Ever since Bitcoin made a sudden hike just about a month back, there has been a lot of buzz about it. And since the sudden rise in the value of Bitcoins, people have become more curious about it than ever now. The most common questions that any person who is new to the concept of bitcoins would be- what is bitcoin? How to buy and sell bitcoins in India? Here, being country specific is really important since the government of each country has a very different take on bitcoins and the trade of it. To make things easier for you if you are looking for a to z information related to bitcoins, here we are with an informative article for you.

What is a Bitcoin?

If you are searching for bitcoins and how to buy and sell bitcoins in India, there are chances you might have come across the term cryptocurrency. If not, the most relevant and significant way of defining bitcoin would be that it is a digital currency. The value of bitcoin is generated using the cryptography rules. Also, bitcoin was the first cryptocurrency to come into being and was invented in the year 2009 by Satoshi Nakamoto in Japan. Ever since bitcoin is considered to be the most valuable cryptocurrency.

If you wonder how this digital currency works and how to buy and sell bitcoins in India, pretty much like the term “digital currency” explains, there is no need to store or move money. Bitcoins are self-contained and are virtual. Nonetheless, this does not mean the value of bitcoins is virtual. The value of bitcoins is as real as that stack of notes in your pocket.

There can be two ways of dealing with the bitcoins that you own-

1. You can use the existing bitcoins to make online purchases and enjoy online services
2. You can keep the bitcoins are they are and wait for the value of it to increase over time. When the value increases, you can sell it and make a profit.

Prerequisites of buying bitcoins

As apparent as it can be, the first thing you need to buy bitcoins is enough money to be able to afford them. But, there one more prerequisite, which is not as obvious, especially for a layman. Before you start trading and before you look for information about how to buy and sell bitcoins in India, make sure to have a Wallet that can store your bitcoins and digital cash. It is not exactly a strict rule to have a wallet, but the need to have it is for security reasons. As you invest your money in it, you would not want to leave any stone unturned or risk your investment. This is why the best practice is to set up a wallet so that your bitcoins and digital cash are secure.

Types Of Wallets

That being said, there are a number of wallets.

1. Hardware wallet- this type of wallet lets you store and encrypt your bitcoins on your hardware itself and make them secure.
2. Online wallet- In an online wallet, you are given a private key which is the identification point that your bitcoins belong to YOU. Since the private key is not recoverable- as in if you forget your private key you can’t change it or get it back, you have to be very careful. If by any chance you lose your private key or forget it, you can never ever have an access to your stored bitcoins.
3. Hot Wallets- Hot wallets are the ones that you can store online, have on any connected device, like your phone, computer, laptop or whatever. Since the hot wallet means your key is out there online, it clearly is not 100 percent secure and there is always some risk related to it- though not always and very rarely.
4. Cold Wallets- Cold wallets, on the other hand, are really secure since it has nothing to do with online storage. This means you make a very sure shot escape from cyber-crimes related to this. Simply speaking, here, hardware wallets are cold wallets- which offer maximum safety and security. All you need to do is have the device that has your private key stored. Now every time you want to make a transaction, all you have to do is plug it into the computer and voila! You are ready to make a transaction. Another safety aspect of these hardware wallets is that they come with buttons. Every time you make a transaction, you to authenticate each transaction by pressing the buttons. This makes it highly secure and impossible to hack.

These wallets not only help you store the digital money and bitcoins, the private key that you have also gives you the liberty to make purchases of the bitcoins by exploring marketplaces. If this seems mind-boggling, think of it like an online store, where you move around and pick products coming from different sellers.

How to Buy Bitcoins In India

Now that you know you need to have a wallet to be able to store bitcoins, let us talk about what are the ways through which you can buy bitcoins. There are two ways through which you can buy bitcoins-

1. You can directly trade bitcoins and buy it from other people, pretty much like any other service. There are online marketplaces using which you can connect and make purchases of bitcoins.
2. The second way is more suggested to beginners. This is by using different digital currency exchange broker services offered. We will be discussing these broker services in detail below, to help you get as much information and a clear view of how it works.

Steps Of How to Buy And Sell Bitcoins In India

Step 1- Since you know you need a wallet to be able to store your bitcoins, you have to create your wallet. We have discussed the popular 3 online wallets and 3 hardware wallets in India out of which you can make a choice. All you have to do is visit the website of the wallet provider that we have named and sign-up. You will be required to fill-in fields, like your name, email id, and password.

Step 2- Now, after you have built a home for your bitcoins, you are ready to know how to buy and sell bitcoins in India. For buying bitcoins, you have to choose a website that handles in the trading of bitcoins. Here, we have named 10 most popular websites to buy bitcoins in India, out of which you can choose.

1. Unocoin
2. Zebpay
3. Coinsecure
4. Coinmama
5. LocalBitcoins
6. Bitcoin ATMs
7. VirWoX
8. Mycelium Local Trader
9. ShapeShift
10. Bitcoin- otc

Similar to how you’d visit the website of the wallet, you have to visit the website of the exchange and register with them by signing up. Here, you also need to connect with your bank since you will be buying bitcoins and need to make payments.  Also, many of these exchanges might even have their own wallets that let you store the bitcoins and digital money. But note that it is not mandatory to use their wallet along with purchasing bitcoins through them. You can any day use these exchange websites to buy bitcoins and store them in any wallet that you choose.

Step 3- After you have registered with the bitcoin exchange website, you have to go to the buy section of the website or application. Here, you can select the amount of bitcoins hat you decide to buy. At this point what is important for you to know is the quantification of the bitcoins and in what quantities you can buy them. Since you already might be knowing that the rates of bitcoins went really high, you can buy little amounts of it, even a fraction of it. Technically, you can buy bitcoins at up to 8 decimal points, which means you can even buy 0.00000001 bitcoin. It all depends on your budget.

Whatever exchange you have chosen might be having their own mode of payments. Mostly, exchange websites let you choose out of cash payment, credit card payment, and bank transfer- whatever suits you. Once you pay, congrats, you have your bitcoin in your wallet!

You might like:

• Best Cryptocurrency Wallets 2018
• Types of Cryptocurrencies

Best Bitcoin Wallets In India

Now that you know how to buy and sell bitcoins in India, let’s talk more about wallets. As we already discussed that some of the exchange services also offer bitcoin wallets. So if you find the same name in this list, you can totally use the services for the wallet as well.

Online Bitcoin Wallets

1. Unocoin

As of now, in India, Unocoin is the most recommended exchange. Here you can buy, sell, and mine bitcoin. As already said, Unocoin is an exchange. But it also lets you store your bitcoins in their wallet. Unocoin is an online wallet.

Unocoin has its headquarters in Bangalore and the services are also extended to foreign countries as well. Using Unocoin, you can buy or sell a maximum of 20 bitcoins in a day. And if you want to make exchanges using Unocoin, you have to have PAN verification. One point to note is that on Unocoin, the price of bitcoin is really high when you compare with other countries.

2. LocalBitcoins

Though LocalBitcoins is also one of the exchange platforms, it operates a little differently from Unocoin. Using LocalBitcoins, you can directly trade with another person who has bitcoins and wants to sell his bitcoins. Here, you can get different deals and prices being offered by different sellers. The amount of bitcoin you want to buy can also be really small, if your budget is not high. And apparently, you cans tore your bitcoins in LocalBitcoins.

3. Zebpay

Zebpay is yet another exchange that lets you store your bitcoins using its online wallet. Zebpay is an Indian exchange. You can buy or sell bitcoins and store your bitcoins on it by downloading the app of Zebpay on Google Play Store or iOS Appstore- depending what device you use. You need to provide the details of your bank account and PAN card to have an account with this app. After verification, your wallet is active and you can buy and sell bitcoins.

4. Coinsecure

As compared to the other exchanges, this one is less recommended. But since it has been mentioned in the list of exchanges that are active in India, you can use this as well. But in case you choose not to use this exchange for buying and selling purpose, you can definitely use it as your online wallet if your choice is an online wallet and not a hardware wallet.

For most of these online wallets, you can download the app on your hone and use them.

Hardware Bitcoin Wallets

1. Ledger Nano S

In this list of hardware wallets, Ledger Nano S tops the list with its sleek and amazing design. Ledger Nano S is very handy as it has been designed keeping in mind its use. Besides bitcoin, Ledger Nano S also supports 8 other cryptocurrencies. Also, this is the cheapest multi-currency hardware wallet that you can lay your hands on. It has been designed by a French startup. It has a flash drive and an OLED interface. You can navigate using the two buttons that have provided. The best thing about it is the backup seed key that you get in case you want to recover your bitcoins.

2. Trezor

If we talk about the oldest hardware wallet for bitcoin, we are talking about Trezor. It was invented by Satoshi Labs as the first ever in the world. With an OLED screen and a pin code of 9 digits, your bitcoin is really safe. To take safety on a hardware wallet to next level, it also has a seed key of 24 words that helps you in recovering your bitcoins.

3. KeepKey

As compared to the other two, KeepKey is not much recommended. It is bigger than both Ledger Nano S and Trazor. Other than bitcoin it supports 5 other cryptocurrencies.

Current Bitcoin Rate

Besides having a knowledge of how to buy and sell bitcoins in India, it is also important to be updated about the current value of bitcoins in India. The rate of bitcoin on January 20, 2018, is –

1 bitcoin= 801963.53 Indian Rupee

Look Before You Leap

Besides knowing how to buy and sell bitcoins in India, you also need to know the risk factors that you are signing up for by engaging in bitcoin exchange. The biggest reason to rethink wanting to invest in bitcoin or any cryptocurrency for that matter is that no government or central bank regulates them. The two of the main advantages of that is that there is a lot of privacy and independence in trading. But that doesn’t take away security-related concerns, which are real and big. The second danger of investing your money in bitcoins is- you never know if the rates will go up or down. It is almost like gambling. Just like the chances of you being profited, there are chances of you falling hard and encountering great amounts of loss. Especially in India, people have become more alert ever since the RBI issued a statement regarding digital currencies and warned people of its dangers. So, when you are taking the risk and investing in bitcoins, it is solely your decision and you are the only person to bear the consequences- the government will do nothing about it.

All of that being said, the wisest thing to do would be to test the waters and take a very careful step. While you can go online and read thousands of articles about how to buy and sell bitcoins in India, it is more of a matter of fate and luck. So, invest only the amount of money that if lost doesn’t bring a big financial scarcity for you. Cryptocurrencies have become really popular among people and it is only witnessing a greater and brighter future. With so many differing takes and opinions of different experts on cryptocurrencies and bitcoins, this is totally your call if you would want to experiment and play for win or loss.

We hope this article helped you gain a clearer insight on how to buy and sell bitcoins in India. In order to read more helpful articles related to different fields and queries, please visit our website www.trickideas.com

Are you looking for a more helpful content to know in detail about wallets that you can use for other cryptocurrencies as well? Don’t worry, we have got your back. please read this article and find the most helpful information! Best Cryptocurrency Wallets That You can Use in 2018

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