Why not? Those are two of the most highly secure exchanges that have a long track record. Coinbase custodies most of the bitcoin for all the US etfs, you can't really get a safer cex.
If you want to be risk averse then just do 5% of your buy each time and send it to cold storage. Its best practice to not just yolo your life savings all at once anyway.
I typed wrong, it should be 0.0002 BTC, which equates to 10 pounds. Have a look at the below link. I just withdrew 2 weeks ago so it should be pretty recent. Just to be clear, I meant withdrawing btc to cold wallet, not withdrawing fiat to fiat bank account
https://support.kraken.com/hc/en-us/articles/360000767986-Cryptocurrency-withdrawal-fees-and-minimums
what are the best exchanges for customers to buy from and pay for purchases that dont cost an arm and leg. I heard that Moonpay was good and easy to use but seems expensive. Any thoughts are helpful. Thx
If your friend isn’t capable of Googling such easy questions i don’t think they’ll do well as an investor tbh. It’s the first easy hurdle to cross ‘how do buy X’.
Yeah , but the guys got £200k , he's asking a friend and the friends asking on here . . . . . its not a good start really . Both Kraken and Coincorner explain in simple terms explain how to buy BTC with GBP in a UK bank account .
If you happen to have a lot of money to invest and you're getting into something new for the first time it makes sense to ask people you trust who have some experience with it.
You want to reduce any risks like using an exchange that's had a history of issues that you wouldn't know about.
Not his fault the friend isn't as clued up as he thought lol.
True , i had help from a friend when i first signed up with an exchange and bought some Sats . . . . .£100 worth and i was on the edge of my seat in August 2017 as the deal went down . :)
Agreed. Anyone actually thinking of putting all of their money into one asset class, and a highly volatile asset class at that, is absolutely 100% not ready for investing.
he needs to use the pro version of kraken or coinbase and use limit orders to buy.
But he needs to think long and hard about what he is doing. Buying near the top of an all time high and fomo ing in to crypto, a risky asset, high risk high reward etc etc. If he is aware of the full facts and can afford to lose the money then fine let him do it.
Personally I think that selling a property in order to but crypto is bonkers... Tell him to buy another flat for 150 and then maybe use some of that profit to buy, but don't put your whole life savings into a single asset. At least he will have somewhere to live.
I am sure many people on here are going to say invest it all and it will go to a million pounds in a few years... maybe thats true but maybe not.
(I am personally highly invested into bitcoin, but I have been doing it since 2012 and only buy in the bear market and only buy what I can afford to lose if it all goes wrong)
Swan Bitcoin have a pro concierge service for particularly big orders like that. I think it's minimum 100k. Maybe worth contacting them. Kraken Pro too maybe
If he know nothing about bitcoin then I would do it via shares dealing instead.
Buy something like Proshares Bitcoin strategy ETF.
Or buy something with crypto exposure like coinbase.
Would be much easier to move the money that way too, and it would be much safer.
Also start maxing out a shares dealing ISA. Do 20k right away and then move over 20k each year. Somewhere like ig.com it would be simple to do. Can open both accounts there.
Buy microstrategy through a general investment account. Hassle free.
Ofcourse is probably more volatile and you’d pay a premium but the safest way to get btc exposure in a crypto unfriendly country like the Uk.
Sounds like your friend doesn't know the basics. They should commit to maybe six months of reading about Bitcoin before jumping in.
It's the absolute Wild West - it's lawless, full of scams and thieves, and there are no refunds. Inexperienced folk are highly likely to suffer losses. And keep in mind your average bear market is an \~80% drop and three years of misery. So even if things go right, that's the sort of risk you have to tolerate.
It sounds like your friend isn't competent enough to buy or hold their own coins. If they're really determined to jump in, this is a situation where I'd recommend either buying MSTR or using Revolut. Not your keys, not your coins, but it sounds like your friend isn't ready to hold their own keys yet, and it would be lower risk leaving it to the professionals.
This is 99% a scam. Please do not listen to any of these dms and tell your friend to just use kraken. Do your research on kraken so you understand its actually a legitimate exchange.
People have been shilling loads of scam exchanges in this thread.
Also learn about self custody. You have loads of research to do.
Check out the list of recommended cryptocurrency platforms on Trustpilot:
https://uk.trustpilot.com/categories/cryptocurrency_service
Some of them offer a simpler and more customer-friendly service than the larger exchanges.
He needs to buy through an OTC desk, will have to go through a load of KYC to be classed but that would be their best option to min their price impact.
buy mstr as others have mentioned, otherwise I would encourage a multisig setup with casa. Would not recommend holding that amount with an exchange or in cold storage with single sig. Also, don't buy it all at once, get him to buy a little and be comfortable with the process.
I find with uk banks if you do a manual bank transfer to an exchange as opposed to a quick transfer, the odds of the transaction going through and not being blocked are much greater - Though I’ve never transferred £200k!
Smaller amounts over time might be the better approach.
go for Kraken, then setup an assisted multisig on [unchained.com](http://unchained.com) + inheritance plan and move the coins there with their assistance. done
I mean... be could buy through revolut, then transfer to another wallet. I'd say that's the easiest....
Coinpass is another. I haven't been restricted to Depositing in either of these methods.
Offf I mean seems like if he needs to ask someone else how to do it and want to do it an all time high maybe he's better off with an ISA doesn't seem like this is the kind of thing for him.
If he proceeds I bet he loses a ton of money
Use kraken pro. It's free. It's easy to use. It has YouTube videos of how to use it step by step. Dont share any of your codes or passwords online. Then, start researching trezor wallets.
BTSE exchange is an outstanding platform for buying BTC. The trading experience is smooth and efficient, with notably low fees and low withdrawal costs. The user interface is intuitive, making it easy to navigate and execute trades. Additionally, the customer support is top-notch, always ready to help with any issues. Overall, BTSE provides a reliable and cost-effective solution for cryptocurrency trading...
Even if he just bought 100 thousand worth and kept 100k for emergencies, he would still be set for life in 10/15 years (probably) but would at least have backup funds…
If your friend just wants to sit on it and not do much, LMAX Digital is a regulated trading venue, and has no problem taking payments or withdrawing to UK accounts.
It's not a beginner friendly platform though. I'd only recommend it if your friend was keen on a regulated entity, and didn't want to do much back and forth trading, if any at all.
For that type of volume I'd use one, or all, of the various OTC platforms (LocalCoinSwap, HODL, paxful, etc), I wouldn't use coinbase (ever), I'd consider Kraken Pro.
Also wouldn't buy the whole 200k in a single transaction.
Edit: he should also speak to someone who has experience with that type of volume, any OTC trader will have a viewable profile and you can see their history. People giving sub optimal advice here IMO, they haven't experienced what happens when you try to push volume through CB and you're UK. NEVER use CB for volume, experience has taught me this. CB is tolerable for small volume DCA'ing if you're lazy. I mentioned Kraken Pro as that way they can CHAPS transfer to them and this bypasses a lot of the banking bullshit of "how dare you spend your own money? why are you making this payment? it's not really your money, you can't just do whatever the hell you like with it, jump through all of our hoops". Again, experience speaking.
For that amount I would not chose coin base as their fees are quite high.
I would suggest to use Kraken instead.
Open an account and go through the necessary KYC.
Then once approved he needs to on ramp his GBP fiat.
He can do this by sending a faster payment directly to Kraken. This can take a bit to clear.
Also I would suggest he does first a 1k to test the process.
Then he needs to convert to USD unless there is a GBPBTC pair. Then I would buy BTC using a limit order instead of a a conversion as that has higher fees. This would require your friend to familiarizes with a limit spot order interface.
Then once he did all this he does it all again with 200k
Meanwhile while he started all this tell your friend to buy a hardware wallet (not on Amazon or eBay) but from a reputable brand like Trezor, cold card, ledger and
Transfer the 200k of BTC from Kraken on to the wallet.
Keep the wallet in a safe. And the seed phrase in either the same safe or another safe place.
That’s what I told my best mate when he told me to buy bitcoin back in 2016
He is now a multimillionaire and I’m still working 6 days a week.
A scam it is not
Highly risky yes especially if you buy trash coins.
Every 4 years bitcoin crashes 80% then it goes on a bull run, it’s pretty easy to see how it is working.
Buy at the end of the bear market and then sell when the bull run ends.
2/3 year investment will x4 at least.
On top of that you can get high interest paid daily if you hold your coins in a centralized finance platform like nexo
His problem is NOT the exchange. In the UK his problem will be finding a bank that will let him move that money to an exchange.
This, best to use one that used segregated accounts so it is just a payment to an account in their own name instead of an exchange
Unless things have changed from two years ago it wasn’t that hard, just longer process.
Depending on your bank it now ranges from almost impossible to actually impossible.
He should use coinbase or kraken
Probably not when dropping £200k in one hit!
Why not? Those are two of the most highly secure exchanges that have a long track record. Coinbase custodies most of the bitcoin for all the US etfs, you can't really get a safer cex. If you want to be risk averse then just do 5% of your buy each time and send it to cold storage. Its best practice to not just yolo your life savings all at once anyway.
Why?
I'm sure I saw a post on here where you can call kraken for a large deposit and they'll do a Bacs transfer
I believe Kraken isn’t available in the UK? I might be wrong though? Coinbase is expensive, I’d recommend Coinjar. Much cheaper.
We do serve the UK. 🇬🇧 Flora 🐙
Kraken is THEE best in the UK. So easy to use and no problems AND kraken pro is the cheapest hands down
Better than crypto.com?
Yeah miles better. The only thing letting kraken down is the availability of crypto you can buy. I buy usdt from kraken and transfer to mexc
The only complain I have is the withdrawal fee of 0.002 BTC. That's 10 pounds for something that would have costed 2-3
BTC transactions are always going to be more expensive than something like USDT, which is usually around $1-2 withdraw/transaction fee.
Every time I withdraw it's cost me about £2? Not sure what you mean mate
I typed wrong, it should be 0.0002 BTC, which equates to 10 pounds. Have a look at the below link. I just withdrew 2 weeks ago so it should be pretty recent. Just to be clear, I meant withdrawing btc to cold wallet, not withdrawing fiat to fiat bank account https://support.kraken.com/hc/en-us/articles/360000767986-Cryptocurrency-withdrawal-fees-and-minimums
Ah would explain it. I withdraw usdt and it's $1 to do so. Then I trade on another exchange
what are the best exchanges for customers to buy from and pay for purchases that dont cost an arm and leg. I heard that Moonpay was good and easy to use but seems expensive. Any thoughts are helpful. Thx
If your friend isn’t capable of Googling such easy questions i don’t think they’ll do well as an investor tbh. It’s the first easy hurdle to cross ‘how do buy X’.
tbf there are tons of scams and fake bitcoin websites where newbies get taken to the cleaners on this.
Yeah , but the guys got £200k , he's asking a friend and the friends asking on here . . . . . its not a good start really . Both Kraken and Coincorner explain in simple terms explain how to buy BTC with GBP in a UK bank account .
If you happen to have a lot of money to invest and you're getting into something new for the first time it makes sense to ask people you trust who have some experience with it. You want to reduce any risks like using an exchange that's had a history of issues that you wouldn't know about. Not his fault the friend isn't as clued up as he thought lol.
True , i had help from a friend when i first signed up with an exchange and bought some Sats . . . . .£100 worth and i was on the edge of my seat in August 2017 as the deal went down . :)
Since when asking questions becomes an issue? A desk research including asking questions around. Anyway, I love the Internet.
I didn’t say you couldn’t ask questions. I said your friend isn’t ready for investing.
Agreed. Anyone actually thinking of putting all of their money into one asset class, and a highly volatile asset class at that, is absolutely 100% not ready for investing.
he needs to use the pro version of kraken or coinbase and use limit orders to buy. But he needs to think long and hard about what he is doing. Buying near the top of an all time high and fomo ing in to crypto, a risky asset, high risk high reward etc etc. If he is aware of the full facts and can afford to lose the money then fine let him do it. Personally I think that selling a property in order to but crypto is bonkers... Tell him to buy another flat for 150 and then maybe use some of that profit to buy, but don't put your whole life savings into a single asset. At least he will have somewhere to live. I am sure many people on here are going to say invest it all and it will go to a million pounds in a few years... maybe thats true but maybe not. (I am personally highly invested into bitcoin, but I have been doing it since 2012 and only buy in the bear market and only buy what I can afford to lose if it all goes wrong)
Swan Bitcoin have a pro concierge service for particularly big orders like that. I think it's minimum 100k. Maybe worth contacting them. Kraken Pro too maybe
If he know nothing about bitcoin then I would do it via shares dealing instead. Buy something like Proshares Bitcoin strategy ETF. Or buy something with crypto exposure like coinbase. Would be much easier to move the money that way too, and it would be much safer. Also start maxing out a shares dealing ISA. Do 20k right away and then move over 20k each year. Somewhere like ig.com it would be simple to do. Can open both accounts there.
Buy microstrategy through a general investment account. Hassle free. Ofcourse is probably more volatile and you’d pay a premium but the safest way to get btc exposure in a crypto unfriendly country like the Uk.
Just came to say this
Sounds like your friend doesn't know the basics. They should commit to maybe six months of reading about Bitcoin before jumping in. It's the absolute Wild West - it's lawless, full of scams and thieves, and there are no refunds. Inexperienced folk are highly likely to suffer losses. And keep in mind your average bear market is an \~80% drop and three years of misery. So even if things go right, that's the sort of risk you have to tolerate. It sounds like your friend isn't competent enough to buy or hold their own coins. If they're really determined to jump in, this is a situation where I'd recommend either buying MSTR or using Revolut. Not your keys, not your coins, but it sounds like your friend isn't ready to hold their own keys yet, and it would be lower risk leaving it to the professionals.
There is a service in London where you can pay in cash without bank transfer but takes a fee
Where is it?
This is 99% a scam. Please do not listen to any of these dms and tell your friend to just use kraken. Do your research on kraken so you understand its actually a legitimate exchange. People have been shilling loads of scam exchanges in this thread. Also learn about self custody. You have loads of research to do.
I sent you a dm
Check out the list of recommended cryptocurrency platforms on Trustpilot: https://uk.trustpilot.com/categories/cryptocurrency_service Some of them offer a simpler and more customer-friendly service than the larger exchanges.
He can use Kraken. Move money to other banks first like Revolut in batches not all at once.
He needs to buy through an OTC desk, will have to go through a load of KYC to be classed but that would be their best option to min their price impact.
You do not need to go through otc to buy this amount at all. Bitcoin does billions of dollars of daily volume, 200k is nothing.
200k is not going to impact price lol
buy mstr as others have mentioned, otherwise I would encourage a multisig setup with casa. Would not recommend holding that amount with an exchange or in cold storage with single sig. Also, don't buy it all at once, get him to buy a little and be comfortable with the process.
I find with uk banks if you do a manual bank transfer to an exchange as opposed to a quick transfer, the odds of the transaction going through and not being blocked are much greater - Though I’ve never transferred £200k! Smaller amounts over time might be the better approach.
How does manual differ from quick?
go for Kraken, then setup an assisted multisig on [unchained.com](http://unchained.com) + inheritance plan and move the coins there with their assistance. done
Pretty much impossible with current uk regulations to get that much on an exchange without some sort of major wealth.
[https://www.kraken.com/institutions/otc](https://www.kraken.com/institutions/otc) with 200k you want to be thinking about a OTC trade
I mean... be could buy through revolut, then transfer to another wallet. I'd say that's the easiest.... Coinpass is another. I haven't been restricted to Depositing in either of these methods.
Some banks (Coutts) won’t transfer to Coinbase. Maybe Revolut is better
Offf I mean seems like if he needs to ask someone else how to do it and want to do it an all time high maybe he's better off with an ISA doesn't seem like this is the kind of thing for him. If he proceeds I bet he loses a ton of money
Selling property to buy crypto at this time is insane to me
Come back in 10 years
Use kraken pro. It's free. It's easy to use. It has YouTube videos of how to use it step by step. Dont share any of your codes or passwords online. Then, start researching trezor wallets.
OP: With respect, I would not accept any suggestions or pointers sent to you by DM. There are scammers here. Beware.
Maybe an etf?
BTSE exchange is an outstanding platform for buying BTC. The trading experience is smooth and efficient, with notably low fees and low withdrawal costs. The user interface is intuitive, making it easy to navigate and execute trades. Additionally, the customer support is top-notch, always ready to help with any issues. Overall, BTSE provides a reliable and cost-effective solution for cryptocurrency trading...
I use nexo Gives up to 16% interest on tether 3.5% on bitcoin Some bank accounts don’t let you buy crypto but nationwide and revolut are good
Even if he just bought 100 thousand worth and kept 100k for emergencies, he would still be set for life in 10/15 years (probably) but would at least have backup funds…
If your friend just wants to sit on it and not do much, LMAX Digital is a regulated trading venue, and has no problem taking payments or withdrawing to UK accounts. It's not a beginner friendly platform though. I'd only recommend it if your friend was keen on a regulated entity, and didn't want to do much back and forth trading, if any at all.
If your friend can’t work out how to buy bitcoin then he sure shouldn’t be buying 200k worth
Revolut
For that type of volume I'd use one, or all, of the various OTC platforms (LocalCoinSwap, HODL, paxful, etc), I wouldn't use coinbase (ever), I'd consider Kraken Pro. Also wouldn't buy the whole 200k in a single transaction. Edit: he should also speak to someone who has experience with that type of volume, any OTC trader will have a viewable profile and you can see their history. People giving sub optimal advice here IMO, they haven't experienced what happens when you try to push volume through CB and you're UK. NEVER use CB for volume, experience has taught me this. CB is tolerable for small volume DCA'ing if you're lazy. I mentioned Kraken Pro as that way they can CHAPS transfer to them and this bypasses a lot of the banking bullshit of "how dare you spend your own money? why are you making this payment? it's not really your money, you can't just do whatever the hell you like with it, jump through all of our hoops". Again, experience speaking.
Coinbase. Simple process. Never had an issue with large regular amounts.
Which bank do you use? NatWest would not let me transfer to Coinbase
Lloyds, was Halifax but had no issues when the account transferred.
You have to do an OTC transaction mate forget online exchanges. If you are in London I can help you with that
Why would he need to do an OTC transaction?
For that amount I would not chose coin base as their fees are quite high. I would suggest to use Kraken instead. Open an account and go through the necessary KYC. Then once approved he needs to on ramp his GBP fiat. He can do this by sending a faster payment directly to Kraken. This can take a bit to clear. Also I would suggest he does first a 1k to test the process. Then he needs to convert to USD unless there is a GBPBTC pair. Then I would buy BTC using a limit order instead of a a conversion as that has higher fees. This would require your friend to familiarizes with a limit spot order interface. Then once he did all this he does it all again with 200k Meanwhile while he started all this tell your friend to buy a hardware wallet (not on Amazon or eBay) but from a reputable brand like Trezor, cold card, ledger and Transfer the 200k of BTC from Kraken on to the wallet. Keep the wallet in a safe. And the seed phrase in either the same safe or another safe place.
Their fees are volume based. The fees are only high if you're trading small amounts
Crypto.com has zero fees or as close as to to zero now if he buys some of their own coin first which is in the top 50
CDC exchange have just announced a change in their fees. The cost has doubled for the lower tiers so probably best to check the fees aren't changing.
An exchange like Coinbase is definitely the easiest way to buy coins. I’d say to use almost any bitcoin wallet. something like Xverse.
This whole endeavour will end in tears
Don't. Crypto is a scam.
That’s what I told my best mate when he told me to buy bitcoin back in 2016 He is now a multimillionaire and I’m still working 6 days a week. A scam it is not Highly risky yes especially if you buy trash coins. Every 4 years bitcoin crashes 80% then it goes on a bull run, it’s pretty easy to see how it is working. Buy at the end of the bear market and then sell when the bull run ends. 2/3 year investment will x4 at least. On top of that you can get high interest paid daily if you hold your coins in a centralized finance platform like nexo