HAS MANY ADVANTAGES

• If you don’t want to be overcharged too much and like it simple structured, Coinbase will be the right place for you.
• It is possible to start with a welcome gift of €8.22 if you deposit at least €82.17. For that you would have to sign up via the following invitation link from me. https://www.coinbase.com/de/join/keil_t
  If you are toying with the idea of signing up with Coinbase anyway to buy Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, EOS, etc., it would be wasted money not to do so.
• Another great aspect of Coinbase is Coinbase earn. A platform where new cryptocurrencies on the exchange, are given away in limited quantities to those who watch educational videos in English and then answer a few questions about them. You are basically rewarded for getting involved with cryptocurrencies and the projects behind them, which I find particularly valuable. Most of the time the reward is something like 3$ — 50$.
  If you are interested in joining “Coinbase earn”, you can either let yourself be added to the list for new projects or take the detour and let me invite you. The advantage of this is that you can also access rewards from instructional videos that are long gone. Just follow the links for that:

Attention! The links I am allowed to give myself for inviting are limited. First come, first served.

Compound COMP: https://coinbase.com/earn/comp/invite/nc9846pb 4 left
Stellar Lumens XLM: https://coinbase.com/earn/xlm/invite/4pcwj87s 3 left
EOS: https://coinbase.com/earn/eos/invite/yrkbptzv 4 left
BAND: https://coinbase.com/earn/band/invite/p19bw0kt 4 left

BINANCE

Binance is also among the largest and most well-known exchanges in the world. In addition to a well-known cryptocurrency of its own (BNB), Binance also offers other innovations such as a “Research Lab”, its own mobile wallet (Trust Wallet) and solutions for commercial users. At Binance, you can simply set the interface to “German” in the top right corner.

My experience with Binance was very positive, but you should always make sure to enter all relevant data for a transaction (Tx) correctly. The support is very nice, but it can take time until your mistakes are corrected.

How to buy cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Cardano, Polkadot etc. on Binance looks something like this:

STEP 1:

TIP! Register with this link and get 5% of your trading fees back
https://www.binance.com/en/register?ref=NNUK81AM
(Affiliate Link)

App Store
https://apps.apple.com/hk/app/binance/id1436799971?l=en

Google Play:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.binance.dev

STEP 2: ENTER DATA AND REGISTER WITH BINANCE

• Enter name and data
• Tip! Use secure email address.
• Use secure password

STEP 3: CONFIRM EMAIL ADDRESS

STEP 4: KYC — KNOW YOUR CUSTOMER

STEP 5: MAKE DEPOSITS

Binance has a wide range of ways to deposit money. I will only discuss the most popular wire transfer and credit card payments here.

• In the interface, move your mouse to the top of “Buy crypto’s”. The tab that opens will already show you what your total options are for depositing money.
• Go to Bank deposit to deposit via wire transfer.
• Under “1. Choose currency and payment method”, select Euro. Under “Recommended”, you will also see “Bank Transfer”, select this.
• On the right side under “2. payment details”, you enter the desired amount that you want to deposit. Check the box if you agree and click on “Next”.
  Read the instructions and click “Confirm”.
• Now you can see the details of the recipient to whom your transfer should go. Read the instructions below again.
• Attention! Do not forget the reference code
• It will take a few business days until the money is there, some banks also offer the possibility of a “real-time transfer”. Then the money would be there immediately for a small fee. This is possible with transfers to Binance.

STEP 6: BUY CRYPTOCURRENCIES LIKE BITCOIN WITH EURO

METHOD 1: INSTANT PURCHASE WITH EURO OR CREDIT CARD

• For this method, go to “Buy crypto’s”, on credit/debit card.
• Here you can again enter the desired euro amount under the tab “Buy cryptos” and under “Asset”, the desired cryptocurrency.
• The fees here are 2%, so if you buy bitcoin worth €200, you will pay €4 for it.

METHOD 2: CONVERT & OTC PORTAL

• The easiest way, but also the most obscure, is to press “Trade” at the top of the interface and then “Exchange”.
• You will now see “Convert & OTC Portal”, where you can exchange one currency for another. For me, by default, it says “USDT” at the top and “BTC” at the bottom. You can change the currency by simply clicking on it and where “Please select coin” simply enter “EUR” to buy something in euros. Then at the bottom, depending on what you want, just leave Bitcoin “BTC”. For Ethereum you take “ETH”.
• Attention! Note that there is always a minimum to be able to exchange there. For euros, that’s €500 for me. For USDT it is 10.

METHOD 3: CLASSIC TRADING

• If you have less than 500 € you should choose the classic interface under “Trading”. For beginners this is certainly a bit overwhelming at the beginning, but it is only the first look that makes it seem complicated.
• Basically, you only need the “Buy” and “Sell” tabs at the bottom. You will see the price history of the respective trading pair, but leave that to the left for now.
• Important is on the right side (directly left under the upper menu bar), the tab to select the trading pairs (eg BTC/EUR).

The window to select the trading pair

AND THIS IS HOW YOU DO IT….

• To buy Bitcoin with Euro, “Search” and enter “EUR”. Now you will see all pairs that can be bought with Euro.
• After you have selected a trading pair, go to the bottom of the interface, to the just mentioned “Buy” and “Sell”. Here you can set buy or sell orders.
• By default, “Spot” is selected, which is correct at this point! Also the “Limit” order is correct at this point.
• On the left side you see a whole row of buys and sells. For now, only the red area is important, as it shows the last price someone is willing to sell bitcoin for. That’s why you click on the last red price at the very bottom.

History of orders, for the trading pair

• Your clicked price will be displayed under the “Buy BTC” tab. You can now enter a BTC amount yourself or drag the slider under the “Amount” field, all the way to the right, which will reserve 100% of your deposited Euros for Bitcoin.
• Then just press “Buy BTC” and the order will run. Now you have to wait, because it can take time until your order is executed. Someone has to sell so to speak, so that you can receive these Bitcoin.
• Tip: Here is really patience needed, in strong market movements, the order may simply not go through, who does not want to wait, should resort to method 1 or 4. Limit orders can also be used to buy bitcoin at a later price, for example buy bitcoin at 20000 (buy order) or sell bitcoin at 100000 (sell order).

METHOD 4: IMMEDIATE BUY ORDER/SELL ORDER

Basically, you follow the steps as in method 2, but next to “Limit” you press “Market”.

Market, instead of limit order

Here you have to enter the number of BTC directly and with a click on “Buy BTC” the order will be executed directly at the current market price.

Tip: If you have problems with the conversion, just enter your Euro value under “Limit”, in the third bar where it says “Total”, then you will see above how much BTC you get for your Euros. Then switch to “Market” and enter the BTC amount there.

CRITICISM OF BINANCE:

• In case of self-inflicted problems, the support can take quite some time to fix the problem. Therefore, ALWAYS check whether the specified data, when sending and receiving cryptocurrencies, are correct. For XRP and XLM, in addition to the address, an additional tag is necessary.
• The interface is quite confusing for beginners

ADVANTAGES OF BINANCE:

• Binance has a very good reputation and has launched quite a few innovations. Besides its own cryptocurrency BNB, quite a few innovative projects started on this platform. Binance has become one of the (If not the) largest exchange in recent years, there is no way around it at the moment.
• Binance makes it possible to get 5% of your trading fees back if you sign up via this link: https://www.binance.com/en/register?ref=NNUK81AM (affiliate link).