Investing in Bitcoin: A Comprehensive Guide for Beginners

How to Buy, Sell, Trade, and Invest in Bitcoin Explained: Everything You Need to Know About Investing in Bitcoin

To invest in Bitcoin, use an exchange like Coinbase, a service like PayPal, Cash App, or Robinhood, or buy a stock that holds Bitcoin like GBTC.

You can also choose some alternative methods like mining Bitcoin or getting paid in Bitcoin. If you use an exchange, mine, or get paid in Bitcoin, you may also want to use your own Bitcoin wallet.

With that covered, to invest in Bitcoin the traditional way you would:

1. Get a Bitcoin wallet,
2. Find a Bitcoin exchange or broker,
3. Buy Bitcoin,
4. Move the Bitcoin Back to your wallet.

That is it. Keep your Bitcoin in a secure wallet and when you are ready someday you can use it or you can send it back to the exchange to sell it.

If you don’t want to deal with all of that, then you may want to go the PayPal, Cash App, or Robinhood route instead or maybe take a look at GBTC. These are all valid options, although each has its own considerations and pros and cons.

TIP: Make sure to use secure passwords and two-factor authentication when a platform allows it.

What is Bitcoin? Bitcoin is a type of cryptocurrency. Essentially that means it isn’t an actual coin, instead, it’s a bit of code, stored in a digital wallet, that connects back to a specific transaction on a public record of transactions called a blockchain. That code represents ownership of a portion of Bitcoin, and that portion can be traded in-part or in-whole at the current market price for another cryptocurrency or currency via a cryptocurrency exchange, and goods and services using a cryptocurrency wallet (for example a Bitcoin wallet). All of that is then encrypted in a few ways via cryptography (hence the term “cryptocurrency”). You don’t have to understand any of that to trade Bitcoin, so let’s not focus on it here.