Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency, that is created, distributed, and kept through a blockchain – decentralized ledger. One of the main advantages of BTC (Bitcoin) is the low rates when sending a payment. Which makes it quite obvious why cryptocurrencies will inevitably firmly entrench in the economy. Why would you pay 3% for a transfer or 40$ for a wire transfer and wait for 3-5 days, if you can pay with a fee of 0.58% (for example) and it will take up to 10-15 minutes to receive it. Or why should you depend on your bank to store your money, use it, and then dictate to you how much and when you can spend or send it or even close your account for any reason.

Bitcoin began to skyrocket again immediately after the US presidential election and may keep rising for the next weeks or months, but it’s very hard, especially today, to predict what is going to be the next, so you should watch the market and do research on your own if you decide to dive into this subject.

How Does It Work?

Bitcoin traders sell via platforms that provide a digital wallet for you, so you can buy and store BTC. It’s like an exchange platform that anonymously matches up buyers and sellers to complete transactions.

How to Buy?

You will need to go to a trading platform and exchange your fiat for Bitcoin.

• create an account
• get verification (if required)
• link it to your bank
• send money
• buy it

How to Chose the Best Places Where to Buy Bitcoin

Some platforms may ask you to provide a photo of your ID and you with the ID to verify that it’s really you. Choosing where to buy it you need to check what fees they take, how quickly you can create an account, and transfer money from your bank to the trading platform.

Kraken.com

It has low fees to buy and sell Bitcoin, but it may take up to 3-5 days to create an account and go through verification plus they only offer wire transfer to send money from your bank to their bank, and then they add it to your balance. All together it took me about 10 days and I almost missed a chance to buy Bitcoin for a good price. Kraken is really a good option when you need to make big transfers and you should set it up in advance.

Coinbase.com

Is the simplest,  the biggest, and the most respected Bitcoin platform in the US.  It’s very easy to create an account, super easy to link it to an American bank. Another new feature that they just got is when you need to send BTC to your friend, relative, or subcontractor you can find him by a tag name that he provides instead of a long BTC wallet address (like in Zelle). Coinbase and most other platforms also support Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Litecoin, and other cryptocurrencies.

Coinbase charges a variable percentage fee of 1.49% for U.S. transactions from a bank account or Coinbase USD wallet. Purchases with a credit or debit card add on a 3.99% fixed fee. It’s more than Kraken, and here are the pros and cons.

It is very secure, whether you want to access it through the Web app or mobile app, it will require two-factor authentication, plus it keeps digital and paper backups of data in safe deposit boxes and vaults around the world. Further, Coinbase holds 98% of customer currencies offline to keep them safe from malicious hackers.

Robinhood: Best for Low Cost

Robinhood was created as a fee-free stock brokerage and just recently expanded to a trading platform of digital currencies. It has no fees and it supports cryptocurrency trades and market data right in your mobile app. But the biggest downside is that Robinhood does not work in every state for cryptocurrency trades as of May 2020. But if you live in one of those states, Robinhood Crypto is can be great option.