Buying Bitcoin: 2015 vs 2021 (Thread)
Exchange vs. Exchange

In 2013/2014 I sold a pedal for $BTC. In 2015, the bug bit me. Lately I've felt it used to be easier, so I did a "test".

Tested:
@coinbase
@krakenfx
@RobinhoodApp
@BittrexExchange
@Gemini
@BinanceUS

@Binance:

I was a user of this platform for most of 2018, but was purged after they dumped American users a year or two later, due to mounting regulatory pressure. I have since attempted to return to the new US division. 14 days in & still waiting for account verification.

@coinbase

I have been using CB since 2015, for better or worse, almost exclusively for getting in & out of $USD. I have lived primarily on crypto and this was how I converted my salary to $BTC. Was a Shift cardholder until that ended. I changed banks & they block CB tx's.

@coinbase allows bank wires & card purchases. Card purchases are immediately available for use & transfer to your own external $BTC wallet.

@RobinhoodApp is borderline. I use this service for buying & holding $doge. For holding only, it is great. The verification process is fast and I like that. You can't move crypto assets in anyway. For me, this is not useful. Once this is corrected, I'll likely use it extensively.

@krakenfx has one of the nicest layouts, imo. Beyond that, the experience is slow to load and buying crypto is even slower. You have to wire fiat in and that is not fast enough for my purposes.

@BittrexExchange was my favorite trading platform in 2016/2017. I left in favor of @binance the following year. I decided to give buying $btc a go here & was unsuccessful. They use a convoluted tx verification process with banks and mine shuts it down everytime.

@gemini might be on to something, but time will tell. I like the verification process and the layout. I was able to buy effortlessly twice now, but had to wait 2 days for the card purchase to fully settle before I could transfer $btc out. If this can ever be resolved, I'm loyal.

As much as it pains me to say this, it was easier, in my personal experience, to buy cryptocurrency 7 years ago than it is today. I know many will say "use xyz exchange. You've never heard of it, but it's flawless".

No. I shouldn't have to hop around & try 40 different services.

No one should. This process needs to be simplified and streamlined. Until the on ramp to cryptocurrency is paved and the mud holes filled in, true mass adoption is still unattainable. Some are close. Whoever gets their first will be around for a hundred years.

~LC