buy bitcoin via credit card

June 14, 2018 6:49 PM

I want to make a $25 donation to a group that takes only bitcoin. What is the easiest way to buy bitcoin?

I looked and there are no bitcoin ATMs nearby me. I'd prefer to just buy some via credit card online, but if that's not a good idea I won't. I have paypal, apple pay, venmo if those are ways to get it. I am zero percent interested in keeping any, and don't care if I lose $5 or whatever on the transaction, so best price is not a concern.

posted by skewed to Computers & Internet (2 answers total)

Best answer: You're looking for a Bitcoin exchange. Coinbase is probably the most popular and user-friendly one; you can buy coins using a debit card, and send them to your own wallet or another address. You do have to verify your identity, which means uploading a selfie and a photo ID. I used them a while back, with no particular difficulty other than waiting a few days for an ACH transfer to go through (I was selling rather than buying).

The reason it's difficult to buy Bitcoin online is that most online payment mechanisms are reversible, and Bitcoin transactions are inherently irreversible. If you pay with a credit card, take the coins and then do a chargeback, the exchange is out the money. So exchanges tend to be super paranoid about fraud, which is why they impose waiting periods and/or identity-verification processes.

You're not likely to find an exchange that accepts Paypal or Venmo, because both of them explicitly ban cryptocurrency transactions in their TOS.
posted by teraflop at 7:16 PM on June 14, 2018 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: thanks, question resolved!
posted by skewed at 9:06 PM on June 14, 2018