One of the biggest barriers to entry in the early days of the crypto craze was actually being able to purchase popular coins.
Today, this has become much easier, so let’s go over a few of the simplest and safest ways to snap up some crypto of your very own, as well as the advantages and downsides of each.
Deploying a debit card to invest in crypto
If you want to convert the funds in your bank account into crypto, then a standard debit card will be your best bet.
All you need to do is pick a reputable crypto exchange, create an account and enter your payment card details when prompted.
The benefits of this are definitely the convenience and the speed with which most exchanges can process transactions. The drawback is that some bank operators will flag payments to crypto exchanges as fraudulent, even if you’ve given the go-ahead for the transaction yourself, so you might need to jump through a couple of extra hoops to approve the purchase.
Using a credit card to buy cryptocurrency
If you’d rather use a credit card to buy crypto, that’s also a possibility. Just like with debit card payments, you’ll find it easiest to go via a crypto exchange, as the top operators in this space have speedy, secure transaction processing for all major credit cards, and buying any tokens that take your fancy should be a breeze.
The benefits are the same as for debit cards, with the added advantage that credit card payments are subject to additional consumer protections. So if your card details are stolen by some malicious third party, you can charge back any illicit transactions that take place, giving you peace of mind.
The problem with splashing out on crypto with a credit card comes down to how these products work in the first place. If you use your credit card, you need to pay off at least the minimum amount each month, or else you’ll see your credit score plummet.
Of course if you’re aiming to build up a good credit history, buying crypto with a credit card and then using money from your bank account to pay off the amount owed immediately is an option. So it’s all about knowing your finances inside out and being savvy with your spending.
You should never use a credit card to buy crypto if you don’t have money to make the repayments, because this will leave you in a sticky situation quickly.
Picking PayPal as your purchasing option
PayPal, as well as a number of other online payment platforms, allow users to buy crypto as and when they choose.
For the most part, this involves making sure that you’ve got a payment card linked to your PayPal account, and harnessing this as the mechanism for making a payment on a crypto exchange.
However, there are some exchanges which support transactions directly with PayPal’s platform itself, meaning as long as you’ve got funds in your PayPal account, you don’t necessarily need a payment card linked to it.
There is not as much support for the second option as the first, which is the key issue with PayPal in particular in this context.
Final thoughts
The last point to make about buying crypto is that whichever method you use, you will need to provide plenty of personal information in order to legitimize the transaction and to comply with relevant regulations.
The mainstreaming of cryptocurrencies means that it’s no longer as anonymous as it once was, so expect to need tax info and other details to hand when using an exchange.
