Crypto 101: Buying Your First Crypto Currency...
I've talked with people in the past about Bitcoin, Ethereum, and the other projects happening in the “cryptocurrency” space. Every once in a while they start to get interested, and the first hurdle in their thought process becomes... "But how do I even buy it?"
For someone who has never done it, that seems like a hard question... like where do you even start, right? Honestly, this has been a problem in crypto from the beginning, but luckily these days it is honestly super easy to do. In the past, people had to literally find individuals that would want to trade bitcoin for cash, products and services. As you can imagine that made it much harder.
My suggestion for the easiest, lowest hassle way to buy crypto is Coinbase. This is one of the behemoths in the industry, and is generally well respected. There are many other ways to buy crypto that are pretty close on their ease factor but given my familiarity with Coinbase I thought I'd go with them.
It is easy to say “go to Coinbase to buy your first crypto”, but what does that entail? Well below are some screen shots and info on what the general steps are for opening an account with Coinbase. It takes a little bit of effort and time but you can think of Coinbase as your door into a new world.
Navigate to Coinbase.com
Click on the “Get started” button in the top right.
You’ll be presented with a create your account screen…
Next, you’ll need to verify your email. After this you’ll need to go back in and verify your identity. For many original to the crypto world, this is the controversial step. Many believe this is not something that should be required and it is seen as an invasion of privacy and your rights… but if you want to use Coinbase then it is just like any other banking or investment platform. If you want to obtain your crypto anonymously there are ways to do it, it’s just more complicated.
After inputting your identity info and verifying it, you’ll want to hook up a bank account to your Coinbase account. That is the easiest way to fund and redeem from your account. You’ll need your bank’s internet banking sign on and password. You can also use a bank debit card if you don’t have online banking but the amounts you can purchase are reduced somewhat.
Once this is all complete you can buy your first crypto currency or asset!
To buy, you click on the trade button to the right of the asset. Then you select if you want to buy a certain dollar amount or a certain amount of the asset. Like I want to buy $100 of Ethereum, or I want to buy 1 Ethereum. It will then calculate and show you what you will get or pay. Coinbase charges a flat fee of $.99, 1.99 or $2.99 depending on how much you buy. But after a certain amount they charge 1.5% of your purchase. This is how they make their money. They will also charge you this when you sell the asset back for dollars.
I'll walk through some thoughts on what you might want to buy in future posts, but if you want to just get started my personal opinion is a little Bitcoin and a little Ethereum isn't a bad starting point. This is not financial advice given I don't know your situation, but always remember that all investments and crypto very much so is risky. Any number of things can go wrong, there is real risk here. But with real risk comes the possibility of real reward. Keep any purchases you do, to within a reasonable amount for your situation!
In upcoming posts, I’ll discus why keeping your crypto on an exchange even one as reputable as coinbase might not be a good idea, and what to do about it. We will also walk through how to transfer assets, and different ways they can be used currently.