{"id":231555,"date":"2017-10-10T17:58:02","date_gmt":"2017-10-10T15:58:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=231555"},"modified":"2017-10-10T18:01:03","modified_gmt":"2017-10-10T16:01:03","slug":"buying-bitcoin-for-dummies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/cryptocurrency\/231555-buying-bitcoin-for-dummies.html","title":{"rendered":"Buying Bitcoin for dummies"},"content":{"rendered":"

According to\u00a0MyBroadband’s 2017 Cryptocurrency Survey<\/a><\/strong>, many South Africans have not purchased cryptocurrency because they do not know which coins to buy, or how to buy them.<\/p>\n

The biggest and most stable cryptocurrencies are Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), and these are used as a store of value due to their relative stability.<\/p>\n

If you are interested in buying Bitcoin and Ethereum, we have provided a simple guide below.<\/p>\n

Buying Bitcoin<\/h3>\n

The easiest way to buy Bitcoin is with rand through a reliable local exchange, like Luno.com.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Register an account on the Luno website and verify your email address to get started. The next step is to transfer rand to your Luno account.<\/p>\n

Select the “Deposit Money” option on the account dashboard and follow the on-screen steps – choosing your bank and the amount of money you want to deposit.<\/p>\n

Luno will then provide you with its banking details for your deposit and a unique reference number.<\/p>\n

Visit your online banking profile and transfer the amount you specified to the Luno account, including the Luno reference number.<\/p>\n

The funds will appear in your Luno account after one to two business days.<\/p>\n

When the rand deposit is received by Luno, it will reflect in your Luno account. You can then buy Bitcoin by selecting the “Buy” option from the Luno dashboard.<\/p>\n

The purchased Bitcoin will be credited to your Luno Bitcoin wallet and the rand cost will be deducted from your Luno rand balance.<\/p>\n

\"Luno\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Buying Ethereum<\/h3>\n

The name of the cryptocurrency used on the Ethereum blockchain is Ether, but is often referred to as Ethereum.<\/p>\n

To buy Ethereum, you must create an account on an exchange which supports it.<\/p>\n

Popular exchanges include\u00a0Poloniex<\/a><\/strong>, Kraken<\/a><\/strong>, and ShapeShift<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0– which allow you to purchase Ethereum using your Bitcoin.<\/p>\n

Once you have created your account on the cryptocurrency exchange, you need to transfer your Bitcoin from Luno to the exchange.<\/p>\n

This can be done by selecting the “deposit” option from the exchange’s dashboard and choosing the Bitcoin (BTC) option. Make sure not to select a different coin for a deposit, like Bitcoin Cash (BCH).<\/p>\n

Selecting deposit on Bitcoin will display an address. You will need to send your Bitcoin from your Luno account to this address.<\/p>\n

Ensure that you copy and paste the correct exchange deposit address into Luno before sending your Bitcoin. Once you hit send, the Bitcoin may take several hours to send.<\/p>\n

Once your Bitcoin is in your exchange account, select the BTC\/ETH trading pair to buy Ethereum.<\/p>\n

Choose the amount of Ethereum you wish to buy, and your price, and select “buy”. Your Ethereum is then stored in your exchange account.<\/p>\n

\"Ethereum\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Storing cryptocurrency<\/h3>\n

Many South Africans use Luno to store their Bitcoin, which means the company controls your wallet and your private key.<\/p>\n

More advanced methods of holding your Bitcoin include storing it in an online wallet where you control your private key, or on a hardware wallet where you control the physical wallet and key.<\/p>\n

Ethereum storage functions in a similar manner, and users can move it from their exchange account to an individual wallet.<\/p>\n

MyEtherWallet<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0is a popular choice to store Ethereum, as you retain control of your private key.<\/p>\n

Bitcoin holders wanting to move their cryptocurrency can use a service like\u00a0GreenAddress<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Once you have created an Ethereum or Bitcoin wallet, you must access its address – which you use to send your cryptocurrency to it.<\/p>\n

The most secure way to store these currencies is to download and run a node on each respective blockchain, using your own hardware. This can be complex for newcomers, however.<\/p>\n

We also recommend that new investors read up on cryptocurrencies and understand how they work<\/a><\/strong> before selecting a coin.<\/p>\n

This article is not intended as investment advice. Always thoroughly research a cryptocurrency before purchasing it.<\/em><\/p>\n

Now read:\u00a0NiceHash and Ethereum \u2013 Most popular crypto-mining rigs in South Africa<\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MyBroadband’s 2017 Cryptocurrency Survey found that many South Africans do not know how to buy Bitcoin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341028,"featured_media":149097,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_threads_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44696],"tags":[187,35],"class_list":["post-231555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cryptocurrency","tag-bitcoin","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231555"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341028"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231555"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231555\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":231579,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231555\/revisions\/231579"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/149097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}