I’ve been asked a few times how to buy #Bitcoin with Pounds and thought it was worth writing a post about it.
I have used Blockchain for small deposits and Coinfloor for larger deposits and exchange trading.
Blockchain
You can purchase #Bitcoin through a wallet from Blockchain. To get the wallet you need to register and get verified with ID. They use a company called coinify for fiat to Bitcoin exchange who have their office in Denmark and handle the fiat to bitcoin exchange. You choose how much GBP you want to send and then get Danish bank details to transfer the money too (you need you IBAN and BIC numbers as it’s an international transfer). You talk to your bank or do online banking to send the amount to Coinify and they will credit your account in BTC. Make sure you send the funds in Sterling and don’t convert to Euros or anything else. The Bitcoin exchange rate may vary depending on how long it all takes and how the price has moved. There is a limit of how many GBP you can send at once (it was £500 maxium every 3-5 days when I used it). My bank didn’t charge me any fees for the transfer as it’s EU and I sent the money in Sterling. Blockchain/Coinify also accept Visa and Mastercards and charge an additional fee for it.
Pros:
- It’s free if your bank doesn’t charge you anything
- Credit card option available (additional fees apply)
Cons:
- Time consuming if you want to transfer more than £500 as you have to wait 3 days
- Only allows small amounts
- No exchange so you get a predetermined exchange rate**
Coinfloor
Coinfloor call themselves the “UK’s No.1 Bitcoin exchange”. The company is based in London and are banking with a bank in Poland (this can change over time). To access their services you will have to create an account and get ID verified. Once set up you have the option to buy #Bitcoin with via Express Buy or SWIFT/SEPA transfer (you need you IBAN and BIC numbers). Express buy lets you buy Bitcoin by local UK faster payment transfer which should take up to 2h depending on your bank. The fees are displayed in Bitcoin before you purchase and are much higher than depositing the ‘slow’ way. Your exchange rate is only good for 20min or so and you might end up with a different rate than you thought you would.
The other way to buy Bitcoin with Coinfloor is to trade on their exchange. To deposit GBP you have to send your funds to their (currently) Polish bank account. You can find the details when you log in and go to ‘Deposits’. This is an international transfer and you might have to call your bank to process it which can be free depending on your bank. Make sure you send the money in GBP and don’t convert to Euro or something else. The deposit can take 1-5 business days. Once the funds have arrived in your Coinfloor account you can trade them into Bitcoin at your leisure. The exchange for GBP has a good trade volume and often follows the Dollar/BTC movements. The exchange doesn’t have a chart but you can follow the price movements on tradingview.
Pros:
- You can use Coinfloor to cash out your fiat
- No-fees exchange
- Express-buy available with UK bank account details (the fees are much higher though)
- Adding more crypto currencies as we speak
Cons:
- Minimum deposit of £1000
- Not free to deposit/withdraw fiat currency
- Exchange has no chart, only an order book
- No Credit/debit card payment
Disclaimer
Please note that there are many other ways to purchase Bitcoin with GBP and this posts reflects my personal experience only. I don’t have any financial interest in either company I mentioned.