Many novice investors are interested in where to buy bitcoin. After all, this coin remains the most popular digital currency in the world. Over the 12 years of its existence, its price has increased tens of thousands of times. Despite the difficulties of regulation and the prohibition of mining in several countries, the popularity of the number one cryptocurrency is only growing. Now you can pay for goods and services with bitcoins, and large international companies and celebrities keep savings. After updating the historical maximum in the spring of 2021, the bitcoin price fell. However, Bloomberg predicts its further growth. Therefore, the current moment may triumph for acquiring this crypto asset.
Today’s most popular options for buying bitcoin are cryptocurrency exchanges, P2P platforms, and exchanges. Let’s consider each of them in more detail.
Exchanges
A cryptocurrency exchange is an online platform for trading with digital currencies. Here you can exchange one currency for another and conduct regular trading to earn money on the difference in rates. Among the players of the exchange, there are not only sellers and buyers but also various intermediaries.
The main feature of cryptocurrency exchanges is their high volatility. The exchange rate changes every second based on fluctuations in supply and demand. For traders, this is a plus; for inexperienced players – rather a minus.
To understand where it is better to buy bitcoin, you need to compare cryptocurrency exchanges according to several parameters:
Trading volume: the largest exchanges, as a rule, value their reputation and have a well-developed interface and many tools to protect user funds.
Russian-language interface. Exchanges typically have hundreds of tools to generate profits. It is much easier to understand all the functionality and conditions if the site or application of the business is well translated into your language.
The ability to exchange for fiat currencies (such as the dollar, euro, ruble, and so on).
Commission size. Typically, commissions are charged for both depositing and withdrawing funds. On average, they are 0.2%.
The need and complexity of verification. For a transaction with fiat, proof is needed in most cases, but somewhere for this, you will need scans of documents proving your identity and address, and somewhere it will be enough to confirm contact details.
Quality and speed of technical support.
Variety of tools. This is especially true if you plan to make money trading.
Ways to deposit funds. It is essential that you can replenish your account on the exchange in the usual way with a minimum commission.
The number of cryptocurrency exchanges is vast; the most reputable and prominent occupy the top lines of ratings on aggregator sites – for example, Coin Market Cap. In Russia and the CIS, such exchanges as Binance, Huobi, EXMO, Coinbase, and others are widespread.
We have already considered the scheme of buying on the stock exchange in a separate article.
P2P platforms
Peer-to-peer (P2P) platforms differ from exchanges because there are no intermediaries. This is something like a bulletin board where offers for sale are published. If you find a suitable one, contact the owner and buy the right amount of bitcoins at a predetermined price. A peer-to-peer platform is one of the few options where you can buy bitcoin for rubles. Sellers, as a rule, indicate in what currency and how they would like to receive money for cryptocurrency. P2P platforms are much less volatile than exchanges.
When buying directly, there is a risk of being deceived. Therefore, if you choose where to purchase bitcoin cheaply: from an unknown person from a forum or on a sizeable P2P platform, it is better to choose the latter.
The way the P2P platform works protects users from fraud:
the owner of bitcoins for sale transfers them to the platform,
then he places a sell order or selects from existing buy orders,
As soon as the application is executed and the seller receives the money, he indicates this on the platform website, and the coins go to the buyer.
There are many popular peer-to-peer sites today: Local Bitcoins, Local Cryptos, Cryptolocator, Money, and others. Bitcoin is present in everyone, so you have a lot of choices.
To figure out where to buy bitcoin without cheating, pay attention to the following characteristics of the platform:
Reputation – read the reviews before trusting the forum with your money,
the complexity of verification – on the one hand, it is inconvenient to start working with the site; on the other hand, confirming one’s identity with the help of a document eliminates scammers,
support quality.
Exchangers
Internet exchangers are resources where you can buy bitcoin without a commission, but the rate here is less profitable than on the exchange. Quotes do not change every second: when you send a request to buy bitcoin, you always know how much money you will spend and how many coins you will receive in return.
The advantages of exchangers include:
simple interface – there are no hundreds of tools and many charts, as, on the sites of exchanges, even a beginner will figure it out,
fast support — large exchangers value their reputation and try to solve all user problems quickly,
centralization – on the exchange, you buy bitcoins from an unknown seller, but here the exchanger itself provides them,
anonymity – when using most exchangers, you do not need to verify your identity.
There are thousands of exchangers in the network; choosing a reliable and convenient one is not so easy. We wrote about this in detail in a separate article. In short:
Read reviews.
Look at the ratings of aggregators (Best change and others).
Pay attention to the quality of technical support and turnover.
The larger and older the exchanger, the less likely you are to lose your money. An example of such a service is Shakhtar. This is an exchange where you can buy bitcoin for rubles. An exchange request is paid conveniently: the exchanger cooperates with many large banks and payment systems and supports payment by cards or through terminals. You can buy bitcoin on the Shakhtar website and receive it in your wallet in a few minutes; you can see the exchange rate immediately on the main screen.
Other ways to buy
Exchanges, exchangers, and P2P platforms – these three points do not exhaust the list of where you can buy bitcoins in Russia in 2021.
A year ago, PayPal allowed users to sell the four largest cryptocurrencies through the payment social network Venmo. This network will enable you to view other users’ transactions and showcase your own. You can also link a bank card for instant transactions to sell or purchase cryptocurrency. You can also buy Bitcoin there.
You can link your bank card and make instant and secure purchases and sales of bitcoins.
For fans of mobile services, there is the Cash App, where you can buy bitcoins for US dollars and use the coins as a currency.
Summary
We have sorted out where to buy bitcoin in Russia in 2021.
On the exchange: a more favorable but floating rate charges a commission and requires identity verification to withdraw funds.
On a peer-to-peer P2P platform: purchase without intermediaries. Here it is essential to carefully choose the seller and ensure that the platform provides transaction security.
In the exchanger: the exchange rate is less subject to fluctuations and less profitable than the exchange, but there are no commissions, and the purchase is fast.
More and more payment services worldwide are starting to work with cryptocurrencies, so the list of places where you can profitably buy bitcoin will likely be replenished with new names. Follow our news.
