Where to Buy Bitcoin
Just a few years ago buying bitcoin was a little more challenging, but as of today you may be surprised to know its actually very easy to buy bitcoin.
Just a few years ago buying bitcoin was a little more challenging, but as of today you may be surprised to know its actually very easy to buy bitcoin. In fact, you likely already have an app on your phone that will allow you to buy bitcoin directly, right away. CashApp, PayPal, Venmo, and Robinhood are just a few of the most common places you can buy bitcoin. That said, some of these places are better then others and we'll explain why.
Self Custody
Not all of these apps allow you to take self custody of your bitcoin, and as often said in the bitcoin community "Not Your Keys, Not Your Coins". Bitcoin was created to allow individuals to take power back from big banks, and centralized companies. Having another large institution hold your bitcoin for you, is cheating yourself out experiencing the full potential of what bitcoin has to offer.
Bitcoin allows for the individual to truly be their own bank. A freedom that wasn't possible before bitcoin. Bitcoin has a very limited supply of only 21 million, that can't be inflated away by government printing. Bitcoin is unconfiscatable, even to the most corrupt governments, and transactions can't be stopped or censored. Its more then just a money, its a freedom of speech technology, that allows you to store your wealth in a way that can't be confiscated, or devalued by the whims of society. It is important that there is no third party standing between you and your bitcoin, no middlemen charging extra fees or collecting unnecessary information, only later to be sold or leaked by yet another data hack.
Recommended Places to Buy Bitcoin
Not all places allow you to move your bitcoin off the apps you buy from, so naturally we don't recommend buying from these services. There has been a ton of push back recently from the community boycotting services that won't allow you to freely hold your own bitcoin after purchasing it, and many services have since changed their policy. That said, here is a list of places that allow you to buy bitcoin, and freely move it to any address/wallet of your choosing.
Where to Buy Bitcoin - US Friendly Apps
- CashApp - Very simple to buy bitcoin in small or large amounts.
- Strike - Purchasing Bitcoin is extremely cheap almost 0 fee.
- Coinbase - Well known exchange, popular but slow, with higher fees.
- Robinhood - Popular app many already have where you can buy bitcoin.
Bitcoin ATMs
- Coinme - Buy bitcoin at Coinstar and MoneyGram locations
- Bitcoin BTMs - Guide to Bitcoin Teller Machines, they are everywhere.
Where to Buy Bitcoin - International
Decentralized Bitcoin Exchanges
- Hodl Hodl - a global, peer-to-peer bitcoin exchange.
- Bisq - Also a global, peer-to-peer bitcoin exchange.
Personal Notes
There are thousands of places and services you can buy bitcoin from now, and everyday that list is growing. I've just listed the most popular, and what I'm most familiar with. I have personally used CashApp, Strike, Coinbase, and Bisq.
CashApp and Strike are by far my favorite, but I have several friends that still buy using Coinbase.
Bitcoin ATMs are instant, but their fees are usually the highest. Make sure you check the spot price against the ATMs quoted price.
Bisq offers a great service, its nearly instant and since its peer-to peer, its KYC free. The only downside to Bisq is you must already have a little bitcoin before you can start using the service, because it uses pre-existing bitcoin as collateral, as this keeps both sides honest. Basically, both sides put up some bitcoin as collateral, and once the trade is completed by both sides without issue, the collateral is immediately released back to each user.