Are you looking to dip your toes into those cryptocurrency markets and buy your first crypto? Well, you’ve come to the right place to find out how.
Now, I need to let my regular readers know this article isn’t really for you. As a crypto educator, it’s also my duty to help newcomers get involved in crypto as well.
All that being said, I do share some handy crypto security and buying tips that even crypto veterans might have forgotten about. So you might want to stick around for those.
Now, in this article, I’ll be sharing my complete beginner’s guide on how to buy cryptocurrency safely.
I’ll be taking you through all the steps without any of that technical mumbo jumbo. All that is so you can buy crypto the right way and store those coins securely.
Before I get this crypto party started, I need to cover my rear end. Don’t let my charm and erudition fool you. I am no financial advisor. That means that everything contained in this blog post is for entertainment and educational purposes only.
With that jibber-jabber out of the way, I want to welcome anyone new to the site. Good day to you, and welcome to the Shavuna.
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Do that, and you’ll be the first to know whenever I release another article. Finally, a wise man once said that time is money.
Now I don’t want you to be out of pocket, and that’s why I’ve popped some handy table of content below. Use them to skip ahead to the sections you’ll get the most value from.
How To Buy Crypto Safely?
Ready to back up the truck and get that crypto?
The Truth About Crypto
Okay, folks, before I kick things off, there are some cold hard crypto truths I need to share with you. The things you need to know before actually buying that crypto.
Recently we have had the mainstream media going crazy over bitcoin. They are running headline after headline of bitcoin breaking all-time highs. Not only that, but they also regularly publish mind-blowing price predictions.
With that sort of coverage, you could be forgiven for thinking that you can sit back, relax, take a bath, buy crypto and just see those mad gains roll in.
I hate to break it to you; crypto can sometimes be a bit like the wild west with hackers, scams, and questionable exchanges everywhere.
So if you want to enter these crypto markets, then you better have your six-shooter ready and be prepared to fight off those bandits.
Also, if you hold cryptocurrency in a safe way, you will effectively be in possession of your own Swiss bank account.
However, where crypto differs is that there are no such things as transaction reversals. There is no one to really ring up if things go wrong.
There’s no FDIC insurance on this mini Swiss bank account, and that means if your cryptocurrency is stolen, the government won’t reimburse you for that loss.
Another thing I’ve observed my friends doing is bragging about how much money they’ve made in these crypto markets. Now, I know how seeing your money double in days can be exhilarating.
However, who else is overhearing that conversation? There are bad people out there, and they might have overheard that you hold tens of thousands of dollars in crypto, and that is just asking for trouble.
If you’re thinking about getting into crypto then, I would recommend that you keep it to yourself.
Seriously folks, the fewer people that know you hold crypto, the better.
My next pearl of wisdom is that you should not invest more than you’re willing to lose. Nothing is guaranteed in life, and the same is true of crypto.
If you’re thinking about maxing out that credit card or using that rent money to buy crypto, then please don’t.
I also need to tell you that crypto is way more volatile than the stock market. If the stock market falls seven percent, it triggers a circuit breaker, and trading stops for a bit.
Hitting a seven percent loss is almost guaranteed to make the news headlines. However, in crypto, that’s just another day at the office.
I’ve lived through days where my entire portfolio swung up or down by over 30 percent. If that’s too much for you to handle, then crypto isn’t for you. I can tell you firsthand that those swings lead to a lot of stress.
Another tip I need to share with you is to be super careful which websites you visit. There are a plethora of scam websites out there pretending to be crypto exchanges and wallets.
Those fake websites are there to get your login and passwords and enable the crypto thief to make off with your crypto like a bandit.
Make sure you pay attention to the exact URL of that crypto site and make sure you see the little padlock guy here👇
See that, and you know the site has an SSL certificate which means your password submission should be secure.
Once you’re sure you’re on that genuine crypto website you need, it’s a good idea to bookmark it and use that bookmark to access it in the future.
Personally, I fat finger my keyboard sometimes, and if you do that, then you might be sent to one of these fraudulent websites.
Finally, a really important thing that confuses crypto newcomers is crypto prices. You can’t imagine how many times I’ve heard friends new to crypto say bitcoin is expensive. I’m going to buy this altcoin that’s just a dollar because it’s cheaper, and if it achieves the same price as bitcoin, I’m going to be a millionaire.
Here’s the deal, the way to assess the relative value of a cryptocurrency isn’t its price. Instead, you should be more concerned about its market cap.
In short, this market cap number is just the number of coins circulating for that cryptocurrency multiplied by the price. It gives you a way better grasp of how cryptocurrencies are valued relative to each other.
The two sites I recommend for checking out are coingecko.com and coinmarketcap.com.
Here you can see Coingecko:
You’ll also be able to see that Cardano is priced at 28 cents, and the bitcoin cash is priced at over 450.
However, Cardano actually has a higher market cap at the time of writing this blog ost. The point to take away here is that if a cryptocurrency is priced at just a few cents a coin, it doesn’t mean it’s cheap, or you are necessarily bagging yourself a bargain. Be aware of that.
Now that you know these cold hard crypto truths. Do you still want to get involved in those crypto markets?
If so, there are a few things you need to do to prepare.
How To Get Ready To Buy
I should point out that nothing is stopping you from buying that crypto right now, and you can skip ahead if you can’t wait to get your hands on it.
However, remember I talked about all those hackers and bandits out there trying to steal people’s crypto. Well, we need to create our own version of fort Knox before buying it.
I mean, if you bought a bar of gold and left it on the street, would you really expect it to be there in 30 minutes? Of course not.
I’m now going to share five steps that you need to take to help ensure that you can store your crypto safely. First, you should grab yourself a pen and paper.
Yes, I know this already sounds old-fashioned, but those old-timers were onto something when it came to security.
Put simply, if you write down all your crypto logins, passwords, and seed phrases on a bit of paper, it cannot be hacked by some random computer wizard on the other side of the world.
Now I’ll get on to explaining seed words later on in the article.
I don’t mean to sound paranoid, but it would be a good idea to make copies of this sensitive information and store it in different locations.
For example, one copy can be hidden in your sock drawer and another copy stored in a safe deposit box across town.
That way, if your house burns down, you won’t lose access to your crypto.
A few other tips in terms of storing these critical details safely is to put those important bits of paper in sealed Ziploc bags. That way, if you have a leak in your home, those crypto passwords should be safe.
And finally, you might want to protect yourself against that house guest or cleaner randomly stumbling upon the keys to your crypto fortune.
To do that, you might want to disguise those details by getting yourself a UV pen and black light. This way, that piece of paper looks like it doesn’t have anything on it. Only weirdos carry a black light with them.
That means that almost anyone finding the keys to your crypto kingdom is not going to know what it is they’re looking at.
Step two is to be aware that hackers are not like that kid at school who guess the password to your laptop.
Manually guessing passwords is old hat. Instead, they use what is termed a brute force attack, where they’ll throw a database of passwords at your account in the hope that one works.
What is the defense against these brutes on the other side of the world trying to brute force your accounts?
Well, having super long passwords with numbers, capital letters, and special characters significantly increases the number of combinations that a bot needs to try to guess your password correctly.
With the password cracking solutions widely available right now that hackers might have to wait thousands of years before being able to guess that strong password.
I’ve linked to some free password generation tools below that you can use to hone in on those super secure passwords.
But how do you take your password security game to the next level?
Well, for every crypto account, I would recommend that you use a different password. That means that if someone gets their hands on one, they can’t access the others.
Also, some people like to take shortcuts by using password managers. However, these are also risky in the sense that if hackers can get access, they have the keys to your crypto kingdom.
Back in 2017, there was even a situation where a crypto YouTuber had his Evernote hacked on live stream and watched his crypto flood out. Not ideal.
Moving on. The next step is to make sure that your computer doesn’t have any dodgy viruses or key loggers installed. Maybe you’ve clicked a link on a questionable website in the past, and your computer is compromised with a key logger.
If that happens, then a hacker can get all your passwords as you type them in on your keyboard. Scary right?
But don’t despair; you can see if there’s anything nasty lurking on your computer by using a free virus scanner like Malwarebytes.
Install it and run a virus scan just to make sure all is good in the hood.
The fourth step is to make sure your phone is secure. You will, after all, want to be securing all of your exchange accounts with two-factor authentication.
Now a classic newbie mistake is to use SMS-based two-factor authentication. This is actually quite risky due to what is termed a sim-swap attack.
This is basically when a thief calls your mobile operator and convinces them to port your number over to their phone. Once that’s done, they’re able to receive your two-factor pin and reset your passwords.
No joke, users have literally had millions in crypto stolen from through these sorts of attacks.
What’s the solution? Well, you’ll want to install an authenticator app that generates one-time pins locally on the device.
It basically binds itself to the exchange server and cannot be overtaken. There is a number of apps that do this, including google authenticator Authy and Microsoft’s authenticator.
These basically generate a new six-digit code every 30 seconds, which needs to be keyed into a computer to access your exchange account.
My fifth step is to create a new email address that you’ll only use for crypto stuff. After all, you’ve probably been using that same email address since you were 13.
Right now, that means there are probably thousands of people out there that know it. My personal preference is Protonmail. They’re encrypted and hence much more secure than your standard email service providers.
Yes, head on over to protonmail.com and create a fresh email account just for crypto exchanges wallets or even signing up for my newsletter.
The benefit of a new email address is that you make it harder for anyone to access your crypto accounts if they can somehow hack your personal email.
You also have the added benefit of being able to segregate your personal emails from crypto-related ones.
Pro tip: don’t use your full name or surname in the Protonmail account. It cuts out one additional breadcrumb that the hackers could use to identify you.
Once you’ve got all that security set up and out of the way, you’ll need a wallet to store that crypto safely.
Now I know there are a lot of really safe exchanges out there and that you may be nervous about personally storing your cryptocurrency. But what you need to understand is that crypto kept on an exchange is nothing more than an IOU.
You don’t hold the keys, and if the exchange was ever to get hacked, you could be left holding the bag.
That’s why if you’re going to be storing a sizeable amount of crypto, I would recommend that you self-custody it and store it in an offline wallet.
Better yet, you’re going to want to get yourself a hardware wallet. Which one do I personally use? Well, that would be the Trezor device. These are super easy to use, and I’ve written a detailed post about hardware wallets.
Yes, these hardware wallets cost anywhere between sixty dollars and a hundred and eighty dollars. However, for the best crypto security money can buy, that seems like a more than reasonable price.
Personally, I use the cheaper Trezor one, and you can store over a thousand cryptocurrencies on it. When setting up your Trezor one, you’ll get 24 seed words presented to you. You’ll certainly want to write these down on that important piece of paper I mentioned earlier.
Basically, if you lose or damage your device, you can use those seed words on a new Trezor device to regain access to your crypto. Pretty neat, right?
Oh, and a small side point, those seed words will work with any bip 39 enabled crypto wallet. So even if Trezor goes out of business, you can still access your funds.
In short, if you’re investing a few thousand dollars into those crypto markets, then getting yourself a hardware wallet is probably the best decision you can make. That price is a small one to pay for peace of mind.
Now, if you’ve followed all those steps, you should have that:
- piece of paper with all your important bits of crypto info on it.
- got your crypto email set up,
- have your crypto wallet, and
- secured your computer and phone.
You have all those security precautions set up and are now ready for the final step, and that would be buying that crypto.
Best Way to Buy Crypto
Now the best way to buy crypto for you will depend on a variety of factors like which country you’re based in, the specific cryptocurrencies you want to buy, and the payment option you want to use.
However, if you’re based in Europe or countries like the UK, Canada, Singapore, or Switzerland, the easiest way I found to buy crypto with a bank account is by using the Swissborg app. You can see more of the countries supported by Swissborg and the Supported Cryptos On Swissborg.
The bad news for anyone based in the US is that you cannot use Swissborg. However, I do have an option for you guys coming up shortly.
Now on Swissborg, you can buy popular cryptocurrencies like bitcoin or Ethereum and a few more exotic cryptos like engine coins too.
Also, you’ll be able to deposit onto the app using any of the supported currencies.
How do you buy that crypto?
Well, go to Swissborg, click download app, and you’ll be taken to the app store. Install the app on your phone and open that bad boy up.
On the home screen, you’ll see a big fat get started button, click that guy, then you’ll be asked to enter your mobile number. Next, you’ll be sent an SMS message with a six-digit code, pop that little chap in secure your Swissborg app with a four-digit pin, and confirm it.
Then you’ll have to agree to Swissborg’s terms of use and privacy policy. Click the slider to agree and bash the next button. Then you’ll be asked to key in your name, date of birth, and nationality; you’ll then be asked to enter your email.
Then you’ll have to verify your email address. Click the mail icon to be taken to your inbox, smash that verify email address button. You’ll then see a green tick saying your email address has been verified, and you’ll need to click that open swiss ball gap button to be taken back in.
When back in the app, you’ll need to whack your postcode in there to find your address. Alternatively, you can enter your address manually. You’ll then have to answer questions about your investment experience, employment status, occupation, and your source of funds.
Then it’s time to verify your identity; click the next button to get started. With that, you’ll then be told to find an id document and get ready to take a selfie. Select the id document you want to submit for verification.
Next, you’ll have to give Swissborg access to your camera. Hit that enable camera button. Then just take a photo of that passport or other id document and take that selfie.
Once you have that Pallava out of the way, you’re ready to deposit on Swissborg. To do that, click portfolio and hit that deposit button.
The native currency of your country will be displayed; click that currency. Finally, you’ll see Swissborg’s bank details log into your online banking and use those Swissborg details to make a payment.
The really important thing to remember here is to use that random reference number in your transaction so your deposit can be matched to your Swissborg account.
Once you’ve processed your payment from your bank account, sit back and relax and wait for that money to hit your Swissborg account. When the deposit goes through, you’re ready to buy your crypto.
Click marketplace in the app and select the crypto you want to buy, let’s say Bitcoin. Next, you’ll see a big buy bitcoin button; hit that guy. Now you need to select what balance you want to buy that bitcoin from.
Because you have deposited fiat money, you’ll want to click that, then just key in the amount of bitcoin you want to buy and click next. Finally, you’ll be quoted a final price; just confirm your purchase, and congratulations, you’ve bought that crypto.
It’s also important to note that this process is basically the same as buying any cryptocurrency supported by Swissborg. Now that you’ve bought that crypto, you’ll want to withdraw it to your Trezor hardware wallet to keep it safe.
To do that, look at your portfolio and click on the crypto you want to withdraw; let’s say Ethereum for this example.
On the bottom right corner of the screen, you’ll see a send button. Click that little chap, and finally, you’ll see a field to enter your Ethereum address that you’ve generated from your Trezor.
Copy and paste it, double-check it matches and click next to send that crypto to your hardware wallet.
Of course, you can also send that bitcoin or Ethereum to another exchange to trade them for more exotic altcoins, and that’s it.
It’s really that simple to buy crypto on Swissborg. Even better, if you use my link, you can get up to 100 euros in free bitcoin if you deposit more than 200 euros.
That is a pretty sweet deal if you ask me.
Buy Crypto in The US
But where is the best place to buy crypto if you’re from the US?
Well, the two most popular options are Binance us and Coinbase pro.
For both those options, you’re going to want to secure your account with 2fa. So just as well, you have that sorted already.
Where To Buy Hot Altcoins?
Oh yes, chances are you’ve heard of some hot new altcoin that you want to get your hands on. Let’s say you want to buy injective protocol and are wondering which exchange you can buy it on.
Well, you can find that out by hopping over to Coingecko or Coinmarketcap and searching for that hot altcoin. Once you’ve done that, you’ll be taken to the cryptocurrencies information page.
Click the markets button, and that will bring up all the different exchanges it’s listed on. So we can see here that we probably want to get a Binance account set up to buy INJ.
You can use this method to work out which other exchanges you’ll need to open an account in order to get that exotic crypto you have your eye on.
If you want to assess your other exchange options to get access to a wider selection of altcoins, then you’ll want to read my blog post on the best crypto exchanges.
If you want my personal opinion, I find most of the coins that I’m looking for on Binance. It also supports regular fiat deposits.
However, there are a few more steps required to get your fiat sent here when compared with Swissborg. You will need a Binance account either way if you want to buy those exotic old coins.
If you don’t have an account yet then, why not grab yourself a 20 trading discount by signing up using this link.
Final Thought
Okay, folks, that’s my ultimate beginner’s guide to buying crypto. I know there was a lot to take in there and I might have scared off a person or two from getting into crypto. However, I think it’s best to be brutally upfront about how things are.
That way, people can decide for themselves if all of this is for them.
Now, I know there are a lot of other great methods to buy crypto.
Do you guys think that Swissborg is the easiest or are there any other exchanges that deserve mention? Let me know below, and while you’re down there in the comments, you’ll find links to my newsletter.
If you’ve set up that dedicated crypto email address, you’ll undoubtedly want to subscribe to my newsletter in it.
I share my thoughts and tips on the crypto markets, and finally, if you found this article helpful, then show this crypto chap some love by sharing to put some sunshine in my life. I’ll see you all again soon.
