How to buy Bitcoin?
Bitcoin aka digital gold, is the first cryptocurrency ever created. Today, it is the most valuable and widely adopted crypto asset. Find out everything you need to know about buying, using, holding and securing your BTC.
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What is Bitcoin (BTC)?
Bitcoin [BTC] was the first currency that only exists electronically and was released as an open-source software, meaning that anyone can examine the code and participate in the Bitcoin network.
It was introduced by an unknown person called « Satoshi Nakamoto » in the famous « Bitcoin: A peer-to-peer Electronic Cash system » whitepaper. This whitepaper outlined how Bitcoin was to function and which role it’d fulfill. Satoshi Nakamoto, left a pretty clear message in the first-ever Bitcoin block mined: “The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks”.
Not only was Bitcoin created in response to the current economic crisis, but the very first sentence of the whitepaper couldn’t portray its purpose more clearly: “A purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash would allow online payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution”.
Bitcoin removes trusted third parties, giving everyone complete control over their own money.
Is Bitcoin (BTC) a good investment ?
Being interested in Bitcoin means more than just money: it is about becoming part of a revolution. Crypto is the fuel for an entire new system in which you, as a free individual, can make your own moves.
True Ownership
Bitcoin allows you to truly own your funds. Bitcoin blockchain is a decentralized network that removes the need to trust individuals, allowing value transfers free from the control of external parties. No bank or institution holds your money – with cryptocurrencies, you have complete freedom to choose what you want to do with your assets. Your funds are available to you 24/7 and you can do with it as you please. No one can tell you what to do with your own money as you are the only one who has access to it.
Borderless
Bitcoin is a truly borderless network. Whether you are in the United States or in Japan, you can access your cryptocurrencies. Crypto helps bring the world closer together, giving you the choice to transact with anyone in any country rapidly. National, International – this all means nothing to Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies.
Open and Inclusive
Bitcoin has been created by individuals rather than governments – and is maintained by an incredibly large collective, all coming together as one to give their network its stability and power. Bitcoin is open and honest. You can see every transaction that was ever made due to its public nature. You can verify everything rather than requiring trust. Most importantly: Bitcoin is for everyone: anyone can join.
Fast
A Bitcoin transaction would take only around 10 minutes, and some other crypto assets can even do this in a few seconds. Compared to cryptocurrencies, a traditional wire transaction takes quite a bit longer: about 24 hours if it’s a national transaction. For international ones, this can be anywhere between 1 to 4 days.
Low fees 100
In traditional systems, even national transfers can contain fees for wire transactions. When you get to larger transactions this can rapidly increase and the charges will stack up quickly. This gets even worse when it’s an international transaction. With Bitcoin, fees for transactions are significantly lower than traditional wire transfers: the average fee is currently at just $0.50. And it doesn’t matter how much you are sending – this has little impact on your fees.
How to use Bitcoin (BTC)?
HODL your Bitcoin Long-term
A long-term investment is one where you expect a cryptocurrency to perform better over a longer period of time. This strategy is often referred to as holding your coins for a long time period while betting on the continuous and gradual growth. Choosing this strategy, it is really important to be well-informed, educating yourself, before investing and, ideally, to really believe in the cryptocurrency you invest in. Many people like to purchase some and put them to the side in the hopes that they will be worth more in the future.
Trade your Bitcoin Short-term
These are investments made over shorter time periods in the hope of making quick profits and can take seconds, minutes, days or more. Although crypto like Bitcoin or Ethereum can be traded in the short-term, you could be more interested in young and new cryptocurrencies with quick growth potential. Of course, as a financial asset, cryptocurrency can be part of an investment strategy, bought, traded or held in an attempt to make money. The investment potential got a lot of public attention during the Bitcoin boom of 2017.
Buy with Bitcoin
One that we always get excited about is seeing how Bitcoin is being embraced more and more by companies, institutions and even governments.It’s gaining more and more uses. From tech giants like Microsoft to travel agencies like Expedia, there is a large list of companies that have embraced the technological wonder that is Bitcoin. And the list is rapidly expanding. According to Coinmap, there are currently close to 20.000 shops that are accepting Bitcoin as a form of payment.
Where and How to
Buy Bitcoin
Buy Bitcoin on Exchanges
Bitcoin can be purchased via “fiat to crypto” exchanges. These allow you to buy coins with euros, pounds, dollars, etc. This can be done via Credit/Debit card or via Bank Transfer. This is today the most common way to buy online.
To buy Bitcoin on exchanges, you need to follow different steps:
1. Create your account – you’ll first need to create an account on the crypto exchange of your choice. This means giving your e-mail address and setting a password.
2. Validation of your account – In order to get a validation of your account, you’ll probably need to do a Know Your Customer (KYC) process. You’ll have to provide personal information such as name, photo of your passport or ID. After this, the exchange will verify and your identity and validate your account.
3. Buy bitcoin – you can now start buying bitcoin on the exchange via credit card or wire transfer. When buying on exchanges, fees will apply. These fees will depend on the exchanges you have chosen, your country of residence, your payment method…
List of main Exchanges:
Buy Bitcoin with Ledger Live
You can buy Bitcoin directly through the platform Ledger Live with our partner Coinify. For that you will need to have a Ledger hardware wallet and to have created a Bitcoin account on Ledger Live.
When using the Buy feature, the crypto you bought is automatically sent by Coinify to the address created by your Ledger wallet. This makes sure your freshly bought crypto is kept secure and in your control from the moment you finished the purchase.
How to safely
buy Bitcoin
When buying Bitcoin, two things really matter: the security and the ownership of your coins. What counts is the key that gives access to your Bitcoin – your private key.
The person that has access to this key really owns the associated Bitcoin and can do whatever they want with it. This person must be you.
When buying Bitcoin online, you don’t own this key – the exchange does. This means 2 thinks:
– You are not in control as you are not the true owner of your crypto – the exchange is. This is why they can set certain limits to your activity such as a minimum or maximum withdrawal limit.
– You are prone to hack as you rely on the crypto exchange security. While you can make sure that your account is secured by using 2FA for instance, you have no control over how secure the platform is. Cryptocurrency exchanges are an ideal target for hackers because of the huge amount of crypto they can steal, and they have been successful in the past.
You need to take back control of your Bitcoin to correctly protect and control them: owning your private keys gives you absolute freedom over your own crypto.
Ledger created a solution that enables you to secure and own this key.
Our hardware wallet, combined with our application Ledger Live is the best way to secure your funds while giving you the freedom to manage everything on your own. Your private key always remains offline in the hardware wallet: nobody can access it or use it except you. You’ll need your key to access Ledger Live main services, same as in a house where the master key gives you access to all the rooms and facilities…
With Ledger, buy, sell, manage, exchange crypto and earn interest. All in one single place. Without ever compromising the security of your coins.
Buy Bitcoin (BTC)
and other cryptocurrencies with Ledger Live
Buy and securely manage bitcoin (BTC) and more cryptocurrencies with Ledger Live
