When it comes to exchanging your native currency for Bitcoin (or any other crypto) there are a LOT of options out there and its hard to sift through them to find the best. Last week I talked about Coinbase being a great place for beginners to get their feet wet with cryptocurrency. Once you HAVE gotten your feet wet you may want to move on to a more advanced platform that has more options and different fee structures. I took a look at some of the most popular places on the internet to exchange your USD to Bitcoin and more so you don't have to sift through them yourself!
Buying Bitcoin With USD
Here are the 5 exchanges that I have personally tried that I feel have a good balance of features and fees. Click the name to jump to the details of each one.
- Kraken
- Bitfinex
- CEX.io
- OKCoin
I will also talk about 2 other services I have not tried yet but look really interesting. Hopefully I can give them a trial run in the next few weeks.
Kraken
Depositing USD
- USD Bank Wire Deposit ($5 USD) - US only
- USD Bank Wire Deposit ($10 USD) - outside US only
Withdrawing USD
- USD Bank Wire Withdrawal ($5 USD) - US only
- USD Bank Wire Withdrawal ($60 USD) - outside US only
Check out Kraken.com to sign up for an account.
Bitfinex
Depositing USD
- Bank wire 0.100% of the deposit amount, with a minimum fee of $20.00
Withdrawing USD
- Bank wire 0.100% of the withdrawal amount, with a minimum fee of $20.00
- Express bank wire (within 24 hours on business days) 1.000% of the withdrawal amount, with a minimum fee of $20.00
Check out Bitfinex.com to sign up for an account.
CEX.io
Depositing USD
- VISA 3.5% + $ 0.25
- MasterCard 3.5% + $ 0.25
- Bank transfer $ 0
- Crypto Capital $ 0
Withdrawing USD
- VISA $ 3.80
- MasterCard 1.2% + $ 3.80
- Bank transfer $ 50.00
- Crypto Capital 1%
Check out their site CEX.io to sign up for an account. If you want to support me and my blog use my CEX.io referral link.
OKCoin
Depositing USD
- Bank transfer / Wire: Corporate 0.1% and Individuals 0.1% *Bank transfer fees are not included
Withdrawing USD
- Bank transfer / Wire: 0.1% (Bank transfer fees are not included), mininum fee $1
Check out OKCoin.com to sign up for an account.
Interesting Mentions For Future Investigation
While I have tried the above platforms and can say I recommend them, while sifting through dozens of sites for the best place to exchange US Dollars for Bitcoin I came across two platforms that work a bit different. I didn't get to try them, so I CAN'T recommend them just yet, but they are interesting and worth a peek.
LocalBitcoins.com - You can agree to meet and individual person to buy bitcoins with cash, or trade directly with online banking. Bitcoins are placed in LocalBitcoins.com web wallet from where you can pay your bitcoin purchases directly. Very interesting concept, but I have not been able to try to meet anyone in person in my area yet.
Bitquick.com - Similar to LocalBitcoins but is more focused on online transaction between individuals versus walking into a bank or meeting in person. They have a very nice interface, but once again I can't recommend them JUST yet as I have not had the chance to try their services.
TL;DR
There are a ton of options to buy Bitcoin once you get your feet wet with a platform like Coinbase. Out of the dozens I tried, these 4 are the ones I can personally recommend. I really like CEX.io for its many options to deposit and it certainly tops my list, but they are all really great and worth a look!
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Do you have a similar guide to EUR or preferably GBP?
@gdreyer I don't! I probably should, but I am based in the US so I started there first. I will check out some international options and post something soon. Thanks for the idea!
Thanks for the thorough review from the user's point of view. You didn't mention security on any of them. Any comments on security of the different options? I am using 2FA with an app for all my crypto work.
@dylan.schickel Yes I did not go into security with all of them because I felt that could be a whole other topic and I wanted to focus on Fiat to Bitcoin transfers. I will write something up on Security specifically this week!
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