How Do You Buy Bitcoin?
If you don’t want to mine bitcoin, it can be bought using a cryptocurrency exchange. Most people will not be able to purchase an entire BTC because of its price, but you can buy portions of BTC on these exchanges in fiat currency like U.S. dollars. For example, you can buy bitcoin on Coinbase by creating an account and funding it. You can fund your account using your bank account, credit card, or debit card. The following video explains more about buying bitcoin.
How Is Bitcoin Used?
Bitcoin was initially designed and released as a peer-to-peer payment method. However, its use cases are growing due to its increasing value and competition from other blockchains and cryptocurrencies.
Payment
To use your Bitcoin, you need to have a cryptocurrency wallet. Wallets hold the private keys to the bitcoin you own, which need to be entered when you’re conducting a transaction. Bitcoin is accepted as a means of payment for goods and services at many merchants, retailers, and stores.
Brick-and-mortar stores that accept cryptocurrencies will generally display a sign that says “Bitcoin Accepted Here”; the transactions can be handled with the requisite hardware terminal or wallet address through QR codes and touchscreen apps. An online business can easily accept Bitcoin by adding this payment option to its other online payment options: credit cards, PayPal, etc.
Investing and Speculating
Investors and speculators became interested in Bitcoin as it grew in popularity. Between 2009 and 2017, cryptocurrency exchanges emerged that facilitated bitcoin sales and purchases. Prices began to rise, and demand slowly grew until 2017, when its price broke $1,000. Many people believed Bitcoin prices would keep climbing and began buying them to hold. Traders began using cryptocurrency exchanges to make short-term trades, and the market took off.9
In 2022, Bitcoin’s price came crashing down. In March 2022, it was as high as $47,454 and as of November 2022, it is $15,731. The drop in Bitcoin is partly due to larger market turmoil related to inflation, rising interest rates, supply chain issues from Covid, and the war in Ukraine. Additionally, some important tokens have crashed in the crypto world, as well as one of the important exchanges, which has raised concerns about the stability of digital currencies.9
Risks of Investing in Bitcoin
Speculative investors have been drawn to Bitcoin after its rapid price appreciation in recent years. Bitcoin had a price of $7,167.52 on Dec. 31, 2019, and a year later, it had appreciated more than 300% to $28,984.98. It continued to surge in the first half of 2021, trading at a record high of $68,990 in November 2021—it then fell over the next few months to hover around $40,000. As mentioned above, in early 2022, the price started to drop and has continued to do so for most of 2022.10
Thus, many people purchase Bitcoin for its investment value rather than its ability to act as a medium of exchange. However, the lack of guaranteed value and its digital nature means its purchase and use carry several inherent risks. For example, many investor alerts have been issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) regarding Bitcoin investing.
- Regulatory risk: The lack of uniform regulations about Bitcoin (and other virtual currencies) raises questions over their longevity, liquidity, and universality.
- Security risk: Most individuals who own and use Bitcoin have not acquired their tokens through mining operations. Rather, they buy and sell Bitcoin and other digital currencies on popular online markets, known as cryptocurrency exchanges. Bitcoin exchanges are entirely digital and—as with any virtual system—are at risk from hackers, malware, and operational glitches.
- Insurance risk: Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are not insured through the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) or the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Some exchanges provide insurance through third parties. In 2019, prime dealer and trading platform SFOX announced it would be able to offer Bitcoin investors FDIC insurance, but only for the portion of transactions involving cash.11
- Fraud risk: Even with the security measures inherent within a blockchain, there are still opportunities for fraudulent activity. For instance, in July 2013, the SEC brought legal action against an operator of a Bitcoin-related Ponzi scheme.12
- Market risk: As with any investment, Bitcoin values can fluctuate. Indeed, the value of the currency has seen wild swings in price over its short existence. Subject to high-volume buying and selling on exchanges, it is highly sensitive to any newsworthy events. According to the CFPB, the price of Bitcoin fell by 61% in a single day in 2013, while the one-day price drop record in 2014 was as big as 80%