The Most Secure Way to Buy Bitcoin

According to research by Global Blockchain Council, many people find it difficult to buy bitcoin. That is, they don’t have confidence that the safety of their money is guaranteed. Whether the process of purchasing bitcoin is secure or not largely depends on the type of exchange. This is self-evident, after all, you buy bitcoin through the exchange. For this, several factors come into play; for instance, the security of the exchange itself, insurance, etc. Meanwhile, having examined more than twenty exchanges thoroughly, Bybit is the most promising and secure way for customers to buy bitcoin. Other good exchanges include Coinbase and Binance. Take your time to read this piece to the end to find out the reasons why Bybit and the other two exchanges make this list.

Essential Qualities of Exchanges

When it comes to cryptocurrency, exchanges play the roles of banks. As you already know, having your money secured is the primary responsibility of your bank even though you need to be safety conscious from your own end as well. Everyone always checks out some information about their banks before they entrust them with their hard-earned money. Therefore, when choosing an exchange to buy your bitcoin, there are some important factors you need to look out for. They are thoroughly discussed as follows.

Ease of Use

For any technological product or business whatsoever, good user experience is key. You don’t want to go through hell before you are able to buy bitcoin. How easy is it to verify your identity with an exchange? What’s the level of customer service and response to inquiries and complaints? For example, if you notice a security breach, how fast does the exchange respond to issues like this. You need to get answers to these questions before moving on with the choice of exchange. Securing your money is not a child’s play, it’s a big deal.

Regulatory Compliance

The law requires that exchanges accept only users that comply with AML (Anti-Money Laundering) and KYC (Know Your Customer) requirements. These legal requirements are important in preventing fraud and money laundering. It also prevents illicit transactions and the use of money to finance terrorism. Therefore, making sure your exchange is in compliance with these regulations is a good idea. If the exchange asks for AML and KYC checks, be rest assured that you are in the right place.

Security

Identity theft is real, passwords can be stolen and fraudulent people can impersonate your identity. Therefore, you must never joke with having an exchange that provides security features that will keep you safe. For example, some exchanges offer 2-factor authentication (2FA) as a measure of security.

Insurance

Surely, this is one factor many people will like to consider. If your exchange has insurance, you stand a chance of having your money back even if the exchange goes down or gets hacked. As a result, it’s always a good idea to look for an exchange that protects your money through insurance. This is part of the considerations to get a secure to buy bitcoin.

Speed

As you may already know, the value of bitcoin changes with time. It’s never constant! Therefore, the desired exchange should be able to process the order very fast. If you have to wait for a long time or have your bitcoin order stuck on the waiting list, what’s the security in such an exchange? As a matter of fact, the value of the bitcoin may jump during the course of waiting. Consequently, it’s always good that once you make the decision to buy bitcoin, you get the order processed without any delay.

The Best Exchanges That Provides a Secure Way to Buy Bitcoin

Bybit

Bybit is a margin trading platform registered in the British Virgin Islands in March 2018. Bybit has established itself as one of the top platforms to buy bitcoin with over 100,000 active users in less than 2 years of existence. One unique quality that distinguishes Bybit from other crypto exchanges is that it has a focus on perpetual contracts and leveraged trading. Also, it serves customers from all parts of the world except the United States and Singapore. It’s pretty easy to create an account on Bybit as the platform does not require too much personal or private data from you. With your email, password and phone number, you can sign up. Afterward, all that’s needed is to activate your account through the email and get started. Bybit offers a demo account that you can use safely before using real money to purchase bitcoin. The security features on Bybit make it one of the best platform/way to buy bitcoin securely.

Cons

• US citizens not accepted

Coinbase

Coinbase is a crypto exchange that is licensed in the United States. It uses Jumio’s digital identity solution for its KYC thereby making it regulatory compliant. Apart from your full name, email address, and password, ID verification is required to use Coinbase. The platform offers both bitcoin and Ethereum trading. It partners with several payment service providers and banks to allow a customer to deposit fiat through SWIFT/ACH/SEPA transfers or PayPal and credit cards.

Pros

• Insured Bitcoin deposit
• Seamless and friendly user interface
• A wide variety of fiat withdrawal and deposit options
• Mobile and online mobile wallet services.
• Instant transfers between Coinbase users
• It uses 2-factor authentication and multi-signature option that helps in preventing fraud.

Cons

• Coinbase accounts are always monitored; therefore, you don’t stay anonymous.
• Customer support is slow
• Deposits and withdrawals are delayed for 3 days.
• Low offering of coins

Binance

Binance is a popular cryptocurrency exchange which started in China but has since moved to their headquarters located in Island of Malta in the EU. If you visit Binance, you will notice that it offers two options for trading digital currency which include advanced and basic. The major difference between the advanced and basic versions is that the advanced provides a more detailed technical analysis of digital currency value. On the basic version, the dashboard has charts and graphs for the cryptocurrencies that you are trading.

Like Bybit and Coinbase, Binance equally offers seamless security features that afford you the opportunity to buy bitcoin in a secure way.

Pros

• Excellent trading interface
• Multi-device support: It supports web browsers, HTML5, WeChat, Android, etc.
• Fast and highly effective
• Transaction processing speed is high
• Has the capacity to process 1.4 million transactions per second
• Multi-language support

Cons

• There are sometimes delays in withdrawing from Binance
• Relatively low liquidity
• Customer support service is low
• Does not allow Fiat currency as payment

Peer-to-Peer Bitcoin Trading

Apart from using crypto exchanges, another way to buy bitcoin is through peer-to-peer trading. This is done in an online marketplace where people buy and sell bitcoin with anyone around the globe. Users carry out the trade themselves. This means that the users can set their own requirements. Peer-to-Peer bitcoin trading adds a personalized experience to trading. This leads to more efficiency in trades. As of today, peer-to-peer platforms are less used but they are already gaining huge momentum more than ever before.

Paxful

Paxful is the most popular peer-to-peer online marketplace where you can buy or sell bitcoin. One great thing about Paxful is that it gives you the opportunity to pay for the bitcoin purchase you make with a choice from over three hundred payment methods. There are options for payment like gift cards and apple pay and other traditional methods like debit card.

The minimum amount of bitcoin you can buy from a seller is $10. Some sellers can set a higher price as a minimum. The delivery speed of the bitcoin largely depends on the type of payment method that you select. As a buyer of bitcoin, you will not incur any fees or charges. It’s only sellers that need to pay 1% on every successful transaction. The platform provides 24/7 support services to users.

When using a platform like Paxful, it’s extremely important for you to be security conscious. You need to check out for a lot of details before choosing a seller. For example, you need to look at the seller’s previous reviews as well as the profile. You can use Paxful in more than 100 countries. This is a great leverage especially in terms of currencies that you can trade for bitcoin.

Pros

• Paxful is easy to use: Both buyers and sellers enjoy it for its quick process
• More than a hundred payment methods: These include credit/debit cards, cash, gift card, apple pay, PayPal etc.
• High speed: The speed of getting the bitcoin in your wallet is high
• No charges on the buyer: Paxful does not have any fee on the buyer.

Cons

• It’s the sellers’ right to choose the exchange rate they want to offer you.

While Paxful regulates the trading on its platform to make sure that fraudulent sellers are removed, there are still some dubious sellers that are having headway and who have not been caught. In fact, this is one reason why crypto exchanges are better than peer-to-peer trading platforms. On a crypto exchange, the bitcoin is bought from or sold to a single directory which makes it easy for you to get security challenges resolved on time.

Selecting an Effective Payment Method

When it comes to buying bitcoin in a secure way, many people are primarily interested in making sure that they do not lose their money. This is why using a safe payment method is very critical. Therefore, we will take the time to analyze the most popular payment methods in terms of their level of security and safety. This will give you the requisite information to make the best decision on your payment method and allow you to play safe. 

Paypal

Paypal is a very good option for you to buy bitcoin in a safe and secure way. Although people sometimes see PayPal as a difficult and inconvenient method of making payment for bitcoin, it has some great advantages that made popular crypto exchanges to accept it as a form of payment. In fact, most exchanges provide the procedure for you to follow once you select PayPal as your chosen method of payment.

Cash

This is obsolete; if you truly want to buy bitcoin in a secure way, cash is not an option except you know the seller of the bitcoin personally. In such a case, the transaction may not be online as you may have to meet physically. We don’t recommend this option because it’s solely at your own risk.

Bank Transfer

For bank transfer, the fees are very low especially if you use this option on the exchanges. However, it is a bit slow. Bank transfer is safe and you can easily trace the movement of your fund.

Debit/Credit Card

Buying bitcoin with credit or debit cards is very easy and fast. It’s fast because it’s just like buying any product online with your credit card. However, one disadvantage is that the amount you can buy is relatively low compared to when you use other payment methods. The reason for this is not far-fetched, it’s majorly to prevent fraudulent transactions.

Conclusion

At a point like this in our development journey as a people, the digital currency exchange market is getting really filled with a lot of choices, it’s extremely important to seek guidance so as to play safe. One of such guidance in this article. In this piece, you have learned about the most secured exchanges you can use when buying bitcoin. In addition, there are also bitcoin marketplaces like Paxful but you need to be very careful here as you will not be buying directly from the platform itself but from sellers who have an account on such platform. Everything you need to watch out for in a potential seller has been thoroughly analyzed in the article.

Putting every method together, we at Exchange ratings strongly recommend Bybit as the best exchange to buy bitcoin in a highly secure way. Our decision is based on a thorough examination of most of the crypto exchanges and marketplaces in vogue.