We have repeatedly looked at the growing interest in the crypto market from both ordinary citizens and institutional investors. What should you do if you too have decided to buy cryptocurrency? Where to go? Who to approach? In this article, we will look at popular ways to buy a cryptocurrency for fiat, including those we use ourselves. The data presented in this article is not an advertisement.
Exchanges
Until a couple of years ago, it was difficult to find a centralised exchange that implemented the ability to buy a cryptocurrency for fiat, except for those operating in the US market, such as Coinbase. However, with the popularity of the industry, more and more reputable exchanges are connecting fiat gateways. For example, in September 2019, Binance added the ability to buy cryptocurrencies for fiat using credit and debit cards, using the Koinal gateway. At launch, BTC, ETH, LTC, XRP and BCHABC could be purchased with Visa and MasterCard, with a fairly high 2.5% fee.I often use https://priceconverter.org/ to calculate conversions. It has the cryptocurrency pairs I need and always has an updated rate.
Currently, the exchange offers the Paxful gateway with the ability to buy 18 cryptocurrencies for 54 fiat currencies, which makes the already most popular exchange one of the most convenient for those who want to start trading quickly. Identity verification is required to complete transactions.
P2P exchanges
One of the most popular and long-standing ways to buy cryptocurrency has been and remains a P2P (peer to peer) exchanger. This type of service involves placing private ads to buy or sell cryptocurrencies, with a selection of suitable exchange rates and terms. The most popular p2p exchanger at the moment in the world is Localbitcoins, the total trading volume of which now averages $40 million per week. Localbitcoins provides the opportunity to buy Bitcoin in 240 countries.
Other popular P2P exchanges include Bitzlato, which allows the exchange of seven major cryptocurrencies in 28 countries, and Localcryptos, a decentralised equivalent of Localbitcoins, with an extended range of cryptocurrencies.
Separately, in September 2019, the "people's exchange" Binance also launched a convenient P2P exchange functionality on its platform, attracting a significant portion of the P2P exchange market.
The P2P exchange market is characterised by higher fees and exchange rate differences depending on the different countries, as well as risks of unscrupulous behaviour by participants. Therefore, the issue of guarantees is paramount when choosing a platform, as is the issue of rating when choosing a cryptocurrency seller. Due to the need for increased security measures, most P2P exchangers have, following exchanges, introduced mandatory identity verification.
Multi-currency wallets
Due to the growing demand for cryptocurrencies and their settlement, many multi-currency online wallets and payment systems have started to provide access to exchanging cryptocurrencies for fiat. PAYEER and Advcash are among the popular ones. Exchange fees for such services are often inflated.
Offline
Some time ago, offline cryptocurrency terminals started to appear everywhere in different cities around the world. However, this method quickly lost popularity due to expensive maintenance, high fees and an excessively long time for cryptocurrencies to reach the balance when purchased. In addition, buying cryptocurrencies on the street carries criminal risks. However, one of the most popular ways to buy a cryptocurrency for fiat, with a huge shadow turnover, has been and remains a private offline exchanger. Such services are offered in many major cities around the world for those who need to exchange a particularly large amount or to avoid taxation. Such services offer rather attractive exchange rates, but this type of exchange is associated with very high risks. Is it worth saying that you can be left with no money at all, because of a great number of brokers and scammers, who are active on this market? If you decide to use this method, you should be 200% sure that the exchanger is reliable.
Safety first
Whichever method you choose, remember that exchanging cryptocurrency for fiat currency often involves risks, and there are always scammers out there who want to take your money, especially in the poorly regulated cryptocurrency market. So carefully check exchange methods and transactions for phishing links, rating and trustworthiness of sellers and buyers, and opt for reputable platforms with clear mechanisms and guarantees.
