Can you buy bitcoin stock? Absolutely yes.
But we all know that this article is not going to end in a single line. So let`s drag this bit on for a while shall we.
Yes you can buy bitcoins in fact any legal person who is of age can buy bitcoins, as long as they live in a jurisdiction that allows sales and purchase of bitcoins. Yes this is very important to remember. You may be in USA for instance and be allowed to buy and trade in bitcoins but then you may decide to travel to say Pakistan where bitcoins or crypto currencies for that matter are banned and there you cannot buy or sell bitcoins, doing so would come under money laundering punishable by up to 2 years in prison. So it is absolutely vital to do your research before you buy bitcoins. Make sure that trading in crypto currencies and bitcoins is legal where you live, otherwise you may get into some serious trouble.
Buying bitcoins is quite easy but for first time buyers, it is a bit typical because bitcoins or any crypto currency for that matter requires some pre requisites to be fulfilled. So you can say that you cannot buy bitcoins unless you fulfill certain pre requisites that are necessary.
What Are The Pre Requisites For Purchasing Bitcoin?
Well first of all you will need to have access to a secure internet connection. Your connection needs to be secure because public connections are vulnerable to hackers and you may lose not only your sensitive data but also your banking details and bitcoin wallet keys. So it is never a good idea to carry out transactions on a public connection. A secure private connection is therefore absolutely necessary.
Next thing that you will need is a bank account, with sufficient funds and credit or debit card. You can choose to buy bitcoins through your bank account via bank transfer or you can use cards. Both options have their pros and cons. Bank transfers take a longer time, around 4-5 days but the transaction cost is lower, whereas credit cards carry higher rates but your transaction will get processed within a few minutes to a few hours at most.
What Are My Options For Payment Methods?
You can also choose to buy bitcoins through cash or PayPal but then your options to purchase bitcoins will be very limited. If you want to buy bitcoins through cash then you will either need to use a Bitcoin ATM or you will need to find a seller who is willing to take cash. For PayPal you will have a list of very few sites that actually allow users to use PayPal to purchase bitcoins. So credit cards by far are the fastest and most convenient way to purchase bitcoins.
How Do I Securely Store Away My Bitcoin?
The next most important thing that you will need to have is a crypto or bitcoin wallet. If you are hearing this term for the first time then don`t worry, it is quite a simple concept. You keep your cash in your wallet, right? Well because bitcoins do not exist in the physical realm, you cannot keep your bitcoins in your wallet, now can you? No. Bitcoins are a digital currency and so you need a wallet in the digital realm. Bitcoin or crypto wallets are digital wallets that allow wallet holders to hold their crypto currencies.
Crypto wallets come with two keys. A public key and a private key. The public key acts like your account number, which other users of bitcoins use to locate your account to send or receive bitcoins from your account. The private key is your personal authentication key, it is like your signature or your pin code, that you must always keep to yourself. The thing with private keys is that they are only issued once and therefore there is absolutely no room to be careless with your private keys.
There were instances in the early days of bitcoins when people wrote down their private keys on a piece of paper, which was later eaten by their dog or lost. Once you lose your private key you cannot recover access to your wallet. Luckily today applications can remember your key but still one must be very careful with private keys.
Bitcoin wallets have different forms such as
- Online wallet
- Desktop wallet
- Mobile wallet
- Hardware or hard wallet
Online wallets are for beginners who are still learning to trade in bitcoins or crypto currencies. Online wallets are quite secure though, the only downside is that with online wallets your bitcoins will be stored on the server of the site that you used to get your wallet. Sites like Coinbase have got quite secure servers so you will not need to worry but still, if you are going to buy a lot of bitcoin stock then it is preferable to store it where you can easily access it.
Desktop wallets are more secure but as long as your system remains virus and malware free. So you will need to make sure that you have got protection on your system. If you intend to use your bitcoins on the go to carry out transactions frequently then you will be better suited to have a mobile wallet stored in your smartphone.
If you want maximum protection and intend to carry a large volume of bitcoins then hardware wallets are going to be best for you. Hardware wallets look like flash drives but they store bitcoins, they are small and portable and some wallets have their own software protection so that even if they are used in a compromised system, they do not get infected. the only danger with hardware wallets is if they get stolen or if you lose them. Otherwise they are good.
These are the pre requisites that you will need to fulfill and once you meet these pre requisites you will be able to purchase bitcoins. So yes, the bottom line is that you can buy bitcoins, if you meet the pre requisites and are in a jurisdiction that legally allows you to buy and transact in bitcoins.
