How to buy Bitcoin
If you’re here right now and you’re reading this guide, it’s obviously because you, like many other users, have begun to ask you how to buy Bitcoin. Given your thirst for curiosity I have therefore decided to provide you with some useful information about it in order to allow you to have perfectly clear ideas on the “subject”. So give yourself a few minutes of free time and focus on reading the following lines, you’ll see that in the end you can tell yourself very happy to have done so.
Before explaining how to buy Bitcoin, however, I feel obliged to explain what it is exactly (in case I did not understand it yet!). Bitcoins are a cryptocurrency, that is to say a type of digital currency (it is not the only one in the world but it is certainly the most popular of the moment) that can be generated by exploiting the computing power of computers. They were designed in 2009 by a group of people behind the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto and are based on an open source P2P system – public and controllable by anyone – that exploits a database distributed among the nodes.
Using a peer-to-peer network (similar to that of programs like uTorrent) allows the Bitcoin economy to function without going through a central body. In other words, there is no company that controls the traffic or value of digital currencies and there are no intermediaries between users. There is only a non-profit foundation called the Bitcoin Foundation, which gathers respected community members and program developers to obtain Bitcoin but has no direct power over the operation of the network or the value of cryptocurrency.
Precisely for all their characteristics, the rules and the “mechanics” behind them, Bitcoins are completely legal and are considered as real units of account and therefore are recognized without problems all over the globe. Therefore, any income derived from their sale or exchange with real money must be declared to the tax authorities as any other income.
Having clarified this, I would say that we can finally move on to what is the real reason that led you to go to my site: find out how to buy Bitcoin. To find out more, make yourself comfortable in front of your computer and continue to focus on the directions you find right here. The “matter”, I tell you right away, it is not complicated at all but to be able to understand in good terms how to proceed you need maximum attention and a good dose of concentration. Good reading continuation!
How to buy Bitcoin – Take the first steps with Bitcoins
How to buy Bitcoin
Before pointing out how to buy Bitcoin there is another thing on which I feel obliged to dwell: the value of this currency. Starting from the assumption that, as well as the value of the other “common” currencies, it may change abruptly over the days (or even hours), even that of Bitcoin is subject to constant changes. To get a complete picture of the situation, you can visit the Bitstamp website, which is one of the most used bitcoins to exchange Bitcoins with real money in the world, and Bitcoin Charts, which shows Bitcoin evaluation on all major exchange sites.
It should also be considered that the total number of Bitcoins is, unlike what many may think, limited. More precisely, a maximum amount of 21 million is foreseen and every four years the quantity of coins created is halved. Moving forward at the current rate, at least 20 million Bitcoins will have been generated by 2030 and this will lead to an increase in their real value. For more details, I suggest you visit the official Bitcoin site in Italian which contains many useful and interesting topics and links.
How to buy Bitcoin – Create a digital purse
How to buy Bitcoin
Before starting to buy Bitcoin, you must also create your digital purse (technically called wallet), ie the file in which the coins will be saved. It is not difficult: all you have to do is choose a client, that is a software, among those available on the Internet and follow the instructions contained in it to open your Bitcoin purse. You can find all the main Bitcoin wallets by visiting the dedicated section of the Bitcoin.org website.
Among the most popular clients there is Bitcoin Core which is compatible with Windows, MacOS and Linux and through which it is possible to manage the wallet, make and receive payments in Bitcoin. Its functioning is decidedly elementary. After having downloaded it through the link that I have just provided (just click on the program icon then on the Install button) and installed (just start the .exe package obtained and always click on Next or, if you use a Mac, drag the software icon in the Applications folder) you have to launch it and choose the folder in which to save your wallet.
When the operation is completed, immediately put the wallet in safety by activating the encryption by going to the Settings and clicking on Encrypt purse. From time to time, do not forget to create backup copies by calling up the Backup Purse item available in the application menu.
Another important measure regarding the use of the digital purse is to wait for the software to synchronize completely with the Bitcoin network. This means that the blockchain on which the system is based must be downloaded to the computer, ie the database in which all Bitcoin transactions are recorded and, as the name suggests, is structured in blocks. Each block is different from another and each of them contains a fixed number of coins plus the public keys of the person making the transactions (ie their public addresses) and the data of the previous block. You can check the estimated date for the next block value change via the Bitcoin Clock website.
To find out what is the address of your purse instead, go to the File menu of the software and select the entry Receiving addresses. If you want to create custom ones (always refer to the same wallet), click on the New button.
How to buy Bitcoin – Buy Bitcoin
How to buy Bitcoin
We come now to the heart of the matter and try to understand how to buy Bitcoin. To do this it is sufficient to call on appropriate online services, as in the case of the aforementioned Bitstamp which, in fact, allows you to open an account and easily fill it with digital coins bought by other users of the site. To use it, connected to the main web page of the service using the link to the same that I gave you at the beginning of the guide, click on the Open account item at the top right, fill out the form that is proposed to you by typing your data and, finally, click on the Register button.
Afterwards, access the e-mail address referring to the e-mail address you indicated during registration, open the e-mail sent to you by Bitstamp automatically and take note of the data that you find under Client ID: e Password :. Then go back to the Bitstamp website, click on the Login entry at the top right, enter the data previously appointments in the form displayed on the screen and click on the Login button to immediately connect to your account.
Please follow the simple procedure to change the automatic password that is proposed to you then click on the item Buy / Sell placed at the top and click on the link Verify your account. Finally provide to provide and send all the required data and documents related to your person. Please note that it will take a couple of days for the data and documents to be verified.
Later, you can proceed by going to buy Bitcoin by clicking once again on Buy / Sell and then on Buy Bitcoins. Enter how much money you want to convert to Bitcoin and then click on Buy Bitcoins. It’s much easier to do than to say, trust me!
How to buy Bitcoin – Other systems to get Bitcoin
In addition to being able to buy Bitcoin as seen above, you can also fill your digital purse in another way. As? Performing mathematical calculations to the computer’s processor or its GPU, which is the processor of the graphics card. This activity is called mining and its complexity increases with the passage of time.
The creation of digital coins, however, requires a high computing power and what follows is a great energy expenditure, two factors that make the practice of minning unsuccessful, even for those who can rely on a video card particularly cutting edge . At this point the mining pool, the affiliations and the use of ASICs came into play. Find more details right below.
How to buy Bitcoin – Computers for mining
How to buy Bitcoin
On the market it is possible to find ad hoc computers to generate Bitcoin, consuming less energy than traditional PCs. These are those that take the name of ASIC Bitcoin Miner. The term ASIC stands for Application-Specific Integrated Circuit. They can be purchased on Amazon or on other e-commerce platforms.
The thing can appear to be certainly enticement but it should be noted that some of these computers are characterized by a poor build quality and reduce their performance in a short time. So, before buying one of these “gadgets” and investing money in a product that maybe is not really worth it is good to take all the appropriate information, maybe doing some research on Google.
Mining Pool
How to buy Bitcoin
Another way to get Bitcoin without breaking down your computer and without spending money on electricity is definitely the mining pool. This is a system that, as I have already anticipated, uses the technique of distributed computing and allows more users around the globe to combine the computing powers of their computers to achieve the goal: mining, in fact. When the operation is completed, the value of the mine block is divided among all the participants.
If you are interested, on Bitcoin Wiki you can find links to some of the most popular mining pool services (eg Slushpool) with the related features and commissions. To exploit them, however, you need to use special software, as in the case of BFGMiner that is quite intuitive and is compatible with Windows and Linux. If you use a Mac, you can get a pre-compiled version of the software via this page.
After downloading BFGMiner on your computer, start it, enter the data of the pooling system to which you have registered and wait for the software to start exploiting the GPU to generate Bitcoins.
How to buy Bitcoin – USB ASIC
How to buy Bitcoin
An additional system that you can consider as an alternative to buying Bitcoin and the solutions already mentioned is that of using ASICs. These are integrated circuits designed to solve precise calculations quickly and efficiently. Their nature makes them ideal for Bitcoin mining, particularly because they have low energy consumption and costs.
They are available on eBay and also on other online stores and presented a form quite similar to that of the very common pendrive for data storage.
How to buy Bitcoin