Where and How to Buy ethereum – Safest places to buy ethereum by CoinTrust.com  

Talk about cryptocurrency and the first crypto coin that comes to everyone’s mind is the Bitcoin. While the Bitcoin is the undisputed champion of cryptocurrency, it is not to say that it is without competition. Say hello to the Ethereum network and its tokens – ethers. Ethers are denoted by ETH and it is one of the few altcoins that has gotten a lot of traction, backing and weightage in recent years.

One of the most asked questions about Ethereum and Ethers is – how do I buy them? In this article, I will give you all the low down, tips, do and don’ts that you need to know prior to making your first Ether purchase.

What is Ethereum?

VitalikButerin, a Russian Canadian is credited with writing the Ethereum white paper in 2013. Buterin had worked extensively on Bitcoins and the concept of crypto currencies in general when he figured there could be a lot of improvements made to the underlying technology that would better support digital currencies. Unfortunately, the computer language used to develop bitcoin was too inflexible to integrate these changes. Vitalik is quoted as saying – “Bitcoin was designed to be a [Simple Mail Transfer Protocol] SMTP. It’s a protocol that is very good at one particular task. It is good for transferring money, but it was not designed as a foundational layer for any kind of protocols to be built on top.”

To manifest his vision of a better technology and foundation for digital currencies, he wrote his white paper detailing a blockchain that would fully support decentralized applications and thus was born the Ethereum blockchain – one which would ingeniously facilitate unlimited computational processing resources to support multiple decentralized applications.

To better comprehend how the Ethereum improves on the Bitcoin, let us compare and contrast these two altcoins.

The main improvement over the Bitcoin is that Ethereum is developed using a computer language known as the Turing – complete scripting language which allows much greater flexibility to introduce and incorporate changes on an ad – hoc basis.

Another major difference that you should know from an investor or potential buyer stand point is that unlike the Bitcoin, there is no (not yet at least) cap on the number of ethers that will be generated and put into circulation. There is only an annual restriction. On the other hand, there is a final limit on the number of bitcoins in existence and the mining of bitcoins will approximately come to a conclusion around 2140, after which no more new bitcoins can be added into circulation.

However, please note that the Ethereum community may at any point unanimously vote and decide to impose such an ultimatum on Ethers too.

Now that you have a basic idea of what the Ethereum network is, here are some of the best places where you can buy Ethers.

How to acquire Ethereum?

1. The most common way is to buy Ethereum from people that already have it on a cryptocurrency exchange website that supports Ethereum (there are multiple options)
2. Like bitcoins, Ethereum maybe mined using a power computer graphics card which will be used to solve complex problems to verify transactions as official on the Blockchain
3. As a merchant, you may accept Ethereum as a mode of payment for your products and \ or services
4. You may also receive Ethereum as a gift from someone that has it

Best places to buy Ethereum using your credit card

For the vast majority, their first Ethereum purchase is usually on a crypto currency exchange website. Is there one single crypto exchange that is perfect for everyone? The answer is no, there is no single exchange that fits the bill for everyone. It depends entirely on preference and circumstance. Some exchanges allow you to buy ethers for bitcoins, some do not support ether at all, some allow you to use a credit card or an e – wallet to purchase ether, etc.

If you are looking to buy ethers using a credit card, here are some of the best exchanges for your requirement –

How can I buy Ethereum for cash?

Unfortunately, at this time, there is no service which allows people to directly buy ether in exchange for cash. However, this is not to say that it cannot be done. There is a simple work around. There are several services wherein you can buy bitcoins for cash, so all you need to do is first buy Bitcoins for cash and then use any cryptocurrency exchange which supports the btc to eth trading pair and go ahead and exchange your bitcoin for ethers.

Some of the most popular and highly reputed services where you can exchange cash for bitcoins are coinmama.com and Localbitcoins. These are person to person bitcoin exchanges. There are now also bitcoin ATMs in several countries around the world where you can exchange cash for Bitcoin as well.

Where can I get Ethereum for a bank transfer?

If credit cards and cash aren’t exactly your preferred method of payment, and you would rather pay for your ethers via a bank transfer then you will be happy to know that that is possible too.

There are several exchanges that accept bank wire transfers wherein you can send fiat currencies (traditional currencies such as the US dollar and the British Pound) and buy crypto currencies such as the bitcoin or the ether.

Exchanging Bitcoins for Ether – where can I exchange?

Bitcoins are undeniable the most popular crypto currency in the world. In fact, for most people the term bitcoin is synonymous with the term crypto currency or digital currency. Bitcoins are highly popular and as a result they are also much easier to buy and sell than other crypto currencies which are not as well known. Thankfully though, once you have acquired bitcoins, it does make being able to buy other forms of crypto currency easier. This is why for investors who are looking to buy into other forms of cryptocurrencies other than the Bitcoin, I would always recommend buying the Bitcoin first. Bitcoins are more readily available for purchase using traditional payment methods and fiat currencies. Once you have Bitcoins, you can then proceed to buy any other desired crypto currency by simply paying for them using Bitcoins.

Like with cryptocurrency exchanges, these websites also may require (as required by law) that you submit or upload a government issued ID card. However, the process of verification is very quick. As per Ethereum, almost 90% of all ethers brought are paid for in Bitcoins. This goes to show that using bitcoin instead of fiat currencies is a more accepted and easier way to get things done for everyone in the equation.

Here are some crypto currency exchanges where you can buy ether for bitcoin.