How to Buy Bitcoin
Can You Buy Less Than One Bitcoin?
We’ve talked before about Where to Purchase Bitcoin and all your various buying options … but you might still have some questions about how to buy it, and how much you can and can’t get.
Most people have an initial reaction of disbelief when they first encounter Bitcoin. “Wait, what do you mean it’s $32,000? I don’t have that much. So, I can’t buy any bitcoin?”
Buying Less Than One Bitcoin
Well, the cool thing about Bitcoin (BTC) is you don’t have to buy a whole “coin.” And yeah, it probably seems a little strange that something with a name that combines “bit” (as in, a little bit) and “coin” (as in, pocket change) can possibly be worth so much. Shouldn’t it be a teeny value with a name like “bit-coin,” and shouldn’t I be able to buy a bunch of them if I do have $12,000?
That was actually how it started out. In the beginning, when launched in 2009, bitcoin was worth practically nothing. Then a little bit more than nothing. Then it started climbing in value … a few cents in 2010, a few dollars in 2011, $13 in 2012, a few hundred from 2013 through 2016, a few thousand in 2017 (hitting a high of almost $20,000), and holding in the thousands ever since. Well, it goes up and down, but still stays in the thousands.
Some financial experts are even predicting six figures in the future.
But, back to the point … you can buy any amount of bitcoin, down to 0.001 BTC (1mBTC) or even a “Satoshi,” named after Bitcoin’s creator, which is 0.00000001 BTC (bitcoin to its 8th decimal).
How to Purchase Bitcoin
When it comes to how to purchase your bitcoin (even if it’s not a full bitcoin, it’s still called “buying bitcoin”), the fastest and easiest way is to use a Bitcoin ATM, a.k.a. BTM. This greatly diminishes the tech learning curve for beginners, and goes through in 10 minutes instead of hours or days.
Plus, you don’t need to connect your bank account — in fact, you don’t even have to have a bank account. Bitcoin ATMs like Coin Clouds are the preferred financial trading vehicles for the unbanked and underbanked.
Back to how little you can buy … while most BTMs have a minimum of $5 to $20, Coin Clouds let you purchase as little as $1 worth of BTC. So if you just want to try it out, for the experience of trading cash for bitcoin, there’s really nothing to lose.
You can find your nearest Coin Cloud here. Coin Cloud machines also offer 30+ other digital currencies besides bitcoin. To buy any of them, follow the simple steps below.
How to Buy Bitcoin at a Coin Cloud Machine
- Press the “Start” button
- Enter your mobile phone number
- Enter the unique identifier code texted to your phone
- Select the “Buy” option
- Scan your Bitcoin wallet’s QR code with the BTM camera
- Insert your bills one at a time
- Once you have inserted your cash, press the “I’m done” button
- Your transaction will begin processing on the Bitcoin network
- Transactions can take approximately 10–15 minutes to process
- Once the transaction has fully processed you will receive your receipt via text message, and the bitcoin will show up in your wallet
What is Coin Cloud?
Coin Cloud is a digital currency machine company headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada. With over 1,300 locations nationwide, Coin Clouds are the world’s largest and fastest-growing network of two-way digital currency kiosks, commonly known as Bitcoin ATMs or BTMs, and the majority of all two-way machines in the U.S. Since 2014, Coin Cloud has helped hundreds of thousands of customers buy and sell cryptocurrency and other virtual currency quickly and easily. You can find your nearest Coin Cloud here.
