Before looking at how to buy bitcoins, there are several other ways to acquire bitcoins. You could receive them from family and friends as a gift. If you are an entrepreneur, you could accept them as payment for good and services you offer. You could also mine them. Mining entails giving your computer resources to the bitcoin network in exchange for new bitcoins released after every ten minutes.

Expecting gifts to be your source of bitcoin is not reliable. Selling goods and services is not practical especially to someone new to the cryptocurrency. In the early days of bitcoin mining was simple and cheap as you only needed an ordinary desktop. It is now very resource intensive and not an option for the non tech savvy.

How to buy bitcoins through localbitcoins

That leaves buying as the easiest and most practical way to acquire bitcoins. You could buy them in face to face transactions at events such as meetups. You could also find sellers on Localbitcoins.com, a website that matches bitcoin buyers and sellers in the same city or town.

When you match with a seller on localbitcoins.com, you either arrange to meet at a local coffee shop and transact or you do it remotely if the seller accepts your payment method. The site has an escrow service where the bitcoins go once you initiate a trade with the seller and will only release to your wallet once you complete the payment process.

Localbitcoins also has a reputation system that will help you pick the most credible sellers.

How to buy bitcoins through an exchange

The other option you have for buying bitcoins is an exchange. This is a website that buys and sells bitcoins. The advantage of using an exchange over a physical trade or a match through localbitcoins is that you don’t have to spend time sorting through sellers and worrying about scams. Exchanges at a small fee sell you bitcoins or automatically matches you with a seller.

The most popular bitcoin exchanges in the US include Coinbase, Kraken, Bitstamp and Shapeshift. Because of the Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti Money Laundering regulations, these exchanges, with the exception of Shapeshift, will require you to provide identification documents to buy or sell on their platforms.

Buying bitcoins creates another way to earn bitcoins through arbitrage, trading and holding as an investment that grows in value over time.

Other ways on how to buy bitcoin coming soon! Check out https://baseberry.com/fastest-way-buy-crypto-currency/