Mobile Number & Proof of Identity

When buying cryptocurrency for the first time you’ll need to prove your identity and verify a mobile number. Often simply abbreviated to passing KYC (Know Your Customer).

This ensures that the exchange isn’t breaking any rules around where it can accept customers from and guarantees customers are of the correct age.

During peak periods – often when the price of cryptocurrencies is rising/falling dramatically – the process of verification of KYC submission may take up to 24hrs or longer.

Bear this in mind and read the submission guidelines carefully for how to upload a photo of either your Passport, Driving License or National ID. This will avoid potential delays and painful exchanges with customer service.

If you are uncomfortable with uploading personal documents, check the individual policy on how the exchange manages your data.

How to buy cryptocurrency instantly with a credit/debit card

Once you have created an account and passed KYC, the simplest and quickest way to buy cryptocurrency is using a credit/debit card.

This allows you to combine payment and purchase into one transaction. The convenience does however come at the expense of the higher fees for card purchases (see table 1).

Pay close attention to any restrictions on credit card purchases; some card issuers prohibit crypto purchases, while certain exchanges only support 3D Secure cards and won’t accept pre-paid cards.. 

Cards are also a one-way payment method, you cannot generally withdraw to them. 

With Instant Buying you are purchasing at what is known as Market or Spot Price, in other words, whatever the price of the chosen cryptocurrency is at the exact time of purchase.

If you want to time your purchase at a specific price, Instant Buying isn’t appropriate. We explore this is in greater detail in our section on how to trade cryptocurrency.

Here are the steps:

1. Log-in to your exchange account; navigate to the Trade/Buy section
2. Choose the cryptocurrency you want to buy; it will be offered as a pair with your local currency e.g EUR/BTC or GBP/BTC.
3. Decide the amount you want to buy, either in crypto or fiat terms
4. Choose credit/debit card as the payment method
5. Submit your card details as you would with any online purchase 
6. Wait for the confirmation & check to see your balance change
7. Congratulations – you now own cryptocurrency.

In our section on earning crypto we introduce a concept called Cost Averaging. In simple terms this recommends regular, small purchases to average out price changes. This is a good way to start building an investment. Look for exchanges that offer a recurring buy option, such as Coinbase.

To make a recurring purchase you simply need to follow the steps above but change from One Time Purchase to the required frequency e.g Daily, Weekly, Monthly. The transactions will then repeat at exactly that time, regardless of price.

How to buy cryptocurrency by linking your bank

The alternative to instantly buying cryptocurrency with a credit/debit card is to link your bank account directly with the exchange, and select it as the payment method. This takes slightly longer, but is cheaper and unlike using a debit/credit card, you can (in general) sell and withdraw the proceeds directly to your bank account (more detail on this in the next article). Which is certainly worth thinking about.

Here are the steps:

1. Log-in to your new exchange account and navigate to the payment section
2. Follow the steps to link your bank account; wait for this to be approved. 
3. Choose the cryptocurrency you want to buy; it will be offered as a pair with your local currency e.g EUR/BTC or GBP/BTC.
4. Decide the amount you want to buy, either in crypto or fiat terms
5. Choose your linked bank account as the payment method
6. Wait for the confirmation & check to see your balance change
7. Congratulations – you now own cryptocurrency.

It might be that once your bank account is linked you need to add funds as a separate step and then follow steps 3 and 4. This approach gives you more freedom around when to buy which we discuss later in this section.