Where do you buy Bitcoins in the US? There are several different ways to do it, depending on an interplay of privacy and cost. Right now, in the Bitcoin market, there exist considerable price differences with different sources. You need to be intelligent about buying Bitcoins in the US because you can usually get a much cheaper rate than at MtGox for instance. Here are some best ways to buy Bitcoins in the US that I found –
1. Coinbase: Extremely convenient, not anonymous, best price
If you’re not looking for anonymity, Coinbase will give you the best price, period. I found the price here to be lower than even the in-person meetups where people had made a market in BTC/USD. It is also usually about 10% cheaper than MtGox price, so there is really no reason to buy on MtGox ever (even including the 1% fees charged by Coinbase). The only reason you might want to move away from Coinbase is if you want to buy Bitcoins anonymously.
I have the highest confidence in Coinbase also because it is backed by some of the biggest Venture Capital firms, so I know they are not pulling a scam.
Also, if you complete all the identity verification processes, you can buy up to 50 BTC instantaneously each day. That means you don’t even have to wait for confirmations to spend your Bitcoins that you bought. I think it’s a great service.
2. Bitcoin Brokers: Completely anonymous, Premium Pricing
This is a completely anonymous service. You deposit cash into the bank account of the seller of the Bitcoin and you’ll get your Bitcoin when the seller confirms or within 48 hours of this. The price is based on the MtGox price plus a premium, usually 2%-3% so it is definitely much more expensive than Coinbase. However, you don’t need to disclose any identities in this case. The service itself acts as an escrow and you pay a 2% fees.
This is a good method to buy Bitcoins in the US if you’re located far away from a city or a place where it is hard to meet people in person and you still want to maintain your anonymity. Or for whatever reason, you don’t want to meet sellers face to face to confirm transactions.
3. LocalBitcoins: Convenient, semi-anonymous, average pricing
Localbitcoins is a site that aims to bring buyers and sellers together. The price is usually higher than what Coinbase offers, but you have relative anonymity here because you don’t really need to reveal your identity when buying Bitcoins. That being said, there’s always an element of risk when you’re dealing with this locally because someone might try to scam you. Keep your guard up and always meet at a public place and wait for at least one confirmation of the transaction before you part with your cash.
If you live in a place like New York, you can buy Bitcoins in New York from a very enthusiastic little group of people who meet at Union Square every Monday from 5pm onwards, called now the Satoshi Square meetup. There are similar meetups in a number of larger cities all over the country. This can be a good place to buy some Bitcoin and network with the community.
These are the three easy ways to buy Bitcoins in the US. Have you tried any of these? Do you know of other ways? Let me know.
Photo Credit: bfishadow
11 Responses to “Where to Buy Bitcoins in US”
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We offer a lower price than Mt. Gox and use Western Union and MoneyGram. If you need the coins urgently – use Western Union, they can be delivered to you in 1-2 hours hour (depending on how quickly you pay and how quickly we can get the money from a WU office).
bitcoini.com/en/ We offer a lower price than Mt. Gox and use Western Union and MoneyGram. If you need the coins urgently – use Western Union, they can be delivered to you in 1-2 hours hour (depending on how quickly you pay and how quickly we can get the money from a WU office).
(Sorry for the repost)
Is there any advantage to using your services over Coinbase?
You can say that we are not really a competition to Coinbase. Our operation is many, many times smaller. However, we offer speed and anonymity. With Coinbase you need to link an US account to your Coinbase profile, which is killing the purpose of using Bitcoins a bit. Our experience in dealing with “bitcoiners” has taught us that they are unusually sensitive when it comes to providing information about themselves to big companies (esp. in the US), and even more so when that can be linked directly to a sell or purchase of Bitcoins. We need only an e-mail and an user name, and do not keep a record of the Western Union and Money Gram transactions in either the virtual or physical world. Regarding speed – an order from the US can be cleared in less than 1 hour, if the customer pays quickly. Regarding price, you can say that our price is an average of Coinbase and Mt. Gox.
Vladislav,
Thanks for your comment. Fair point – Coinbase does need to remove anonymity from the picture. I am glad to see your prices aren’t as high at MtGox though. This seems like a good service to try out for people who value anonymity. Thanks for providing this information to my readers. I am sure some of them will find it valuable.
Cheers
You are very welcome! 🙂
You can also buy bitcoin on westernuniontobitcoin.org. They have cheaper and faster service!
RIPOFF REPORT – SCAM REPORT- WESTERNUNIONTOBITCOIN.ORG IS A SCAM.
This site has been up for some time however i couldn’t find 1 negative review.
Well I send the guy $600 and of course like clockwork the piece of S**T just like the P***Y that he is, stops answering emails.
The internet is full of scams like this especially surrounding bitcoin.
WESTERNUNIONTOBITCOIN.ORG IS A SCAM. DO NOT USE THIS SERVICE UNLESS YOU WANT TO THROW MONEY AWAY
if you are looking for ways to easily sell Bitcoins, please read the articles on our website.
There are a bunch of places where you can sell bitcoin for cash. Try Wex, Coinbase or Bitfinex.
CashApp buy/sell bitcoin.