In an open letter to a newspaper in 2009, a person or group that went by the name Satoshi Nakamoto for the first time ever described how to create the cryptocurrency Bitcoin. This became the first-ever well-known cryptocurrency to exist.
There are some different sites and ways that you can use to buy Bitcoin. If you live in the United Kingdom and are curious to buy your first Bitcoin, you have found the right place. In this article, we have summarised all the best ways and methods to buy Bitcoin in the UK.
- CEX.IO
CEX.IO has been operating since 2013 and is one of the most popular sites for Bitcoin-trading. CEX.IO supports several different currencies and you can use it from multiple countries. In 2020 CEX.IO made a new update to the site and added even more payment options such as Skrill, Qiwi, FasterPayments, and ACH.
- Our favorites feature of CEX.IO are:
- You can buy Ethereum with a credit card.
- Trade exchange.
- You can both buy, sell and trade Bitcoin on the site.
- Offers a really nice mobile app.
- A 24/7 customer support.
One should always use the sites that offer the lowest fees. CEX.IO offers low fees on their site and does not charge any extra.
- Changelly
Changelly is a well-known cryptocurrency exchange platform. Changelly was founded in 2013 but truly started to gain some attraction in 2016. In just some years, Changelly has over 2 million unique customers. One of the biggest pros with Changelly is that users do not need to give up any personal information. Users can stay totally anonymous. During the years that Changelly been active, there are no claims that the site ever would have been hacked.
Pros:
- Offers API
- A great customer support
- Never been hacked
- Low fees
Cons:
- The site can sometimes be slow
- Coinfield
Coinfield is one of the smaller cryptocurrency exchange sites. If you live in the UK this site is a good alternative. Coinfield is available in a total of 193 countries all over the world. Coinfield has a huge amount of all the digital assets offline, to keep a high-security level.
- Paxful
Paxful is a quite different marketplace compared to the other sites we have mentioned. Paxful is a site for so-called peer-to-peer trading. The platform was founded in 2015 and on this site, you can both buy and sell Bitcoin. Paxful is trusted by over 3 million users all around the world and has a great reputation. On Paxful you can use many different payment methods:
- Cash payments
- Debit and credit cards
- Gift cards
- Bank transfer
- E-wallets
- Bitbay
Bitbay was founded in 2014 and operates from Estonia. On the Bitbay website, they wrote on 30 October 2019 that they had 800 000 users. Bitbay has low fees and offers many different deposit methods. You can for example deposit fiat currency. According to a test done by Mozilla Bitbay have a high-security level on their site.
Which site is the best?
It is hard to give a universal answer to this question. Every buyer has their own special needs and desires when it comes to buying Bitcoin. But we can give you some guidance. Changelly is the easiest to use which makes it perfect for beginners. Paxful is the one site that offers the most options when it comes to payment methods. The safest site to use is Coinfield because it is fully regulated.
How do you buy Bitcoin?
Buying Bitcoin can feel more complicated than it actually is. You do need some simple things to get started – a broker, ID, and money.
There are only four simple steps you need to follow for buying Bitcoin.
- Start by choosing a broker or an exchange.
- Open an account on the site you want to use.
- Identify yourself with your ID.
- Start buying your Bitcoin.
Which payment method is the best and safest to use
We would actually say that the majority of payment methods that brokers offer are safe to use. The most common alternatives that users can choose from are:
- E-wallets
- PayPal
- Credit and debit card
- Bank transfer
- Skrill
- Apple pay
- Neteller
Our personal favorites when it comes to payment methods are either e-wallets or credit cards.
If you are interested in reading more about different cryptocurrency exchange brokers you can do so on Tradingbrowser.
