The demand for bitcoin is growing rapidly. In 2017 alone the total crypocurrency market capital grew 100 times (1). This large increase is likely caused by the increased adoption of blockchain technology (2), hedge funds getting invested (3), and increased awareness under private investors like you and me (4).
In this articile I would like to describe how to get invested into bitcoin in 3 simple steps;
- How to setup a wallet for receiving bitcoin.
- Get your public bitcoin address to receive bitcoin.
- How to buy bitcoin with fiat (e.g. EUR, USD).
WARNING: the cryptocurrency market is small and volatile. Prices may rise and drop rapidly.
Setup a Bitcoin Wallet
A bitcoin wallet is a digital wallet in which you can store and manage your bitcoin. Two popular, easy to use wallets are Coinbase and Exodus.
Exodus
1. Go to the Exodus webpage and download + install the wallet (here).
2. Run Exodus.
3. Great that was easy! You are all set to receive bitcoin (+ other crypocurrencies which are supported by Exodus).
Coinbase
1. Go to the Coinbase webpage and register with a strong password (here).
2. Login, go to settings > Security, and setup 2 factor authentication. This will make sure you always login with password + another device for extra security.
3. That’s all, you are now ready to receive bitcoins!
Get your public Bitcoin address
Every wallet has a public address which you can share with the world in order to receive bitcoins. This address looks something like this:
17JWbZ6KwzWBBjBJq2pg85ASnB7sc1RMg
When making a transaction, you will use this public address to receive the bitcoin in your wallet.
Lets check what your public address is so you can receive bitcoin.
Exodus
1. Go to Wallet > Bitcoin > Receive
2. Click on receive in order to get your public address
3. There it is, your bitcoin address!
NOTE: do ONLY send bitcoin to this address. Every coin has it’s own address.
Coinbase
1. While logged in, click on Accounts > Receive
2. There you go your public bitcoin address!
NOTE: do ONLY send bitcoin to this address. Every coin has it’s own address.
Buy Bitcoin with Euro’s or Dollars
There are several websites which allow you to buy bitcoin with Euro / Dollar or other fiat currencies. If you created a Coinbase wallet, it aswel allows you to deposit fiat currencies straight into your wallet. This makes it easy to buy / sell bitcoin. An alternative is Bitonic (explained later).
Coinbase
- Login on Coinbase > Accounts > EUR Wallet > Deposit
- Follow the instuctions to verify your bankaccount.
- Once done you will get a Reference number which you have to include in your bank transaction.
4. Once the deposit is in your Coinbase account (can take a day or two) go to Buy/Sell and buy your bitcoin.
Bitonic
A good alternative to Coinbase is Bitonic. For example if you created a wallet in Exodus. Bitonic ables you to send bitcoin to any bitcoin address (yes, also your Coinbase address). Bitonic lets you to buy bitcoin without having to create an account.
- Insert the amount of bitcoin you would like to purchase.
- Insert your bitcoin public address.
- Pay with your prefered method.
- (Opt.) you might need to transfer 0.01 cent to verify your bankaccount.
NOTE: It might take 10 minutes up to a few hours for your bitcoins to arrive.
That’s is it! If you followed these steps you are the proud owner of bitcoin.
I hope this guide was informative for you.
Any feedback or questions are more than welcome. Please follow for more articles.
