How to Buy Bitcoin in the USA

Despite the recent decline of bitcoin, it does not lose its popularity. Thousands of people around the world are still buying it using a variety of methods for this.

In this article, we will tell you how to buy bitcoin in the USA.

You can read how to buy bitcoin in the UK here.

Regulation of exchanges in the country

For the first time, American regulators paid attention to the cryptocurrency market in 2013-2014. During this period, bitcoin is noticed by a wide audience, and several services begin to accept payments in BTC. At the same time, large funds are beginning to invest in bitcoin. Regulators spoke quite positively about the coin, which contributed to its rise.

Currently, the regulation of cryptocurrencies is the prerogative of each individual state. In this regard, many exchanges are only partially represented in the United States, being forced to obtain several licenses. Below are some of them:

Permission from FinCEN (Financial Crimes Enforcement Agency) — this permission is issued to exchanges operating by the federal requirements of AML (Anti-Money Laundering Regulations). Clients of such exchanges are required to undergo the KYC identity identification procedure.

MTL (Money Transfer License) is required by payment operators, including cryptocurrency exchanges, in several states.

Bitlicense is a special license for cryptocurrency companies that wish to extend operations to the territory of the state of New York. Local regulators are known for their strict requirements, and so far only two dozen companies have managed to obtain a license.

How to buy bitcoin in the USA

Crypton Exchange

Crypton Exchange (CRP.IS) is an independent, decentralized exchange that appeared in 2021 based on the Utopia P2P ecosystem. Such a strong basis provides the exchange with round-the-clock access and the impossibility of blocking since it will still function, but is already in the ecosystem itself.

Utopia P2P is a decentralized and anonymous ecosystem that provides uncensored and secure access to the internal network with built-in tools for communication, information searching, data transmission, and payments.

Learn more about Utopia P2P here.

Crypton Exchange does not have KYC registration. The user does not need to enter personal data or a passport photo. All he needs is an anonymous registration in the Utopia P2P ecosystem, a nickname, and a password.

Pluses: secure purchase, sale, exchange, and withdrawal of available cryptocurrencies: Crypton (CRP), USD Stablecoin, Monero, Bitcoin, DAI, USD. The exchange offers the advantage of the first digital offshore for those who want transaction details to remain anonymous. Crypton Exchange offers the lowest commissions on the market.

Minuses: First, you need to register anonymously in the Utopia P2P ecosystem to continue anonymous registration on the exchange.

Read more about Crypton Exchange’s benefits here.

Coinbase

Coinbase was founded in 2012, and for the first two years, the company provided digital wallet services. The company launched its own exchange in 2014.

As of 2019, Coinbase supports about 20 crypto-crypto and about 10 crypto-fiat trading pairs, depending on the state. For a long time, it remained the largest crypto exchange in terms of trading volumes, not only in the United States but also around the world.

Pluses: convenient purchase of cryptocurrencies for fiat, availability of a platform for professional traders, and generally good trading. Thanks to its intuitive interface, high turnover, and wide popularity, Coinbase has become the No. 1 exchange among newcomers trying their hand at crypto trading for the first time.

Minuses: frequent account blocking without explanation and the ability to get a response from the support service, privacy violations.

As for regular trading, it supports several types of orders: market, limit, and stop.

Is Coinbase safe to use? Learn more here.

Gemini

Gemini is an exchange founded by the Winklevoss brothers, the first cryptocurrency billionaires in the world.

Focused on the American client, the platform strictly complies with the requirements of regulators in New York and other states. Therefore, there are not so many cryptocurrencies here — BTC, ETH, LTC, BCH, and ZEC. Gemini also has its own Gemini Dollar stablecoin.

Pluses: reliability and availability of custodial services for large clients.

Minuses: Gemini only works with clients from the USA and several other developed countries.

Several tools are available to traders, and input and output are available only in US dollars. The following types of orders are available: MAC, IOC, Market, and Limit. Through limit orders, you can enter intra-exchange auctions.

Kraken

Kraken was registered in 2011, although the exchange itself started operating in 2013.

This trading platform supports about 20 cryptocurrencies and does not have its own exchange token.

Pluses: the use of reliable tools. The company does not approve of dubious ICO/IEO, as well as coins that are highly likely to be created by scammers.

Minuses: a complex interface (in particular, a trading one) and, possibly, the team’s concealment of cases of hacking the platform.

At higher verification levels, margin trading with x5 leverage is opened to users.

Poloniex

Founded in 2014, Poloniex was for some time considered the largest altcoin exchange in the world. At the moment, there are about 60 cryptocurrencies represented here, some are not available to residents of the United States. Trading volumes are declining.

Pluses: security and convenient trading. The exchange is considered a good choice for both beginners and professionals.

Minuses: periodic disconnection of wallets and freezing of user accounts without explanation.

Poloniex does not support fiat, account replenishment and withdrawals are made only with the help of cryptocurrency.

Of the additional features, it is worth noting lending, where users can lend each other certain amounts at a percentage that they set themselves.

Gate

The year of the Gate launch is considered to be 2017, but the site has been rebranded. From 2012 to 2017, it was known as Beer, and its headquarters were located in China.

Gate.io offers more than 200 cryptocurrencies. Input and output are carried out only in crypto.

Pluses: support several services for trading — margin trading, margin loans, and futures trading. When placing orders, IOC and Iceberg options are available.

Minuses: being registered in the USA, Gate.io still operated from China. Under the Boker brand, the platform has earned a reputation as a scam project, and nothing has changed under the new name.

How to buy bitcoin anonymously? Several other ways.