Beginners Guide to Bitcoin

New to Bitcoin?

Bitcoin is a digital currency that’s actually quite straightforward to set up and simple to use. Though it can be daunting at first, it’s really not all that different to using PayPal. Once you’ve successfully made one bitcoin payment you should find it simple and easy to repeat the process.

To get started you have two main options: Either purchase from an Exchange or Local Bitcoins.

Using A Bitcoin Exchange

We recommend CashApp, Coinbase or CoinGate because of their ease of use, acceptance of all major credit cards and accessiblility from many countries. Coinbase may have a 7-day waiting period before you can transfer Bitcoin to an external wallet so we recommend CashApp if it’s your first time purchasing Bitcoin.

Other options include Cubits (Europe), Bittylicious (UK only) and Coinjar (Australia). You will have to give personal information to prove your identity, and link to your bank account/debit card to have your account verified which can take 2- 7 days.

Depending on your country and payment method you can find other options on BuyBitcoinWorldwide.

To get started on CashApp, see:

To get started on Coinbase, see:

To get started on CoinGate, see:

Once you create an account by registering with your name and email address you’ll gain access to your ‘wallet’ where you store your bitcoins. Though it’s referred to as a wallet it’s simpler to think of it as a bitcoin bank account where your funds are held. If you have a smart phone you will be able to download a free app which makes it easy to make payments from.

Via the app or website you will be able to use your credit/debit card or wire transfer from your bank account to buy bitcoins which you can store in your wallet. You will also have to provide some identity verification and may be limited in how much you can transfer until your account is verified. Once you have chosen your method for payment and completed the verification process you simply decide how much bitcoin you wish to exchange from your local currency into bitcoin.

Using Local Bitcoins

Local Bitcoins is safe and secure and generally has less restrictions on the amount of Bitcoin you can buy as well as the verification process.

To get started on Local Bitcoins, see:

Follow the step by step guide to first setting up your account (including your bitcoin wallet), and then purchasing bitcoins from others in your area via cash, cash deposit, Western Union transfer, Money Bookers, Skrill etc.

Local Bitcoins is quite similar to eBay; as long as the seller has a good rating and has done a lot of trades, you can be quite certain it is reliable and secure. Also, Local Bitcoins offers a Bitcoin escrow service that holds the funds until the transaction is complete, thereby negating the possibility of fraud.

Once you have purchased bitcoins, to send the desired amount to us you will need to access your secure online Bitcoin wallet. By creating an account with Local Bitcoins you’ll gain access to your ‘wallet’ where you store your bitcoins and make transactions from. Though it’s referred to as a wallet it’s simpler to think of it as a bitcoin bank account where your funds are held.

How to Send Bitcoin:

Rather than use account numbers or email addresses to direct your payment to the right person, bitcoin payments use addresses that look like this (this is an example, not a valid address): 38L2MSnfQ31V1n4fdgW9ur3cjVFxSdwAf6. Sending money via your wallet is as simple as Converting Units from USD to BTC and then entering this amount and the recipient’s address in the send form of your wallet or exchange account.

When you checkout we will provide you a unique bitcoin payment address and calculate the amount of bitcoin due. On receipt we will mark your order as processing and prepare it for shipment.

Other Bitcoin Options

There are also bitcoin ATM’s that allow you to purchase Bitcoins for cash. Currently there are 555 ATM’s in the USA. A list of ATM sites can be found here. 

Additional Information

All exchanges offer to hold your bitcoin, but this is not as secure as holding them yourself. There are many options for free bitcoin wallet apps, making it easy to store and make payments directly from your phone or computer. Our personal preference is Electrum.

If you want to learn more about Bitcoin see here, here, here or here. And if you have any concerns or queries about payments, please send us an email and we’ll be more than happy to assist you.

How does bitcoin work anyway?

Youtube’s 3Blue1Brown did a great video on the underlying technology of Bitcoin, it’s easy to understand and well explained:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBC-nXj3Ng4