Want to buy Bitcoin but don’t know where to start?
TL:DR go here:
If you have more time then welcome dear fren, and make yourself comfortable. Part of the reason behind the Bad Boating Club is to encourage the adoption of Bitcoin by nocoiners (that’s you), and normalising the use of this epic and equitable money for everyday transactions.
It’s why I only accept Bitcoin as payment (even though this drove me nuts when as a noob I encountered it), but I promise you this: if you are buying some Bad Boating Club merch as a present for a Bitcoiner, the fact that you got yourself all sorted out and bought them something using Bitcoin will give them even more joy than the actual gift (wonderful though it be).
I’ve done lots of digging to find the easiest and most reputable ways to get you off zero, tried out a large number of exchanges and apps, looked at fees (for deposits and withdrawals), exchange rates, and ferreted about to evaluate – to the best of my ability – trustworthiness and stability.
I use Coin Corner, for myself as an individual and for Bad Boating Club. Set up by an inspiring team of Bitcoiners in Douglas on the Isle of Man, they have been in business for eight years and have served over 330,000 customers. They are utterly dedicated to promoting the wider use of Bitcoin and investing in ways of making it easier for everyone to get involved – their latest development as of May 2022 is the innovative BOLT card that uses the Lightning network for seamless contactless payments in Bitcoin.
They are overseen by the Isle of Man regulatory authorities and are one of the few places where I would feel comfortable leaving my Bitcoin for a bit after I’d bought it, because when you buy Bitcoin through Coin Corner, actual Bitcoin is bought with your money and put offline in cold storage in your name.
Coin Corner serves a growing list of 45 countries including the UK. If you want to set up a free account with them and you use this referral link, both you and I will receive £10 each when you buy your first £100 worth of Bitcoin, which is nice.
If you’d rather not use the referral link, click here to set up an account without any links to me – whichever option you choose – even using another exchange – I urge you not to put off getting to grips with Bitcoin, just do whatever it takes to get yourself off zero. Baby steps, my fren.
Be prepared: it is standard practice with all exchanges to have to upload proof of identity and address when registering for an account. Have your passport and drivers license handy so you can take photos of them & upload the JPEG files – it is a faff but you only have to do it once.
Then, transfer your national currency (you will learn to call it ‘Fiat’, padawan) from your regular bank to your Coin Corner account, ideally using direct bank transfer. NB – you MUST remember to include your unique Coin Corner number in the reference field (I’m sure they will track it down for you if you forget to do this, but it will cause a delay).
Now you are good to go – and you are a member of a small group of early adopters of the most promising innovation that human societies have ever been gifted. As you learn more about the just and equitable transformational opportunities that Bitcoin offers to mankind, you’ll probably want to accumulate a bit more of it.
Look at you, stacking sats like a pleb!