Online, offline and P2P: how to buy bitcoin in Russia

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Recently, the price of the most popular cryptocurrency has been falling and today is at levels far from the highs of last year, when Bitcoin was worth more than $ 20,000. At the same time, the popularity of cryptocurrency is only growing - according to Statista, the number of cryptographic cards is approaching 25 million. cryptocurrency - today it will be about those that are available to users from our country.
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Step # 1: Finding a Profitable Course

Today there are many resources where you can buy various cryptocurrencies. Often, courses at different sites may vary significantly, so before you buy, you should take the time to find the best price.

There are services that monitor the situation on the largest cryptobirds. For example, using the BitcoinWisdom website, you can see information on trading in Bitcoin and other popular currencies on the Bitfinex, Bitstamp and Coinbase exchanges.



Another type of aggregator provides information about online exchange rates. For example, in Runet, the Askoin service is used for this, based on about 400 exchangers:

Step # 2: buying a cryptocurrency

The most obvious way to interact with digital currency is to buy it online. To do this, there are a number of tools, including stock exchanges and wallets services, where you can both buy Bitcoin and other coins, and store them. Blockchain.com , Coinbase are popular among foreign services, in RuNet one of the oldest wallet-exchangers is Matbea .

The main advantage of this method of making transactions with cryptocurrency is simplicity, speed and, often, the lack of verification (as in the same Matbi). Minus - higher commission than using other methods of exchange.



Another purchase option is cryptobirds. These are platforms whose users trade in cryptocurrencies, by analogy with conventional exchanges. There are a lot of exchanges. Coinbase , eToro , WEX , Bittrex are among the most popular. They are quite large and relatively reliable. Not all exchanges operate in Russia. One of the top runet users available is the Kraken site.



Verification may be required to complete sales transactions - it is available on almost all exchanges (example: Bittrex ), but cryptocurrency rates are usually more profitable than in the case of exchangers.

It is also possible to carry out transactions directly between users of cryptocurrency. Such transactions make it possible to do without commissions of third-party services, but carry great risks - information about robberies and fraud with Bitcoins regularly appears in the media. To reduce such risks, P2P exchange services appeared, such as LocalBitcoins , for which cryptocurrency sellers publish information about the volumes of the desired transaction and price, and buyers from different countries are looking for offers in their region (Russia is among the supported countries):



Everything works like any P2P buy / sell sites: there are ratings of sellers and buyers, information on the number of user transactions, etc. As a result, users can make risks with cryptocurrency at any rate (the main thing is to find a buyer), but the security risks, including physical ones, remain quite high.

You can buy a cryptocurrency offline, using special terminals (cryptomatics). They are very similar to ordinary ATMs and external, and on the principle of operation. Cryptomat is easy to use - the process is shown in detail in this video . To purchase, you need to go through several steps: select the desired currency, read a QR bitcoin wallet, deposit ordinary (fiat) money into the terminal.



Of course, the number of such devices is still small - only about 3,000 (according to the Bitmap application). There are about 70 cryptomets in Russia, with a significant part of the exchange points (15 pieces) in Moscow:



The proliferation of cryptomets is also hampered by the high commission, which must be paid both with the purchase and with the sale of cryptocurrency through the device - it can reach 10% and exceed the fees when using other methods and tools of exchange.

Step # 3: Protect Cryptoactives

Information about hacker attacks on cryptocurrency owners regularly appears in the media. At the same time, research by experts in the field of information security suggests that often cryptobirth owners do not pay enough attention to cyber security issues. This means that when using such sites the risks of becoming a victim of hackers are large enough.

This means that you should be wisely choosing the stock exchange - for example, Bithumb has a reserve fund of $ 450 million. Recently, the site was attacked by hackers who were able to steal $ 30 million cryptocurrencies. As a result, the exchange’s administration not only managed to return some of the funds through interaction with other sites, where they were taken, but also to cover the rest of the damage from the reserve fund - Bithumb account holders should get their money back.

In addition, in the event that it is intended to work with large amounts of cryptocurrency, you should think about the use of "cold" storage. Online wallets are called “hot” because cryptocurrency is always available in them - this has its advantages and disadvantages.

An alternative and more secure option is hardware solutions that are called “cold” (they do not have a permanent connection to the network). Among the popular tools here can be called Trezor , Ledger Nano S , KEEPKEY . They also differ in the list of cryptocurrencies that can be stored in them, as well as the interface and cost. Most often, “cold” wallets are used by owners of large amounts of cryptocurrency. For those who do not have significant cryptoactive assets, hot solutions are usually more convenient.