A Complete Guide: How to Buy Bitcoin in India and Abroad12-min read

Bitcoin is a high-value cryptocurrency with its valuation increasing by an incredible 9,000,000% between 2010 and 2020. This being said, investing in such a high-value but relatively unstable asset may seem intimidating for any layperson not familiar with the technicalities of Blockchain technology. In reality, the process itself isn’t really complicated at all. All you need to do is follow some basic steps, and you will be able to buy bitcoin digitally, hassle-free without any inconvenience.

To buy Bitcoin in India, you simply need a crypto trading platform account connected to a personal wallet, personal identity papers for verifying your Know Your Client (KYC) obligations and, lastly, a secure Internet connection. Additionally, you need to consider some tips regarding strategic investment and security practices. That’s it!

Now that we’ve set out the preliminaries, let’s dive into how and where in India you can buy Bitcoin, Ethereum and even new crypto coins.

As global currencies devalue, a growing body of experts are looking towards Bitcoin becoming a powerful player in international finance.

Where to Buy Bitcoin in India – Best Bitcoin Brokers for February 2023

Cryptocurrency brokerages are simply exchange platforms where you can sign up to invest and trade cryptocurrencies. You can either trade a specific cryptocurrency with another currency or simply exchange them for fiat currencies such as INR or USD. Several Crypto exchanges are currently functional in India. Each of them comes with diverse investment opportunities and provides rich features regarding security, trading, and customizability. Below are the 3 most reliable, trustworthy and overall best crypto trading platforms in India as of February 2023.

CEX.IO

CEX.IO is a dependable and regulated digital asset exchange platform that offers a vast selection of features and cryptocurrencies to experienced traders and investors. The platform provides access to over 100 distinct cryptocurrencies, including popular options such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, and has garnered a solid reputation for its dependability and security. If you have ample experience with trading or investing and are looking for a dependable platform to handle your digital asset transactions, CEX.IO might be the best bet for you.

The platform takes security seriously, and to keep its users’ funds secure, CEX.IO stores the majority of funds in cold wallets, which are not connected to the internet, and only a small amount of funds in hot wallets, which are connected to the internet. The ratio of crypto held in cold and hot wallets is determined by the amount needed to facilitate daily trading activities.
Trading fees on CEX.IO are determined based on a user’s 30-day trading volume, which is recalibrated every day at midnight (GMT). For users new to the platform or with low trading volume, there is a 0.25% fee for taker trades and a 0.15% fee for maker trades. These fees may be subject to change and may vary for users with higher trading volume. The platform also provides a variety of payment methods, including ACH, domestic wire transfer, Faster Payments, Skrill, Epay, Advcash, and others. To use these payment methods, users must meet minimum deposit requirements and may be subject to trading fees. Withdrawal fees vary from asset to asset.

Libertex

Previously renowned for stock and forex trading, Libertex has recently launched into the cryptocurrency market, giving access to traders to a platform that is arguably unmatched in user-friendliness. Libertex further incentivises users to sign-up with alluring prizes and competitions, such as a regular draw that enables one to win up 500 BTC, a brand new Tesla Model Y, or iPhones, among many others.

You may access Libertex on the web or on Android and iOS mobile devices. It will be a fairly similar experience to any other online brokerage service. Markets are open around-the-clock, so you can log in and place a transaction whenever you want.

Libertex only requires a minimum of $10 or equivalent in deposit to start trading and features some of the lowest commissions on the market, with 0% fees for most trades.

Binance

Binance is the world’s largest crypto exchange platform. The platform provides a wide range of trading choices and capabilities but is not generally deemed user-friendly by novice investors. Depending on their prior expertise and education, investors may encounter an extensive learning curve with Binance but it does offer a simplified version (Binance Lite) that is much more user-friendly for entry-level traders. Binance provides a comprehensive range of trading options via its desktop or mobile dashboards, including an excellent variety of market monitors and hundreds of currencies.

Users can also enjoy a variety of trading alternatives, such as futures and options, and diverse order types. When compared to other prominent brokerage platforms, Binance’s fees are the lowest in the segment. Binance has a maker/taker fee system, with costs varying depending on trade volume and Binance Coin (BNB) balance. In general, bigger volume trades have cheaper fees.

Fee reductions are also available to users for the following:

1. Trading with Binance (BNB) coins
2. Referral incentives
3. Acquiring VIP status by exchanging a predetermined number of assets

Security features on Binance include two-factor authentication (2FA) SMS or Google Authenticator, device management customizability, address whitelisting, and the option to regulate device access.

Paxful

Paxful is a popular peer-to-peer cryptocurrency trading and digital wallet. Paxful traders may purchase and sell cryptocurrencies using a variety of payment options. It is currently one of the most established P2P Bitcoin trading platforms. Paxful aims to make the Bitcoin trading process as simple as possible. Users may begin trading on Paxful by visiting the company’s website and clicking the Buy Bitcoin button. A notification will activate including a request for the amount of Bitcoin and the kind of fiat money to be swapped.

The site also displays the current BTC value in terms of the selected fiat currency. Additional features of Paxful include

• Biometric security
• 300+ payment methods
• Economical trading fees
• Responsive support system
• No charge trading
• For high-volume traders and large wallet capacities, clients must satisfy stringent KYC criteria and ID checks, which include answering particular security queries and visual authentication.

All three of these brokerages are great options if you want to buy Bitcoin in India. Each has their own advantages that help users exchange and buy bitcoins hassle-free.

How to Buy Bitcoin in India

You can follow these five simple steps to buy Bitcoin in India:

1. Choose your broker (Exchange Platform)
2. Create an account
3. Deposit funds in your account
4. Explore the options for Bitcoin trading
5. Buy Bitcoin using your deposits

Choose Your Broker (Exchange Platform)

Crypto brokerages are critical in facilitating Bitcoin trading and use. They functions as the input portal for ‘regular’ money (such as rupees) to be used in the purchasing of cryptocurrency, and the exit point for redeeming your investment’s worth in the form of Bitcoin. You need to choose your broker critically according to a number of factors such as its interactions with payment gateways to receive/send money, interaction with government IDs, KYC process (PAN/Aadhaar card checking), and tax audit standards.

Create an Account

Almost every broker has similar procedures for creating an account. You simply need to follow the steps, enter your necessary details and create your crypto trading account on their platform.

Beware! Don’t ever provide your personal details like bank CVV or net banking password while creating your account. If asked for the same, chances are, the broker is illegitimate and fake.

Deposit Funds Into Your Account

The next step is to transfer the balance from your bank account to your newly created trading account. Your bank account needs to be linked to your trading ID. We recommend not to transfer huge amounts and to deposit them periodically based on your investment expectations.

Explore all Options for Bitcoin Trading

Now you need to search for Bitcoin buying options. Being the top-most valued cryptocurrency, you will easily find the option just through a simple search within the platform’s navigation panel. Binance, Libertex, and Paxful have readily available options for simply clicking and starting your investment journey.

Buy Bitcoin Using Your Deposits

Now you are almost done. Simply follow the step-by-step instructions on the broker site or app to purchase Bitcoins worth the amount of money you want to swap them for.

Methods of purchasing Bitcoin

Buy Bitcoin with Debit Card

Yes, you can now buy Bitcoin in India with your debit card. Just select “Debit Card” while choosing your mode of payment to transfer funds instantly from your bank to your trading account.

Suggestion: Always check for any gateway fees that may be charged for the transaction process.

Buy Bitcoin with Credit Card

While you can buy Bitcoin with a credit card, it is usually not recommended as then the balance gets deducted from your credit account. This could lead to you spending your monthly credit limit and paying credit fees. This being said, it is still a quick and efficient way to acquire crypto, just make sure to do the necessary research and follow the advice of expert investors such as our own. Due diligence is mandatory but you can bypass hours and hours of research by reading our comprehensive and user-friendly guides. Simply select “Credit Card” while choosing your mode of payment to transfer money to your trading account.

Buy Bitcoin with Paytm

Only a handful of broker platforms, Paxful being one of these, lets you buy Bitcoin using your Paytm wallet. Create your account and log in with your id, check for the best offers to buy Bitcoin through your “Paytm Online Wallet” and you can finish your Bitcoin purchase. Follow the link to read our ultimate guide on how to buy Bitcoin with Paytm.

Suggestion: Always check for best offers before using Paytm online wallet for transactions.

Buy Bitcoin with PayPal

Paypal is simply an additional intermediary between your bank and the broker platform. Simply select “PayPal” while choosing your mode of payment, navigate the deposit method in the PayPal pop-up window that appears, and deposit funds according to your choice to your trading account. This is how to buy Bitcoin with PayPal.

As the forerunner of the modern Blockchain industry, Bitcoin has led the charge in this multi-billion dollar industry.

Step by Step Tutorial on Buying Bitcoin (Binance)

Still confused about how to buy bitcoin in India? Don’t worry. Follow these simple steps provided below to buy bitcoin from Binance in a matter of seconds:

Step 1: Create Your Account

Register with Binance by providing the necessary information, such as your email address or mobile number. For maximum protection and safety, always use a unique password for your cryptocurrency wallet. You may also create your Binance account by downloading their mobile phone application. You can add an extra layer of protection to your account by using 2FA (two-factor authentication). Under the profile tab, select the “Security” option to enable this.

Step 2: Finish the KYC Verification Process

KYC (Know your customer) is the process through which a financial institution verifies a client’s identity. Verified photo IDs, utility bills, and other papers can be used to validate your identity as part of the KYC procedure. Select the identity option from the dropdown menu after clicking on the profile tab.

Step 3: Confirm Your Identity

To begin the verification process after entering your KYC information, click on the VERIFY button. Please keep in mind that the documents you provide must only be authorized by the national government of India.

Step 4: Finalize the Verification

Confirm that the given information is correct for your KYC verification to be approved. The verification procedure may take some time, but once completed, your account will be available for trading. You may also choose between basic and advanced verification options.

Step 5: Buy Bitcoin in INR Using Binance P2P (Peer-to-peer)

Binance P2P (Peer-to-peer exchange) is a marketplace where people in nearly any jurisdiction can trade cryptocurrency directly with each other on their terms. The marketplace accepts over 70 fiat currencies, making it simple for Indian investors to trade directly in INR.

Click the wallet tab, followed by the P2P choice from the dropdown menu, to access the marketplace.

Step 6: Fill in the Necessary Details to Buy Bitcoin

Choose BTC as the coin to trade, followed by the ‘BUY’ option. Enter the amount you want to buy in INR. Choose your preferred payment method from the list of available options. To view a list of Binance-verified merchants, their minimum and maximum selling limits, the price of bitcoin to Indian rupees, and other information, click on the “only display merchant advertisements” option.

Step 7: Buy Bitcoin From Merchants

After choosing the right merchant, click the “BUY BTC” button and enter the amount to be purchased in INR.
After choosing “BUY BTC”, you will have 15 minutes to transfer the funds to the merchant using the payment method you chose previously. After you have made your payment, click “Transferred, NEXT.”

The merchant will be notified to remit the bitcoin you purchased to your account. Within a few minutes, you will receive the bitcoin in your wallet.

If there is a delay, you may always “raise an appeal.” The option becomes accessible immediately after you click the “Transferred, NEXT” button. You will then need to state your “Reason for Appeal” and provide evidence to back up your claim.

This is all there is to buying Bitcoin in India in INR. It is simple and quick. You may also follow this specific approach as a guide to buying Bitcoin on similar P2P brokerages.

Automated Bitcoin Trading

Automated trading is a cutting edge technique of online asset trading that uses the cutting edge in AI and technical analysis to making trades without the user even lifting a finger. In essence, these programs work as APIs and use bots that share the technology of blockchain, being built by quant experts who are veterans of the crypto market. You just have to select an automated trading platform and sign up for it. There will be several strategies which can be chosen based on the volume of trades and users’ preferences. Some platforms also allow personalization of these strategies but it should be done only by experts as to try your hand at these extremely finely tuned could lead to considerable losses.

Automated trading, while still it its youth, has incredible potential for retail traders and institutional investors alike.

There are several entities that provide Bitcoin bot trading services but there are some factors that must be kept in consideration when choosing one of these. The credibility of the platform should be rock-solid because it will make the trades on your behalf. It is vital to remember that, since there are no regulations around digital assets in India, you would not be able to pursue a legal framework if things go wrong. The best way to check the credibility and reputation of a platform is to read users’ reviews from a broad variety of sources.

As a very novel technology that has not reached mass adoption, now is the best time to dip your hands into the burgeoning field as the more widely proliferated automated trading it, the more competitive the trading environment is with harsh effects on the potential gain that could be acquired from them. This being said, the use of AI-based automated trading has exited in traditional finance for quite some time with BlackRock’s Aladdin system supporting the global asset manager’s assent to managing assets valued at $10 billion today. Click here for our list of recommended Bitcoin Bots.

The Best Bots for Bitcoin Trading in India and Abroad for February 2023

The following Bitcoin bot automated robot traders have been consistently praised by new and experienced investors alike as the best on the market. Even the most prolific day-trader cannot muster the skill to predict as accurately the most opportune moments and invest accordingly as these Bitcoin robots. Their machine learning algorithm enables them to consistently improve with each new trade, yielding even far greater returns than even those of the most profitable hedge funds. This is why companies the like of BlackRock, managing assets amounting to well over $15 trillion, have consistently relied on their own automated trading algorithms, to consistently generate profit even at the highest stakes, when considering that they are even partially managing government budgets. Now, the technology is finally becoming available and presents the greatest promises to those who take advantage of it first, before becoming too mainstream.

Vetting Our Recommended Brokers

Our P2P brokers are vetted based on regulations periodically so that we may provide you with the best crypto buying possibilities. We thoroughly vet the brokers that we suggest by creating accounts with them, testing them for withdrawal speeds and requirements, looking over their investment holdings, the range of payment methods that they take, and meticulously scrutinising their terms and conditions. This is done to make sure that they adhere to legal standards and that users may open accounts without risk. We also consider community feedback and analyze every allegation or complaint before initiating link brokerage. As a new investor, you should always check trustable review sites before placing a deposit with any broker. This is especially critical for a market that is yet to be fully regulated. Your safety is our topmost priority!

To learn more about popular trading platform authenticity, read our report on the best cryptocurrency trading platforms.

How to Store Your Bitcoin Safely

Bitcoins are kept in a crypto wallet. However, most of the time, it is a digital one rather than a physical one as we do with cash or credit cards. The wallet might be hardware or software-based. The wallet can be stored on a desktop computer or a mobile device, or it can be kept secure by writing the private keys and access addresses on paper. There are usually two types of wallets, “hot” and “cold”, the latter being the most secured option for storing bitcoins.

Hot Wallets

Digital wallets are often referred to as “hot” wallets. Hot wallets are wallets that operate on internet-connected devices like computers, smartphones, and tablets. Since these wallets produce the private keys to your money on these internet-connected devices, this might lead to vulnerability. While having immediate access to and the ability to interact with your funds makes a hot wallet incredibly practical, they usually lack security.

Cold Wallets

Cold wallets are the most secure method of storing Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies. However, they often need a bit more understanding to set up. These are not linked to the internet and hence have a far lower chance of being hacked. They are also known as hardware wallets or offline wallets. Examples would be USBs, Hard Drives and other offline storage solutions/facilities.

Bitcoin Price Fluctuations

The price of Bitcoin varies due to market forces, buyer and user attitudes, government laws, and media excitement. All of these variables contribute to price volatility.

2010 was when Bitcoin witnessed its “first” meteoric climb. By October 2010, it was valued at $0.10. April 2011 was when the currency entered its first “bull run”. Prices rose 3000%, peaked at nearly $29-$32 and bottomed back again at $2. By November 2013, Bitcoin again hiked up at $1000 and quickly came down again in December to $530. After a few more years of fluctuation due to market volatility, the currency peaked in its bull run phase in 2017, steeping over the $17k mark which again substantiated at $7200 at the end of 2019. The pre and post-pandemic phases resulted surprisingly well for the currency again, and it was priced at $29,374 by the end of 2020. 2021 was till-date the biggest phase jump for the valuations of the currency. During the first half of the year, Bitcoin’s prices stipulated to $64,000 which further went down and again rose to $68000 in November. This was the highest the coin has ever been. In September 2022, Bitcoin was priced at $19,743.

Conservative estimates suggest that the currency could hit $100,000 by 2023, but more optimistic crypto aficionados believe that $250,000 is not far off. Major financial organisations are also weighing in, with JPMorgan projecting a long-term high of $146,000 and Bloomberg estimating it might reach $400,000 by 2022.

People in a variety of businesses feel blockchain (the technology upon which all cryptocurrencies are based) has the potential to be a disruptive force and provide a number of novel services to a variety of industries. Investing in Bitcoin might be risky, but it is not far off  to say that buying Bitcoin is perhaps the most effective and exponentially lucrative opportunity as of 2022. In simplicity, the profits are made by holding it and selling it at the right time (if you aren’t a die-hard HODLer at least).

Now, to answer the question asked most often regarding Bitcoin…

Is Bitcoin a Good Investment?

In all honesty, the harshest thing about choosing an investment is that you just simply cannot predict how profitable it is gonna be. Predictability in this case is inversely proportional to risk, and that again is inversely proportional to profitability. Financial domains and market-makers around the world are well aware of the disruptive potential of Bitcoin. Like all other innovations in Blockchain, Bitcoin is also based on the concept of decentralization, and that’s a concept which comes part and parcel with large-scale tech-enthusiast communities. The coin is also a symbolic representation of people’s power and voice against centralized authority. In terms of the causes for increased value, the reasons are generally perceived to be:

Limited supply: Max supply of Bitcoin is at a cap of 21 million. This scarcity greatly aggregates Bitcoin’s increase in value.

Nonfungibility: Yes, same as NFTs, you cannot copy or counterfeit a Bitcoin. The blockchain keeps track of its transactions in ledgers and operates as per the original rules set by Satoshi Nakamoto.

Easy Transferability: As long as you have your receiver’s wallet address, you can send him/her any amount of Bitcoin in less than a second.

Yes, the price dips are high, but price gains are significantly higher. Hence, we can surely say, as of 2022, there is no other investment option that is as rewarding as buying Bitcoin; and there won’t be any anytime soon.

What to Know Before Buying Bitcoin

Here are the top 3 things you must consider before you start buying Bitcoins:

Market Volatility: You need to check the present market cap and that of recent and previous times before you start investing.

Checking recent reviews on professional sites: If you are someone who is just starting on your crypto investment journey, checking professional reviews for anything related to Bitcoin is a must-do. Read more of our blog posts to learn in-depth about crypto nuances.

Checking new trends regarding investment procedures: The technology behind this is developing every day. Brilliant minds are working day and night to procure, design and develop better solutions. Always keep yourself up-to-date regarding recent investment trends.

Consulting someone you trust who knows the market well: Anyone whom you feel trustable and knowledgeable enough. Got no one? Write to us on our socials and we will try our best to solve your queries.

Latest News About Bitcoin

Seasoned Bitcoin holders are rapidly accumulating more coins indicating a possible “bottom” of the bear market, as investors become more optimistic about the future of Bitcoin. Trends also project increasing worldwide usage of cryptocurrency, a rise in institutional investments, and the potential for Bitcoin ETFs as potential catalysts of a market recovery.

Conclusion

Investment is not a race, it’s a marathon, a journey that requires time, persistence, and utmost dedication. The Indian investment market compared to the West is still in its stage of infancy. Now is the best time for Indians to get into the space, and among all cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin can generate the greatest returns, if invested intelligently.

Crypto products and NFTs are unregulated and can be highly risky. There may be no regulatory recourse for any loss from such transactions