In a short 10-year time span, bitcoin has managed to establish a firm foothold in the global financial market reaching a market cap of $201 billion.
Bitcoin offers safe and anonymous transactions without the interface of central authorities such as banks and government, making it a much-needed solution in today’s world.
There are several ways one can buy bitcoin from fiat currency, namely, exchanges, P2P, bitcoin ATMs, the most common and convenient of which is a bitcoin exchange.
Bitcoin exchange is an online marketplace that connects buyers and sellers of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
If you are looking to buy bitcoin in Europe, here is a guide to get you started.
The exchange mentioned in this guide require ID checks for all its users in compliance with the anti-money laundering (AML) regulations for each region.
Plus, it offer an integrated bitcoin wallet to store bitcoin.
Let’s get started!
Bitpanda
Bitpanda is an Austrian cryptocurrency exchange established in 2014. It offers an easy-to-use platform and multiple payment options to buy bitcoin.
Bitpanda offers support for multiple altcoins as well as precious metals such as gold, silver, palladium, platinum;
In addition, it has a wide array of products including, a crypto wallet, crypto exchange, payment processor, and more.
To purchase Bitcoin using Euro, Bitpanda offers an impressive list of payment options which include:
SEPA, GIROPAY/EPS, iDEAL, SOFORT, NETELLER, Skrill, Zimpler, Visa, and Mastercard
Bitpanda levies a fee of 1.49% for buying or selling bitcoin on its platform.
Here are the steps to buy Bitcoin using Bitpanda:
Step 1: Account Setup
Head on over to Bitpanda and select the ‘Get started’ button located at the top right corner.
You will be redirected to a new webpage asking you if you want a ‘Business’ or a ‘Personal’ account. Go ahead and choose whichever is applicable to you and select ‘Continue’.
For this guide, we will be choosing ‘Personal account’.
You will then prompted to create an account, fill out all the details, and select ‘Create account’.
After this, you will be redirected to fill out a small questionnaire as part of the EU anti-money laundering regulation (AML5).
After successfully filling out the questionnaire, you will be given 2 options, ‘Bitpanda’ and ‘Bitpanda pro’. Go ahead and select ‘Bitpanda’.
Although both Bitpanda and Bitpanda pro are crypto trading platform, Bitpanda Pro offers much more functionalities and is geared towards advanced traders.
Step 2: Account Verification and Fiat Deposit
You have successfully created an account at Bitpanda. It is now time to complete your KYC ID check and deposit money to your Bitpanda account so can make a BTC purchase.
Select ‘Verify now’ from your dashboard,
You will need to fill out a few personal details as well as provide a valid ID document (Driver’s license, Passport, Government issued ID).
Your verification documents will now be checked by the compliance team at Bitpanda and if everything checks out, your account will be approved for trading (approval of account may take a few days).
After your account is approved, you are now ready to deposit money into your Bitpanda account.
Select ‘Deposit’ at the top right corner.
A pop-up window will appear, select the desired currency you wish to deposit.
Based on your currency selection, you will then see the available deposit methods.
Select the option most suitable for you. Almost all instantaneous deposit options have some kind of deposit fees associated with it, so do make sure you check the fees before making a selection.
Select the amount of money you wish to deposit and confirm the transaction.
Step 3: Buy Bitcoin
Once your money is successfully deposited to your Bitpanda account, you are now ready to purchase bitcoin.
Select ‘Trade’ from the top menu bar.
Select ‘Buy’ -> ‘BTC Wallet’
Now enter the amount worth of bitcoin you wish to purchase and confirm the transaction.
That’s it! You just make your first bitcoin purchase on Bitpanda.
The bitcoin will be deposited to your BTC wallet on Bitpanda. To access the wallet, follow this path: ‘Wallets’ -> ‘BTC Wallet’
More options for Buy Bitcoin in Europe:
Some more places where you can buy bitcoin in Europe include:
Cryptocurrency Exchange:
Bitcoin ATM: Bitcoin ATM provides the convenience to purchase bitcoin using Cash. The best part about these is that there is no need for KYC verification and the transactions are anonymous.
Peer-2-Peer Platform
Apart from Bitcoin exchanges, another great way to buy bitcoin is using Peer-2-Peer (P2P) platforms.
P2P platforms are exchanges that directly connect bitcoin buyers and sellers. There is no centralized exchange that acts as a mediary instead the transactions are protected by smart contract-based escrow,
The best part about these platforms is that you can connect with buyers/sellers from anywhere around the globe and such platforms are least affected by government regulations as you are directly connecting with a buyer/seller.
The most popular P2P platforms are:
Conclusion
Bitcoin is slowly one of the most sought after assets in the digital world, providing benefits that traditional fiat cannot.
Bitcoin exchanges are one of the best ways to buy bitcoin in today’s market. In India, WazirX offers a robust platform to buy bitcoin, while Coinbase captures the market in the US.
Whichever region you belong to and whatever exchange you decide to use, here are some important points to remember while using bitcoin exchanges:
