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What to do in order to buy cryptocurrency?

There are a lot of factors one ought to take into account, starting from the type of cryptocurrency you are looking for, the quantity of it, and where do you live. Before you even start wondering about that things, you have to answer yourself few, rather simple questions. Do you live in a country that did not ban purchasing digital currency? Do you live in a big city? How does the situation of Bitcoin look like in your place of living? Is it a popular concept or unknown one?

All of these things are essential while choosing the right method of acquiring cryptocurrency. It is because you can make use of cryptocurrency exchange, you can use special ATMs that lets you withdraw digital currency or even change it with fiat currency. There are also other ways, like for example using your gift cards or getting alt coins through third parties. We mean here people, who announce their services on forums and let you get cryptocurrency without centralized services like cryptocurrency exchanges. Of course if you are not limited by cryptocurrency regulations in your nation, then the best methods of purchasing cryptocurrencies involve using aforementioned exchanges, namely cryptocurrency exchange.

Cryptocurrency exchange allows you to purchase digital currency with your own fiat currency. But before you found your profile on one of those services, make sure that the exchange you are currently browsing is legitimate. Once you do that, you will have to prove your legitimacy by simply proving your identity. To do that, you will be asked to present a photo ID and the ID card itself before you purchase larger quantities of cryptocurrency.

ATMs and Bitcoins, how does it even possible?

Up above we mentioned about ATMs and the possibility of getting cryptocurrencies via cash machines. So how is it possible that you can withdraw cryptocurrency? If you think that it works just like regular ATMs with traditional currency, then you are wrong. The whole point of digital currency ATM is to provide the user with the opportunity to sell or buy Bitcoin or any other alt coin within several seconds, without worrying about safety protocols and other issues of this sort.

At this very moment there are three large clusters with cryptocurrency ATMs: in Japan, Germany, and in the United States. It is said that the North America will become the biggest market share of cryptocurrency in the next few years. If we were to take a look at the calculations and predictions made by Cointelegraph, one can notice that the market for digital currency ATMs may reach the value of $144.5 billion, whereas at this moment it amounts to $16.3 million. As we can see, the difference is huge.

Still, there are some unsolved issues related to the crypto ATM services that need to be solved. One of them is the fact that in spite of safety precautions, there were some reports of stolen Bitcoins. In Japan, for example, there were hackers, who applied special malware in order to exploit downsides of the ATM system. Because of that, they managed to steal Bitcoin worth $6,750 without any left digital fingerprints. What’s more, there were also problems related to the occurrence of the machines. Nowadays it is possible to find Bitcoin ATMs only in the biggest cities of some of the countries. There were even some cases, where ATMs completely disappeared. Until these problems are fixed, the use of these machines may not be the best idea.

Learn more - Bitcoin ATM by Andreas Antonopoulos

Isn’t it better to receive payment in cryptocurrencies?

The problem of cryptocurrency salaries is much more complex than one could think. First of all we need to remember about the fact that to introduce such possibility to the mainstream flow is almost impossible due to tax regulations (or in case of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies the lack of them), value fluctuations, and many other elements. Let’s not forget about the fact that Bitcoin payments are, although growing, still a rare thing to see. It is obvious to state that besides the already mentioned issues connected with the implementation of cryptocurrencies as the main salary, there are many other troubles worth taking into consideration.

Do you believe that in the next several years any, let’s say, car manufacturer will enable the option to pay for his car with cryptocurrencies? Do you think that you will be able to purchase a house with a digital currency up to 2025? There are some data that can give you a clear answer to these questions. In Germany, one of the nations, where there is the biggest number of Bitcoin ATMs, only 6% of people strongly believe that it will be possible to buy a car with crypto currency in next few years. The truth is much harsher than it looks like. It turns out that the financial experts and other speculators strongly believe that up until 2020 there will be not a single place, from where you will be able to purchase a cup of coffee with cryptocurrencies.

Although there are people, who get paid in digital currencies and they are more than content with it, they belong to minority. Let us not forget about one of the most crucial elements that opposes the implementation of digital currency as a main salary, and it is simply the lack of knowledge and non-existing awareness of everyday people about Bitcoin.

Other ways of purchasing cryptocurrency than cash? How to do that?

A lot of people wonder whether it is possible to find the new way thanks to which you will be able to acquire cryptocurrency. Trading on a cryptocurrency exchange is surely a legitimate method that will give you the opportunity to obtain all the digital currency you desire. Nevertheless, it is quite time-consuming option, especially if you do not have already registered account at any exchange. That is the reason why some people seek for other ways of purchasing cryptocurrency than with the use of FIAT currency and exchange. The good news is that as the time goes by and Bitcoin becomes more and more popular with every day, there are newer and newer methods that give you the opportunity to get extra digital currency. One of such innovative methods is the use of vouchers and gift cards.

A lot of people tend to receive amazon gift cards and other vouchers as the present for their birthdays, name days, and many other holidays or celebration events. Nevertheless, not everyone wishes to go shopping to a clothes shop, have a drink in Starbucks Cafe, or purchase some irrelevant items from Amazon. That is why the latest services that occur in recent days allow people to exchange vouchers onto cryptocurrency. This is particularly interesting for all of us, who would rather invest in digital currency than spend money in any other way.

bitcoin digital currency
One of the services that offer such possibility is Paxful. It is a platform that works in the form of peer-to-peer marketplace, where people can either purchase iTunes gift cards, Google Play Gift Cards, and many other vouchers or sell them with the use of Bitcoin. The services can even offer you the chance to sell or buy gift cards in bulk. Namely, you don’t have to sell them individually. Once you find the right trading partner, you can freely exchange your goods all the time.

What about text messages and social networking sites as a means of getting paid?

If you are willing to take such risk, then there is nothing standing on your way! However, bear in mind that it is a good idea to proceed carefully because there are many ways for you to get scammed.

The use of text messages or social networks in order to get paid in a traditional currency was popular, and it still is. That is why it was a matter of time for cryptocurrency to join the ride. One of the US companies that managed to launch the first cryptocurrency payments via SMS is Intuit. The industry managed to prepare a fully working system thanks to which we can pay for some of the services with the use of our phones. It is a great chance for all the people, who perform transactions mostly with their mobile devices.

Unfortunately, together with new opportunities for the Bitcoin and altcoins to develop, there are also new ways of scamming people. It also concerns Bitcoin SMS payments. Some time ago there were scammers, who claimed that there were Bitcoin waiting for the client to receive. All they needed to do is to click the link in the message and they were exposing themselves on losing not only on providing fraudsters with their personal information and private data, but also they were at risk of losing their funds. This is why we should be careful with every opportunity that, even if very attractive to us, may occur to be a deceit.