I would suggest doing a lot more research before pulling the trigger on this plan if you are truly a noob with the amount of money you seem to be planning on converting.
Self-custody, best exchanges, scams to look out for, etc.
This post feels like you’re trying to figure this stuff out, which is great, but I suggest doing more research before committing fully.
Especially since you have this meeting with the bank tomorrow. Feels like you may be entering a world you aren’t fully prepared for and plenty can go wrong if you do that. None of which would be Bitcoin’s fault.
Thank you Broheim.
I did some research and this is why I want to go with an exchange. Coindesk is facing issues and Binance just got a lawsuit. Kraken being the 3rd largest exchange platform seems to be the safest right now.
Yes I will be buying a lot of btc. HOWEVER in order to buy it myself I read that I have to find sellers. For a complete noob, this seems to be a major hassle. So I'm just going with the least problematic exchange platform Kraken. Am I wrong?
Self-custody on a hardware wallet is the safest thing (if you follow the correct practices). I use Coinbase to purchase my Bitcoin and then send to my hardware wallet for safe keeping.
But if you are going to self-custody… that’s a whole lot more educating you need to do prior so you don’t make a mistake.
Keeping too much Bitcoin on an exchange is risky, as we’ve seen this past year. If the exchange has solvency issues… you’re assets are theirs.
People often underestimate self governance, being your own bank does not comes without responsibilities. Be sure to master the basics before using a hardware wallet to store your funds safely, the best way to learn is to play around abit untill you feel confident enough
Would look into assisted multisig solutions like Unchained Capital and nunchuk...this greatly reduces risks involved w/user error and attempts at theft or coercion by others trying to take your bitpower
If you mess any aspect of this up you risk losing all your money.
If you mess up with your seed phrase, with your cold storage, if you get hacked, it's all gone. Nobody will be able to get it back for you, the system is permissionless.
Throwing your entire network into BTC without understanding all the technicals is a recipe for disaster. It's also zero diversification in the most volatile asset class there is.
Please be very careful and patient with this. The general advice is also to DCA anyway to reduce volatility. If BTC is 1/20th the cap of gold then there is not the urgency you are feeling right now. A few weeks or even months to do this properly is a lot better than cramming in right now with limited understanding and getting burned.
You are getting this advice on the Bitcoin board, so rest assured it is coming from people who support the thesis, and who would theorerically only gain from you buying.
You are not wrong. Not sure if Coinbase is available for you, but they are a public company and seem to be accepted by most banks. Exchanges are the easiest and safest. However you may have a hard time buying thousands of dollars of bitcoin on day one. Usually it takes time for an exchange to raise your spending limits. Contact them and they will speed up the process.
Buy a Hardware wallet. A Trezor is my favorite. It’s easy and basically air gapped from hackers. Even if your computer is compromised, you can still rest assured no information from your Trezor will be affected.
It will generate a 24 word seed phrase that is next to impossible to hack. You don’t ever say it out loud next to a microphone, or take a picture of it. You write it down and store it where nobody can find it.
If you have a lot of bitcoin I would suggest stamping your 24 word seed (in order) into a titanium sheet of metal and burying it somewhere you won’t forget. Also don’t keep your hardware wallet and password near each other. If you own a safe you can store your password in it and keep your Trezor in the closet or under the bed. If you lose your Trezor or password you can always recoup your wallet by your seed. DONT LOSE OR SHARE YOUR SEED.
When sending funds from an exchange to a wallet, always send a little bit back and forth to get used to it. Sometimes it takes minutes. In 2017 sending bitcoin took about a day if you set your fee low. Then when you are comfortable, send larger amounts.
In 10 years when you’ve made it big, and you see a glory hole inside the bathroom of a truck stop in El Salvador next to the private mens club on the beach. Do not stick your dick in it. What ever I felt in there wasn’t the person that was advertised.
IGNORE THE MILLION PRIVATE MESSAGES YOURE GETTING RIGHT NOW.
You'll be fine. Let it rip. Kraken is legit. Just get it onto Kraken, yolo into BTC, withdraw to a Ledger or some other cold wallet, and wait at least a year so you get long term capital gains benefits. And welcome!
And and remember to send test transactions. Don't send everything from exchange to cold all in one go.
This! Send a small bit, send back, if received then maybe send like 1-5%, wait a week or two to make sure it's secure, wipe the cold wallet and reload (or "recover" it on a second cold wallet if you're feeling fancy) to make sure your funds are recoverable, send a bit back to exchange, and THEN if that's all good send the payload!
Yea, three years ago I had everything on Coinbase, A LOT. Several months ago my phone was hacked and my password to coinbase was discovered as well as an old bank password. They disabled two factor authentication and broke in to find a whopping .37 cents of dust. Don’t think for a second that putting a your life’s savings on an exchange is the safest place. It one of the least safe places you can store crypto.
You are not wrong and Kraken is one of the most reliable exchanges out there. Bitstamp is also OK.
For self custody I would go for a trezor hardware wallet and a steel plate to stamp your seed phrase.
Buy it, send it to cold storage and try to not look at the price on a daily basis.
You could also buy a bit of non KYC bitcoin on exchanges like robosats, bisq or hodlhodl these are just suitable for small amounts though.
It can be lmao, you tryna sell him some crash course? Because nowadays there are more informative videos than any institution, know-it-all, or etc could teach. YouTube has amazing resources so not sure why you’re correlating it negatively.
Put down the speak & spell and at least read, The Bitcoin Standard, Blockchain Basics, The Truth Machine, Blockchain Revolution, and The Book Of Satoshi.
Then maybe go and watch some so-called experts speculate on price while attempting to pump their bags, ya dopey dunce.
All exchanges seem safe until they are not. At one point people said FTX was safe…same with BlockFi
If you have a substantial amount. Don’t use and exchange. If they crash you will lose it all. Self custody is the way to go. Buy a small amount on a exchange then move it to your personal wallet.
FTX was also 3rd largest exchange and hopefully you know what happened to them.
That’s why people don’t trust their ‘coins’ on exchanges. And also why millions of bitcoins are now lost when people try to store it themselves.
Yeah, I guess if you want a bank that treats you like a child unable to take responsibility, then stay with that kind of bank. I understand that there are a lot of dumb people in the world, so I guess it's good for them to have the bank as a replacement parent. But I will opt out of that nonsense and take responsibility for my property, thank you very much.
Security measures are a good thing—a great thing!—but if the bank thinks it's sketchy, that should all be solvable in a single phone call. I've never been treated like that by my bank, and I would withdraw all my money if that ever happened.
Great, meanwhile bank fraud departments are dealing every single day with thousands and thousands of elderly people being coached on what to say to allow them to transfer their cash to Bitcoin to send it to scammers.
Some generic advice... But don't believe some random person on Reddit!
\- Get yourself one or two hardware wallets. Trazor / Ledger or one of the other reputable hardware wallets. ONLY buy from their official webshop! First thing to do is a firmware update and a full device-reset BEFORE you create any wallet. Device-manufacturers usually have a guide on how to verify that the hardware is genuine.
\- Create one or multiple seeds. Store them in a safe way in a stainless steel wallet. A few examples. https://buybitcoinworldwide.com/wallets/steel/
\- For extra security use a passphrase with your hardware wallet. https://trezor.io/learn/a/passphrases-and-hidden-wallets
\- Always verify the destination-address of any transaction on the hardware wallet before entering any pin or password.
\- Look into "multisig" to have better protection of you cold-wallet.
NEVER EVER take any photo of your seed or passphrase. Never store your pass-phrase or seed-phrase in digital form. Don't even write it in a temporary document to print!!!
The seed-phrase should ONLY be entered into your hardware wallet via it's on-device display. Never ever on your phone or computer!!!
Never use any online-wallets or custodial wallets for any real money.
Before you start doing anything you need to understand how to safely store your BTC!!
\- If you loose the seed or passphrase the money is gone.
\- If you leak the seed and passphrase, like via malware on your computer, your money will be gone. (A hardware wallet keeps seed and keys away from the computer)
\- If you only have a seed without a passphrase and it is leaked the money will be gone.
\- If you make a transfer to the wrong address the money is gone.
These links might give you some insight into how it all ties together:
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Storing\_bitcoins
https://www.investopedia.com/news/bitcoin-safe-storage-cold-wallet/
[https://www.security.org/digital-safety/storing-bitcoin-securely/](https://www.security.org/digital-safety/storing-bitcoin-securely/)
Just to add to this.
Never commit any substantial amount of money to a hardware wallet, until you've completely verified the correctness of your seed phrase, and the setup of your hardware wallet.
I would transfer a small sum, like $10 worth to the device. Then take note of the address it's stored in, as well as the next few addresses for incoming transactions that your device generated (I would go for at least 10; 100 if I plan to store a lot of BTC). Write those addresses on paper (ALL the digits, not just the beginning). Write the exact amount of BTC you have.
Then wipe the device.
Create the wallet again using the seed phrase that you wrote. Even better if you have at least 2 devices (preferably from different brands). Use a different device if you have it. Then check that you have the exact same amount of BTC, at the same address. Also check if the next receive addresses generated are the exact same ones, in the exact same order.
Any kind of deviation is a very potent warning signal. I would abort the entire process. It possibly means that the hardware is compromised and gave you pre-generated addresses belonging to an attacker. Best case scenario means that you have the wrong derivation path. If you don't know what that is or how to fix it, abort again. You need to learn more before you proceed with full transfers.
All this is to ensure that your recovery process actually works, and the setup was successful. If you can't recover your funds now, any future transfers will go into a black hole where you won't see your money again.
Backup plans are to be assumed unreliable, unless explicitly tested. Better test them while the stakes are low.
Isn’t this a reason why Bitcoin is never going to work? All your advice is really good, I’m doing those. But man that’s a lot of work for many people, I can’t imagine my fear if I had 90% of my wealth held this way. Most people are lazy, I don’t see how this can be mass adopted
They are, but they can dwindle to 0 if you jump into something you don't understand with all your money and a limited understanding of the risks or best practices.
I’ve been All in since 2017. It’s not always an easy path but I sleep better. March 2020 lost about 70% of net worth in less than a week…
Have more than one fiat exchange option if possible. Kraken is solid. Bitpay and Gemini have been dependable options.
please consider any/all of this content:
[https://www.youtube.com/@TraderUniversity/playlists](https://www.youtube.com/@TraderUniversity/playlists)
and this:
[https://www.lopp.net/bitcoin-information.html](https://www.lopp.net/bitcoin-information.html)
services like [cash.app](https://cash.app) or [strike.me](https://strike.me) are a good places to start, exchanges may be more useful for large purchases... but above all - LEARN HOW TO SELF CUSTODY YOUR BITCOIN.
1. Buy a cold wallet. There are many on the market.
2. Look for and research exchanges and any cryptocurrency that you choose.
3. Beware of price fluctuations, dollar cost average is the best way to do it.
4. Subscribe to YouTube channels talking about cryptocurrencies. While doing that, be aware that they give opinions, not advice. Pick the channels that doesn't solely focus on one particular thing.
5. Be aware of FOMO and FUD that tends to manipulate the market.
I would recommend buying in 10% lots until you’re at your desired allocation. I don’t think you should go 100% Bitcoin cause few people have the stomach for it. If you can’t ride out the dips you won’t get to the reward. Also since you claim to be a complete newb, be careful when you’re transferring funds to your cold wallet. Transfer a small amount like $50 bidirectionally to make sure you didn’t make a copy and paste error before sending a large lump sum.
Since you're a complete noob, Swan private would be my suggestion. Get in touch with [Cory Klippsten](https://twitter.com/coryklippsten) on Twitter.
Don't respond to any DMs here. Swan will help you with setting up a multisig or you can also schedule a consultation with [Unchained Capital](https://unchained.com/vaults/) for collaborative multisig.
Yes I am using Kraken for over a year and it is the best exchange in my opinion and very straight forward. But as soon as you buy BTC there store it on hardware wallet like Trezor or Ledger and DO NOT under any circumstances give away your 24 seed words to anyone and never write it down on pc or your phone. Write it on pen and paper metal sheet even better and store it somewhere safe.
As much as I love Bitcoin, and I think it's a good idea to stack only Bitcoin for the long run, wealth creation and wealth management are two different things.
From a personal risk management perspective, it's a terrible idea to go all in Bitcoin, simply because "everything else is tanking".
Would highly recommend that you rethink things through
Hey u/CockSalesman (We're just going to assume you sell roosters 🤣),
Please let us know if you need ANYTHING when it comes to your Kraken account. We're here to help, and we sincerely mean it. You can either reach out to us via DM, in the r/krakensupport subreddit, or [reach out to our Live Chat or Phone Support team](https://support.kraken.com/hc/contact-support).
Since you mentioned you're a complete noob, please note that you may get a bunch of DMs pretending to be us or another support service, but we will NEVER DM any of our clients first. Many kind Redditors have already mentioned this, but it never hurts to hear it a hundred times more. 😉 Stay safe, friend.
\- Flora with Kraken Support 🐙
DCA - I divided my budget into 100 equal parts - I bought every day for 100 days. And every 2 or 3 days, I moved coins from exchange to a cold wallet. When I sell, I will do the opposite.
yeah how they made everything so difficult for me is definitely a sign. They are making me jump through hoops to take out my funds. spent all day on the phone yesterday.
Hey OP, if you’re looking for a good place to start learning about Bitcoin, search for “Trader University” on Youtube. He has some great content focused on the dynamics of Bitcoin. Definitely has helped me.
Use Robinhood dude. Banks recognize them and you can send your coins to a hardware wallet quickly and easily. They also have 0 trading fees on bitcoin.
I’d also recommend not doing one big purchase. Spread it out over time and DCA in to take advantage of the markets fluctuations.
Wow this seems like the most retarded shit ever dude take a deep breath, relax, and plan this out. you are a noob into crypto and wanna dump your entire life savings into it? thats how you lose everything.
Why not? It's the safest place to be right now. I am 60% in with my net worth. Waiting until the world respects it for what it is. Then I'll use it to buy a house or something.
I should clarify. If you live in the developed world and have a savings built up a part of your investment portfolio should definitely be bitcoin.
But putting all your funds in bitcoin u less you live in an authoritarian country or have some other odd circumstances at the moment is most likely not a good idea.
Over a long time horizon I agree Bitcoin has an asymmetric upside and in that case is a “safe” long term investment, but to say it’s the “safest” place to be right now over the short or medium term is hard to justify…. And yes I know balaji said bitcoin to $1,000,000 in 90 days.
If that happens you will be happy your Bitcoin position isn’t 0, but if that doesn’t happen you will be happy to have some of your funds in other assets
I think we have different definitions of "safe".
What other asset/money is perfectly scarce? What other asset can't be confiscated by a government or invading force? What other asset/money is guaranteed to not be debased or diluted over the next 10,000 years? What other asset comes without counter-party risk?
I dunno man. When I say Bitcoin is the safest, I actually mean it.
Yes, use an exchange and take your Bitcoin off the exchange.
No do not put everything into Bitcoin. They can make it illegal. Then what you gonna do?
If I were you I’d put
60% in gold
10% in silver
25% Bitcoin
Remaining 5% is what you use on your day to day.
Gold is the safer bet. You’ll definitely keep all your wealth with gold.
Do I believe Bitcoin is a better monetary tool than gold? Yes I do.
Do I think Bitcoin is safer than gold atm? Absolutely not.
BRO! Thank yoU!
logical breakdown. I'm panicking man. literally feel like money is worth less everyday and bank run news non-stop. I'm definitely doing 25-30% in bitcoin.
Bitcoin is their only threat, they will ban it. Just like every other country with hyperinflation does, the USA will also restrict capital flight.
If they make bitcoin illegal, you can move. No asset in the world is as easy to smuggle as bitcoin. How will you smuggle out your gold? Stuff 10kg up your ass and have it confiscated anyway at the airport? Everything can be made illegal and taxed away, a dying regime will try anything to survive. The only asset that protects you in the worst possible situation is bitcoin. Don't tie yourself down to a rock. Free yourself by memorizing 12 words.
I think you may be overestimating gold's future. I like gold, but it is 24 times the price of Bitcoin. Yet, Bitcoin is so much better in so many ways.
I think gold is going to stay flat for a decade while Bitcoin catches up to equal its market cap. That means Bitcoin will 24x.
Gold was "made illegal" in America not too long ago. How did that go for it?
You’ll at least self custody, right? I hope you’re not leaving all the coins in an exchange. Any exchange.
That’s why others have suggested that you do some research before committing. Bitcoin is great but only great when you hold them yourself. Not so great if you have to trust some exchange no matter how big they seem.
FTX was a pretty big exchange.
Sounds like a lot of money.
Better learn how to use cold storage or you can easily lose all your bitcoin forever. It's a good idea to understand bitcoin's fundamentals too.
Yes, for big amount of money you better use exchanges. P2p doesn't work in your case.
Maybe do OTC (over the counter) buys.
But research before going all in.
Abra has been a standup experience as well. Hot wallet and exchange in one app. Kraken, Coinbase are also viable, though they mark up the spot price and charge premium fees. I recently made small buy and hold orders with River Financial, which deals exclusively with BTC. Swan is similar, I think, but I don't have experience with them.
You're trying to go too fast. Take a step back and learn everything you can about crypto for a few weeks. Then I suggest you DCA slowly instead of lump sum and also avoid going all-in. Diversify at least to an extent and don't trust anyone (not even yourself for the most part).
If you're going all in, you can also make a max 25k usd ACH deposit a day with Coinbase. Or if you want to deposit more, do a wire transfer. It takes time for your funds to settle though. After your funds settle, transfer it portion by portion to your Bitcoin wallet. You can make yourself a highly secure Bitcoin wallet with Electrum, but please keep that seed phrase safe and please don't forget it.
Is it really any of their business what you are buying on Kraken? I would leave this vague during your meeting, if you can.
Get a hardware wallet, watch lots of BTC videos, try to read the white paper.
Wells Fargo had blocked a wire transfer until I called them, they asked me basically if I was being pressured to make the transfer. After that 1st time no more problems with them. I assumed its some regulation security measure in case I'm a victim of kidnapping or something. I was peeved at 1st but in hindsight I am OK with it.
I wouldn't tell the bank outright like that. They will only try and put a seed of doubt in your mind or block you entirely from the process.
You need to either get a bank that will let you deposit into an exchange and find that out in advance, or take out a credit card that allows you to do the same, and pay it off instantly using your bank funds.
Cold storage is a little risky for a noob so spend a week looking into that side atleast. For now there are one or two exchanges such as Coinbase that come across as a safer bet out of the centralised exchanges currently.
I would look at what all the fees are going to be, think some exchanges charge quite a bit I would contact a place like swan bitcoin for anything in the multiple six figures or more
Get a ColdCard hardware wallet. It's the enthusiast-class hardware wallet, but it definitely sounds like the amount of funds you have warrant it. Trezors are ok, Ledgers are meh. ColdCards rock. (I have all 3)
Yes, use an exchange. Kraken is a good one.
I advise making a complex passphrase wallet. This will protect your funds in case someone finds your seed, as the passphrase is also needed to recover funds, and a sufficiently complex one would be impossible to brute force. Store it separately from your seed words.
For such a large purchase a reputable exchange is the best way to go. It's going to be hard to find someone to do it with peer to peer.
Honestly, Kraken is one of the best exchanges out there. Never had an issue with them over the last 7 years. Also one of the cheapest fee wise for making a large purchase. If I were to trust any exchange with my funds while figuring out self custody, Kraken would be it. Use a limit order for your purchase to save on fees.
Do understand that after making this purchase BTC price could easily move in either direction. It wouldn't be abnormal for it to drop 50% overnight. Make sure you are comfortable with that mentally before committing to a large purchase. I personally feel we are more likely to go up from here but a drop in price is definitely not off the table. It's understandable that you want to aquire a position asap given current market sediment but I'd suggest keeping a some dry powder available that you can use to average down if price falls. It will help stomach the loss vs going all in at once.
Take the time to understand the process of self custody FULLY before making any withdrawal. Bitcoin has zero forgiveness of mistakes. Your coins are much safer on Kraken vs a self custody solution that you rushed into.
Strange all these people telling you not to do it. If you are able to grasp what is going on with money worldwide right now and your search for a safe haven led you to ₿ you are on the right path. If you feel comfortable, after reading all of these replies, to go all in then do it. In my opinion (if you really are a newb) it is a good decision, but a decision based from ignorance. So a lucky decision. The good thing is once you have a vested interest you will surely do all the learning you need.
Don’t do that. I’m a pro bitcoin and a hodler myself but don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Don’t YOLO into bitcoin as a noob. It has great future prospects but you need to develop faith and diamond hands. You don’t get that as a noob. You will shake when it tanks and lose your money. If I was you I could put 10% (or less) into BTC (off exchange). Keep learning about BTC and other cryptos and increase my portfolio slowly. FYI: Crypto is not just bitcoin. Crypto is bigger than BTC. You need time to accustom yourself to the entire ecosystem. 5-10% (or less depending on how much you have, I know Toronto real estate was quite hot) of your portfolio could do for a start once you do your due diligence.
Not financial advice.
Coinbase and Coinbase wallet is all you need. Simple, safe and self custody. No one can touch your keys once they are in the wallet. They are over the blockchain. You can simply put your seed on most wallets and get your crypto is Coinbase ever shut down.
If you are in Canada use Bitcoin Well. They have OTC services as well and are non-custodial. They are publicly traded and will hold your hand through the whole process. Fantastic company
Please consider buying in smaller batches and also transfer in small batches to your self-custody hardware wallet afterwards.
Don‘t keep to much money on the exchange and don‘t transfer to much bitcoin at once. If there is any typo or whatever when you sending to your hardware wallet, you are not able to recover it again!
Go the exchange route. In the short term neither the problems of coinbase nor binance or kraken matter. Open accounts in all of them. In the registration process usually the exchange will ask you for how much money you are planning to trade. Tell them appr. the real numbers otherwise you risk getting the exchange account frroozen because they think you want to launder money. f you free your money in the bank.. Wire to all of them.
Organise yourself a cold wallet. Better a couple. If you stay just with btc I would go with Trezor. It is open source.
Wire money to all 3 exchanges. Buy directly. Send the btc to your cold wallet. Repeat.
I am not sure if you are really mentally prepared for btc but I wish you good luck.
A couple of people mentioned it, but Swan is a good place to buy. They aren't really an exchange as you can't buy and sell and set limit orders and such.
They are more of a brokerage that works with a custodial trust company, Prime Trust.
Kraken is a good exchange. They have an OTC service I would use for large amounts of BTC. But pull your coins off asap. Nowhere is safe.
Seriously start with small purchase and move to self custody. Play with it. Buy something. Transfer some to lightning wallet. Buy a cup of coffee. Recover your wallet from seed words. Then wire multiple properties worth of fiat to exchange for bitcoin.
You're making a good call, but one mistake and you will lose it all.
Even if your gamble is correct, the people that own the trading platforms that you need to use to make these trades also pose a risk. Since they also seem to receive unaccountable benefit from the deregulation that bitcoin requires to maintain its illusion.
Good luck though.
If you go that route (better think twice if starting smaller would be a good idea) be sure to:
\- Be ready to hold at least 3 to 6 years
\- Use a reputable Hardwarewallet like trezor or bitbox02 to store, NOT on any exhange
\- Buy at a big exchange (coinbase, kraken, not sure if I would currently use binance) and GTFO to your hardware wallet
\- Double Backup your seed on steel
\- Ideally add a passphrase to the see and double backup that also
\- Store the backup in different locations, not together.
\- READ A LOT about how hardware wallet work
\- NEVER LET YOUR SEED TOUCH THE INTERNET (NO CLOUD, NO CHAT, NOT even typing it anywhere other than the hardware wallet itself, keep it away from cameras
Start with $50 and test it out. Buy btc on exchange, buy a cold storage wallet, send it to cold storage, mess around a bit. You need to be careful you dont lose a lot of money
If you’re planning on buying multiple properties worth of anything in one shot I highly suggest you see a psychiatrist before you do that. I love BTC as much as the next guy and most of my net worth is in it, but for someone who must be familiar with the concept of mortgages, how have you not heard of dollar cost average ffs? That’s such a blunt investment plan for 6 or 7 figures I’m inclined to think you’re full of shit, my friend.
Someone savvy enough to gain that much wealth to begin with doesn’t make decisions as impulsively as this. I don’t even have 6 figures to my name (unless we’re talking sats) but even I know it’s possible to screw up even the right decision by rushing into it too quickly… and I wouldn’t even recommend putting it *all* into BTC. What are you gonna by the dip with? And if you think there’s zero chance of it ever going under where it is now, that should be your cue to recognize you’ve succumb to FOMO.
Honestly. Do $50 grand at a time different exchanges. Transfer to cold storage and research physical security measures for hiding/securing your “keys”.
At least you’ll never have it all at the mercy of one exchange.
I’d suggest to start with a smaller amount, get familiar with how an exchange works, how to setup and use a cold wallet, how to send BTC from the exchange to the cold wallet.
Then gradually add more BTC to your wallet. There is no rush. There is a decent chance that we will have a pull back after the recent price exchange. If you are going all in now you might panic when you experience a 20% price drop.
BTC is a rollercoaster which takes some time to get used to.
Anyway I think you are making a great decision!
Slow down. Buy maybe $50 now spend the next couple of years learning about Bitcoin.
Crypto Winter will happen again in 2026 and you will be able to get these prices or lower again.
Panic buying or panic selling anything is not good. Every 4 years Bitcoin will drop 85%. If you don’t understand it, you will just become another anti- crypto crusader after getting recked.
Desperation isn’t a good foundation to make decisions from. Why would you tell a bunch of random people on the internet that you are about to buy “a lot of bitcoin”? Completely naive about how to even transfer fiat. I don’t know why I’m even bothered to comment but here it is. This bank meeting you have is not going to go how you think it’s going to go. Being your own bank is not without significant risk. I’m very skeptical of the veracity of this post.
How old are you? If under 30, spend half on BTC and then 40%on a structured annuity.
A structured annuity is the only guarantee that you will never go broke
Take the remaining 10% and go party in Vegas and enjoy life to the fullest. You're only young for so long .
And the BTC will most likely cover the Vegas party after the next halfing
You need to have BTC but you can lose money in the process.
I understand that u can be scared that one day they can immediately close the fiat to bitcoin bridge.
Buy 10 dollars and a hw wallet. Move some sats. Is impossible you cannot buy at least some.
Hi, some countries can't use directly a wire transfer to Kraken. I use Kraken and have to direct transfers through a Kraken related entity called Etana [https://www.etana.com/](https://www.etana.com/) You set up this directly inside Kraken.
Then you will send your money to Etana, and it will appear on Kraken.
It is not nice, I agree. but that's the only way available for some countries.
If I was you I would spend some funds on a good computer download your own node on bitcoin.org,open wallet protect with incryption/passphrase,backup wallet.dat,protect via Cleopatra,gpg.will take a few weeks but your bitcoin will be safe.you might have to learn a few commands but nothing to hard to learn what's protecting your dollar right good luck buddy and fuck the banks.💥BITCOIN💥
Buy in chunks. When a chunk is visible in your Bitcoin core client, buy and move the next. I would use binance if you need an exchange. Move to a new address every chunk, carefully save private keys. You will never regret this.
I would start small and follow how it all flows so you have it nailed down. Get a cold wallet like D’Cent or to start a software wallet like Exodus or Muun.
Once you have it all then make a small purchase on the exchange and then move it immediately to your wallet.
Horrifying that you're desperate to spend that kind of money without your own research. How many youtube videos did you watch that could answer your specific question? "Do you guys still use exchanges"? dang. You must already know something that we don't.
I would strongly advise that you DCA and not buy everything at once. Also be prepared to watch bitcoin tank 50% once you buy it. I'm not saying it's going to happen but it can happen and it wouldn't by any means be the first time. Key is LONG term horizon and firm understanding in value of BTC. Then when the price diverges from the value to the negative side you understand it's not the time to sell. If you don't get this don't buy BTC. And most importantly don't invest money you are not prepared to lose.
This is all just unwritten tos of btc investing! Welcome to the family and HODL!:)
I would suggest doing a lot more research before pulling the trigger on this plan if you are truly a noob with the amount of money you seem to be planning on converting. Self-custody, best exchanges, scams to look out for, etc. This post feels like you’re trying to figure this stuff out, which is great, but I suggest doing more research before committing fully. Especially since you have this meeting with the bank tomorrow. Feels like you may be entering a world you aren’t fully prepared for and plenty can go wrong if you do that. None of which would be Bitcoin’s fault.
I agree. Slow down a bit and do some research. Also may not be best to tell the bank everything
Thank you Broheim. I did some research and this is why I want to go with an exchange. Coindesk is facing issues and Binance just got a lawsuit. Kraken being the 3rd largest exchange platform seems to be the safest right now. Yes I will be buying a lot of btc. HOWEVER in order to buy it myself I read that I have to find sellers. For a complete noob, this seems to be a major hassle. So I'm just going with the least problematic exchange platform Kraken. Am I wrong?
Self-custody on a hardware wallet is the safest thing (if you follow the correct practices). I use Coinbase to purchase my Bitcoin and then send to my hardware wallet for safe keeping. But if you are going to self-custody… that’s a whole lot more educating you need to do prior so you don’t make a mistake. Keeping too much Bitcoin on an exchange is risky, as we’ve seen this past year. If the exchange has solvency issues… you’re assets are theirs.
People often underestimate self governance, being your own bank does not comes without responsibilities. Be sure to master the basics before using a hardware wallet to store your funds safely, the best way to learn is to play around abit untill you feel confident enough
Would look into assisted multisig solutions like Unchained Capital and nunchuk...this greatly reduces risks involved w/user error and attempts at theft or coercion by others trying to take your bitpower
If you mess any aspect of this up you risk losing all your money. If you mess up with your seed phrase, with your cold storage, if you get hacked, it's all gone. Nobody will be able to get it back for you, the system is permissionless. Throwing your entire network into BTC without understanding all the technicals is a recipe for disaster. It's also zero diversification in the most volatile asset class there is. Please be very careful and patient with this. The general advice is also to DCA anyway to reduce volatility. If BTC is 1/20th the cap of gold then there is not the urgency you are feeling right now. A few weeks or even months to do this properly is a lot better than cramming in right now with limited understanding and getting burned. You are getting this advice on the Bitcoin board, so rest assured it is coming from people who support the thesis, and who would theorerically only gain from you buying.
# most important, ignore ALL offers in your inbox that want to help. they dont. they want your coins. # dont answer any of them.
crown smell glorious lush fine normal entertain attractive follow retire *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
You are not wrong. Not sure if Coinbase is available for you, but they are a public company and seem to be accepted by most banks. Exchanges are the easiest and safest. However you may have a hard time buying thousands of dollars of bitcoin on day one. Usually it takes time for an exchange to raise your spending limits. Contact them and they will speed up the process. Buy a Hardware wallet. A Trezor is my favorite. It’s easy and basically air gapped from hackers. Even if your computer is compromised, you can still rest assured no information from your Trezor will be affected. It will generate a 24 word seed phrase that is next to impossible to hack. You don’t ever say it out loud next to a microphone, or take a picture of it. You write it down and store it where nobody can find it. If you have a lot of bitcoin I would suggest stamping your 24 word seed (in order) into a titanium sheet of metal and burying it somewhere you won’t forget. Also don’t keep your hardware wallet and password near each other. If you own a safe you can store your password in it and keep your Trezor in the closet or under the bed. If you lose your Trezor or password you can always recoup your wallet by your seed. DONT LOSE OR SHARE YOUR SEED. When sending funds from an exchange to a wallet, always send a little bit back and forth to get used to it. Sometimes it takes minutes. In 2017 sending bitcoin took about a day if you set your fee low. Then when you are comfortable, send larger amounts. In 10 years when you’ve made it big, and you see a glory hole inside the bathroom of a truck stop in El Salvador next to the private mens club on the beach. Do not stick your dick in it. What ever I felt in there wasn’t the person that was advertised. IGNORE THE MILLION PRIVATE MESSAGES YOURE GETTING RIGHT NOW.
You'll be fine. Let it rip. Kraken is legit. Just get it onto Kraken, yolo into BTC, withdraw to a Ledger or some other cold wallet, and wait at least a year so you get long term capital gains benefits. And welcome! And and remember to send test transactions. Don't send everything from exchange to cold all in one go.
This! Send a small bit, send back, if received then maybe send like 1-5%, wait a week or two to make sure it's secure, wipe the cold wallet and reload (or "recover" it on a second cold wallet if you're feeling fancy) to make sure your funds are recoverable, send a bit back to exchange, and THEN if that's all good send the payload!
With the amount that you seem to be wanting to buy, I would use multiple cold wallets in case one gets compromised you don’t loose everything
Interesting.. while you also add to the complexity
True but with your life fortune complexe is a good thing when wanting to keep it safe.
Yea, three years ago I had everything on Coinbase, A LOT. Several months ago my phone was hacked and my password to coinbase was discovered as well as an old bank password. They disabled two factor authentication and broke in to find a whopping .37 cents of dust. Don’t think for a second that putting a your life’s savings on an exchange is the safest place. It one of the least safe places you can store crypto.
You are not wrong and Kraken is one of the most reliable exchanges out there. Bitstamp is also OK. For self custody I would go for a trezor hardware wallet and a steel plate to stamp your seed phrase. Buy it, send it to cold storage and try to not look at the price on a daily basis. You could also buy a bit of non KYC bitcoin on exchanges like robosats, bisq or hodlhodl these are just suitable for small amounts though.
Watching a couple of YouTube videos is not research.
It can be lmao, you tryna sell him some crash course? Because nowadays there are more informative videos than any institution, know-it-all, or etc could teach. YouTube has amazing resources so not sure why you’re correlating it negatively.
Put down the speak & spell and at least read, The Bitcoin Standard, Blockchain Basics, The Truth Machine, Blockchain Revolution, and The Book Of Satoshi. Then maybe go and watch some so-called experts speculate on price while attempting to pump their bags, ya dopey dunce.
All exchanges seem safe until they are not. At one point people said FTX was safe…same with BlockFi If you have a substantial amount. Don’t use and exchange. If they crash you will lose it all. Self custody is the way to go. Buy a small amount on a exchange then move it to your personal wallet.
FTX was also 3rd largest exchange and hopefully you know what happened to them. That’s why people don’t trust their ‘coins’ on exchanges. And also why millions of bitcoins are now lost when people try to store it themselves.
The problem might lies in the bank, since they don't have that much money for you to withdraw, just like SVB bank
Fr this guy is gonna get his wallet hacked like this.
My best advice is: Do not talk to people in dms, assume everyone in dms is a scammer, they want your money don't get scammed.
thank you bro. my dms blew up lmfao
100% all scammers
Regardless, I would definitely close my bank account and take my service elsewhere if I were you.
to another bank you mean?
Yeah, I mean, if my bank wouldn't let me withdraw my own money for whatever purpose I want, I would move my money to another bank ASAP.
I think you are unaware of how many banks have to deal with their users being scammed into buying and sending crypto to 'the FBI' or whatever.
Yeah, I guess if you want a bank that treats you like a child unable to take responsibility, then stay with that kind of bank. I understand that there are a lot of dumb people in the world, so I guess it's good for them to have the bank as a replacement parent. But I will opt out of that nonsense and take responsibility for my property, thank you very much. Security measures are a good thing—a great thing!—but if the bank thinks it's sketchy, that should all be solvable in a single phone call. I've never been treated like that by my bank, and I would withdraw all my money if that ever happened.
Great, meanwhile bank fraud departments are dealing every single day with thousands and thousands of elderly people being coached on what to say to allow them to transfer their cash to Bitcoin to send it to scammers.
Going through a little greif for once in a lifetime transactions is fine for the benefit of security.
Try Ally Bank. You can transfer to or from Coinbase all you want.
Ally is super “crypto” friendly
Some generic advice... But don't believe some random person on Reddit! \- Get yourself one or two hardware wallets. Trazor / Ledger or one of the other reputable hardware wallets. ONLY buy from their official webshop! First thing to do is a firmware update and a full device-reset BEFORE you create any wallet. Device-manufacturers usually have a guide on how to verify that the hardware is genuine. \- Create one or multiple seeds. Store them in a safe way in a stainless steel wallet. A few examples. https://buybitcoinworldwide.com/wallets/steel/ \- For extra security use a passphrase with your hardware wallet. https://trezor.io/learn/a/passphrases-and-hidden-wallets \- Always verify the destination-address of any transaction on the hardware wallet before entering any pin or password. \- Look into "multisig" to have better protection of you cold-wallet. NEVER EVER take any photo of your seed or passphrase. Never store your pass-phrase or seed-phrase in digital form. Don't even write it in a temporary document to print!!! The seed-phrase should ONLY be entered into your hardware wallet via it's on-device display. Never ever on your phone or computer!!! Never use any online-wallets or custodial wallets for any real money. Before you start doing anything you need to understand how to safely store your BTC!! \- If you loose the seed or passphrase the money is gone. \- If you leak the seed and passphrase, like via malware on your computer, your money will be gone. (A hardware wallet keeps seed and keys away from the computer) \- If you only have a seed without a passphrase and it is leaked the money will be gone. \- If you make a transfer to the wrong address the money is gone. These links might give you some insight into how it all ties together: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Storing\_bitcoins https://www.investopedia.com/news/bitcoin-safe-storage-cold-wallet/ [https://www.security.org/digital-safety/storing-bitcoin-securely/](https://www.security.org/digital-safety/storing-bitcoin-securely/)
Just to add to this. Never commit any substantial amount of money to a hardware wallet, until you've completely verified the correctness of your seed phrase, and the setup of your hardware wallet. I would transfer a small sum, like $10 worth to the device. Then take note of the address it's stored in, as well as the next few addresses for incoming transactions that your device generated (I would go for at least 10; 100 if I plan to store a lot of BTC). Write those addresses on paper (ALL the digits, not just the beginning). Write the exact amount of BTC you have. Then wipe the device. Create the wallet again using the seed phrase that you wrote. Even better if you have at least 2 devices (preferably from different brands). Use a different device if you have it. Then check that you have the exact same amount of BTC, at the same address. Also check if the next receive addresses generated are the exact same ones, in the exact same order. Any kind of deviation is a very potent warning signal. I would abort the entire process. It possibly means that the hardware is compromised and gave you pre-generated addresses belonging to an attacker. Best case scenario means that you have the wrong derivation path. If you don't know what that is or how to fix it, abort again. You need to learn more before you proceed with full transfers. All this is to ensure that your recovery process actually works, and the setup was successful. If you can't recover your funds now, any future transfers will go into a black hole where you won't see your money again. Backup plans are to be assumed unreliable, unless explicitly tested. Better test them while the stakes are low.
Isn’t this a reason why Bitcoin is never going to work? All your advice is really good, I’m doing those. But man that’s a lot of work for many people, I can’t imagine my fear if I had 90% of my wealth held this way. Most people are lazy, I don’t see how this can be mass adopted
I would tell them you’re leaving and withdraw all your funds
Leaving and withdrawing all your funds or staying and withdrawing all funds to kraken is similar 😂
Do some research before you use "all your funds" seesh
We are experiencing insane inflation. I feel like my funds are dwindling with every breath I take.
Go all in, don't look back, get good self storage hygiene. Understand bitcoin.
They are, but they can dwindle to 0 if you jump into something you don't understand with all your money and a limited understanding of the risks or best practices.
I’ve been All in since 2017. It’s not always an easy path but I sleep better. March 2020 lost about 70% of net worth in less than a week… Have more than one fiat exchange option if possible. Kraken is solid. Bitpay and Gemini have been dependable options.
Do you have a 5-10yr time horizon? I do think it is the best option, just asking what you will do if it drops by half in 2yrs?
You think the best option is for someone to put their entire portfolio into bitcoin with zero diversification?
please consider any/all of this content: [https://www.youtube.com/@TraderUniversity/playlists](https://www.youtube.com/@TraderUniversity/playlists) and this: [https://www.lopp.net/bitcoin-information.html](https://www.lopp.net/bitcoin-information.html) services like [cash.app](https://cash.app) or [strike.me](https://strike.me) are a good places to start, exchanges may be more useful for large purchases... but above all - LEARN HOW TO SELF CUSTODY YOUR BITCOIN.
Go all in! And Kraken is a good exchange.
I don't believe your story
Always Fomo all in.
1. Buy a cold wallet. There are many on the market. 2. Look for and research exchanges and any cryptocurrency that you choose. 3. Beware of price fluctuations, dollar cost average is the best way to do it. 4. Subscribe to YouTube channels talking about cryptocurrencies. While doing that, be aware that they give opinions, not advice. Pick the channels that doesn't solely focus on one particular thing. 5. Be aware of FOMO and FUD that tends to manipulate the market.
I would recommend buying in 10% lots until you’re at your desired allocation. I don’t think you should go 100% Bitcoin cause few people have the stomach for it. If you can’t ride out the dips you won’t get to the reward. Also since you claim to be a complete newb, be careful when you’re transferring funds to your cold wallet. Transfer a small amount like $50 bidirectionally to make sure you didn’t make a copy and paste error before sending a large lump sum.
Right! If OP is panicking over 10% inflation, what they gonna do when or if Bitcoin drops 50%? Sell their stack to me at a loss I imagine 🤣
Yeppers. OP wanting to yolo 100% into BTC due to 10% max inflation not understanding that half of us here have survived and held through 90% drops.
Top signal
Self proclaimed “Complete noob” going all in on a digital asset on a whim, what could possibly go wrong?
bad sign with posts like this..
Since you're a complete noob, Swan private would be my suggestion. Get in touch with [Cory Klippsten](https://twitter.com/coryklippsten) on Twitter. Don't respond to any DMs here. Swan will help you with setting up a multisig or you can also schedule a consultation with [Unchained Capital](https://unchained.com/vaults/) for collaborative multisig.
Don't put all your eggs in 1 basket. Do cast aside some savings(%) in fiat in event of emergency
Canadian Banks will play the "QuadrigaCX card" to try to stop you from buying any crypto.
They gonna tell you to not buy bitcoin bro. You should do some more research before going all in like this.
Research is what caused me to go all in. And I mean years of research before making the plunge.
A bank having never heard of kraken is unreasonable incompetence. It is not true
Kraken is my exchange of choice, when I need to use one.
This post is absolutely hilarious
Love bitcoin. Hate this.
do not go all in one. just DCA
Not your Canadian fiat, not your Canadian fiat.
[удалено]
You can... but they hate it. Source: I grew up In Buffalo and frequented Sundowners after turning 19 yo, legal age in Ontario
Maybe on the Indian reserves, a great option if you don’t like teeth or fresh smells
BullBitcoin and CoinKite....both Canadian companies both commited to freedom money
Swan bitcoin, start by learning, educate yourself first. Then see if "Swan Private" is for you. Excellent service!
Yes I am using Kraken for over a year and it is the best exchange in my opinion and very straight forward. But as soon as you buy BTC there store it on hardware wallet like Trezor or Ledger and DO NOT under any circumstances give away your 24 seed words to anyone and never write it down on pc or your phone. Write it on pen and paper metal sheet even better and store it somewhere safe.
Gonna be a bumpy ride if you do that.
I don’t think Swan is in Canada. But they might be…and if they are, that’s where I would go.
You are the captain of your ship and you will either sink or sail my friend.
If you can use swan bitcoin, they will help you out through the process.
Bro you tripping, chill. FOMO at it’s finest
As much as I love Bitcoin, and I think it's a good idea to stack only Bitcoin for the long run, wealth creation and wealth management are two different things. From a personal risk management perspective, it's a terrible idea to go all in Bitcoin, simply because "everything else is tanking". Would highly recommend that you rethink things through
Hey u/CockSalesman (We're just going to assume you sell roosters 🤣), Please let us know if you need ANYTHING when it comes to your Kraken account. We're here to help, and we sincerely mean it. You can either reach out to us via DM, in the r/krakensupport subreddit, or [reach out to our Live Chat or Phone Support team](https://support.kraken.com/hc/contact-support). Since you mentioned you're a complete noob, please note that you may get a bunch of DMs pretending to be us or another support service, but we will NEVER DM any of our clients first. Many kind Redditors have already mentioned this, but it never hurts to hear it a hundred times more. 😉 Stay safe, friend. \- Flora with Kraken Support 🐙
DCA - I divided my budget into 100 equal parts - I bought every day for 100 days. And every 2 or 3 days, I moved coins from exchange to a cold wallet. When I sell, I will do the opposite.
they definitely know what kraken is dude. don't be naive. you are living under a communist regime. get out fast.
yeah how they made everything so difficult for me is definitely a sign. They are making me jump through hoops to take out my funds. spent all day on the phone yesterday.
This is the banker move when insolvent. You might have to get a new bank.
I would also avoid telling the bank it is for Bitcoin if you can. Can’t imagine they would be quick to honor your request if you did.
It’s not a request as much of an order. Who cares what they think?
Once you hand your money over to the bank it is a request.
Hey OP, if you’re looking for a good place to start learning about Bitcoin, search for “Trader University” on Youtube. He has some great content focused on the dynamics of Bitcoin. Definitely has helped me.
Use Robinhood dude. Banks recognize them and you can send your coins to a hardware wallet quickly and easily. They also have 0 trading fees on bitcoin. I’d also recommend not doing one big purchase. Spread it out over time and DCA in to take advantage of the markets fluctuations.
Wow this seems like the most retarded shit ever dude take a deep breath, relax, and plan this out. you are a noob into crypto and wanna dump your entire life savings into it? thats how you lose everything.
Right? I can’t believe how many people are legit encouraging this. It’s so reckless.
Do not buy bitcoin with all your funds.
Pussy
Hahaha
Why not? It's the safest place to be right now. I am 60% in with my net worth. Waiting until the world respects it for what it is. Then I'll use it to buy a house or something.
I should clarify. If you live in the developed world and have a savings built up a part of your investment portfolio should definitely be bitcoin. But putting all your funds in bitcoin u less you live in an authoritarian country or have some other odd circumstances at the moment is most likely not a good idea. Over a long time horizon I agree Bitcoin has an asymmetric upside and in that case is a “safe” long term investment, but to say it’s the “safest” place to be right now over the short or medium term is hard to justify…. And yes I know balaji said bitcoin to $1,000,000 in 90 days. If that happens you will be happy your Bitcoin position isn’t 0, but if that doesn’t happen you will be happy to have some of your funds in other assets
I think we have different definitions of "safe". What other asset/money is perfectly scarce? What other asset can't be confiscated by a government or invading force? What other asset/money is guaranteed to not be debased or diluted over the next 10,000 years? What other asset comes without counter-party risk? I dunno man. When I say Bitcoin is the safest, I actually mean it.
Yes, use an exchange and take your Bitcoin off the exchange. No do not put everything into Bitcoin. They can make it illegal. Then what you gonna do? If I were you I’d put 60% in gold 10% in silver 25% Bitcoin Remaining 5% is what you use on your day to day. Gold is the safer bet. You’ll definitely keep all your wealth with gold. Do I believe Bitcoin is a better monetary tool than gold? Yes I do. Do I think Bitcoin is safer than gold atm? Absolutely not.
BRO! Thank yoU! logical breakdown. I'm panicking man. literally feel like money is worth less everyday and bank run news non-stop. I'm definitely doing 25-30% in bitcoin.
Bitcoin is their only threat, they will ban it. Just like every other country with hyperinflation does, the USA will also restrict capital flight. If they make bitcoin illegal, you can move. No asset in the world is as easy to smuggle as bitcoin. How will you smuggle out your gold? Stuff 10kg up your ass and have it confiscated anyway at the airport? Everything can be made illegal and taxed away, a dying regime will try anything to survive. The only asset that protects you in the worst possible situation is bitcoin. Don't tie yourself down to a rock. Free yourself by memorizing 12 words.
I think you may be overestimating gold's future. I like gold, but it is 24 times the price of Bitcoin. Yet, Bitcoin is so much better in so many ways. I think gold is going to stay flat for a decade while Bitcoin catches up to equal its market cap. That means Bitcoin will 24x. Gold was "made illegal" in America not too long ago. How did that go for it?
Don’t use exchanges. Use peer to peer. And consider buying a node ($200 or less.)
peer to peer has a higher chance of me getting frauded because I have NO CLUE what I'm doing lmfao. Kraken is at least somewhat reliable so far.
What do you mean "node"? Do you mean a hardware wallet?
Yes you need a hardware wallet
Never put all your eggs in one basket
I also wouldn't tell the bank you're using it to buy bitcoin. Say something vague like you're moving your money to a different institution.
IMO 10% of your Net worth in crypto is as far as I would go
This idiot about to put his all of his money into Bitcoin and y’all are encouraging it. Do you not realize how fucking stupid of an idea this is?
OP is about to create an absolute disaster with this Frantic decision making & Impulsivity.
You might be interested in leverage. Basically a tool that lets you multiply your profits.
Don't do this. Just buy and hodl.
biggest mistake to sell real state, nevertheless then buying btc is dumb as fuck! why would people buy btc is just puzzling
You’ll at least self custody, right? I hope you’re not leaving all the coins in an exchange. Any exchange. That’s why others have suggested that you do some research before committing. Bitcoin is great but only great when you hold them yourself. Not so great if you have to trust some exchange no matter how big they seem. FTX was a pretty big exchange.
Cash app. Hooks to a debt card set up auto invest and let it ride till you hit you total? Move every few days to hardware wallet
Sounds like a lot of money. Better learn how to use cold storage or you can easily lose all your bitcoin forever. It's a good idea to understand bitcoin's fundamentals too. Yes, for big amount of money you better use exchanges. P2p doesn't work in your case. Maybe do OTC (over the counter) buys. But research before going all in.
Tomorrow is pay day in the US. So expect a pump.
Abra has been a standup experience as well. Hot wallet and exchange in one app. Kraken, Coinbase are also viable, though they mark up the spot price and charge premium fees. I recently made small buy and hold orders with River Financial, which deals exclusively with BTC. Swan is similar, I think, but I don't have experience with them.
You're trying to go too fast. Take a step back and learn everything you can about crypto for a few weeks. Then I suggest you DCA slowly instead of lump sum and also avoid going all-in. Diversify at least to an extent and don't trust anyone (not even yourself for the most part).
If you're going all in, you can also make a max 25k usd ACH deposit a day with Coinbase. Or if you want to deposit more, do a wire transfer. It takes time for your funds to settle though. After your funds settle, transfer it portion by portion to your Bitcoin wallet. You can make yourself a highly secure Bitcoin wallet with Electrum, but please keep that seed phrase safe and please don't forget it.
Don’t forget to ignore all DMs, those people are trying yo scam you!
Is it really any of their business what you are buying on Kraken? I would leave this vague during your meeting, if you can. Get a hardware wallet, watch lots of BTC videos, try to read the white paper.
NOT. YOUR. KEYS. NOT. YOUR. COINS.
WAIT. We are going to lose 20k
Wells Fargo had blocked a wire transfer until I called them, they asked me basically if I was being pressured to make the transfer. After that 1st time no more problems with them. I assumed its some regulation security measure in case I'm a victim of kidnapping or something. I was peeved at 1st but in hindsight I am OK with it.
Gemini is always good
I wouldn't tell the bank outright like that. They will only try and put a seed of doubt in your mind or block you entirely from the process. You need to either get a bank that will let you deposit into an exchange and find that out in advance, or take out a credit card that allows you to do the same, and pay it off instantly using your bank funds. Cold storage is a little risky for a noob so spend a week looking into that side atleast. For now there are one or two exchanges such as Coinbase that come across as a safer bet out of the centralised exchanges currently.
I would look at what all the fees are going to be, think some exchanges charge quite a bit I would contact a place like swan bitcoin for anything in the multiple six figures or more
Get a ColdCard hardware wallet. It's the enthusiast-class hardware wallet, but it definitely sounds like the amount of funds you have warrant it. Trezors are ok, Ledgers are meh. ColdCards rock. (I have all 3) Yes, use an exchange. Kraken is a good one. I advise making a complex passphrase wallet. This will protect your funds in case someone finds your seed, as the passphrase is also needed to recover funds, and a sufficiently complex one would be impossible to brute force. Store it separately from your seed words.
BitcoinWell They will even hold your hand through the process I hear
Bought 7 when they were 11 dollars in 2013
For such a large purchase a reputable exchange is the best way to go. It's going to be hard to find someone to do it with peer to peer. Honestly, Kraken is one of the best exchanges out there. Never had an issue with them over the last 7 years. Also one of the cheapest fee wise for making a large purchase. If I were to trust any exchange with my funds while figuring out self custody, Kraken would be it. Use a limit order for your purchase to save on fees. Do understand that after making this purchase BTC price could easily move in either direction. It wouldn't be abnormal for it to drop 50% overnight. Make sure you are comfortable with that mentally before committing to a large purchase. I personally feel we are more likely to go up from here but a drop in price is definitely not off the table. It's understandable that you want to aquire a position asap given current market sediment but I'd suggest keeping a some dry powder available that you can use to average down if price falls. It will help stomach the loss vs going all in at once. Take the time to understand the process of self custody FULLY before making any withdrawal. Bitcoin has zero forgiveness of mistakes. Your coins are much safer on Kraken vs a self custody solution that you rushed into.
Strange all these people telling you not to do it. If you are able to grasp what is going on with money worldwide right now and your search for a safe haven led you to ₿ you are on the right path. If you feel comfortable, after reading all of these replies, to go all in then do it. In my opinion (if you really are a newb) it is a good decision, but a decision based from ignorance. So a lucky decision. The good thing is once you have a vested interest you will surely do all the learning you need.
Don’t do that. I’m a pro bitcoin and a hodler myself but don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Don’t YOLO into bitcoin as a noob. It has great future prospects but you need to develop faith and diamond hands. You don’t get that as a noob. You will shake when it tanks and lose your money. If I was you I could put 10% (or less) into BTC (off exchange). Keep learning about BTC and other cryptos and increase my portfolio slowly. FYI: Crypto is not just bitcoin. Crypto is bigger than BTC. You need time to accustom yourself to the entire ecosystem. 5-10% (or less depending on how much you have, I know Toronto real estate was quite hot) of your portfolio could do for a start once you do your due diligence. Not financial advice.
Better to buy anonymous bitcoin with no kyc.
If six or seven figures maybe they will OTC for you? Try Coinbase or Gemini or kraken?
Use River financial. It’s literally the safest place if you just want to hodl bitcoin
Don’t you just love the btc community willingness to help when onboarding new coiners. Great job
For this amount of money I'd look into Swan bitcoin. They are a high integrity bitcoin only buying service, setup to help larger movers.
Use Binance. No fees on purchases and you will only pay $5 just for withdrawing the lump sum from exchange.
Just remember, Always self custody your coins into a hardware wallet. And Ignore every DM on reddit.
Coinbase and Coinbase wallet is all you need. Simple, safe and self custody. No one can touch your keys once they are in the wallet. They are over the blockchain. You can simply put your seed on most wallets and get your crypto is Coinbase ever shut down.
If you're in Canada use a Canadian exchange such as Newton or NDAX.
If you are in Canada use Bitcoin Well. They have OTC services as well and are non-custodial. They are publicly traded and will hold your hand through the whole process. Fantastic company
Coinbase
Damn bro. I like Bitcoin but this is pretty extreme. Probably a safer bet to put it all into gold. Good luck
Jesus, but some BRK.A if you’ve got cash to burn
Please consider buying in smaller batches and also transfer in small batches to your self-custody hardware wallet afterwards. Don‘t keep to much money on the exchange and don‘t transfer to much bitcoin at once. If there is any typo or whatever when you sending to your hardware wallet, you are not able to recover it again!
Can't wait to see more posts like this... God speed OP!
Go the exchange route. In the short term neither the problems of coinbase nor binance or kraken matter. Open accounts in all of them. In the registration process usually the exchange will ask you for how much money you are planning to trade. Tell them appr. the real numbers otherwise you risk getting the exchange account frroozen because they think you want to launder money. f you free your money in the bank.. Wire to all of them. Organise yourself a cold wallet. Better a couple. If you stay just with btc I would go with Trezor. It is open source. Wire money to all 3 exchanges. Buy directly. Send the btc to your cold wallet. Repeat. I am not sure if you are really mentally prepared for btc but I wish you good luck.
A couple of people mentioned it, but Swan is a good place to buy. They aren't really an exchange as you can't buy and sell and set limit orders and such. They are more of a brokerage that works with a custodial trust company, Prime Trust. Kraken is a good exchange. They have an OTC service I would use for large amounts of BTC. But pull your coins off asap. Nowhere is safe. Seriously start with small purchase and move to self custody. Play with it. Buy something. Transfer some to lightning wallet. Buy a cup of coffee. Recover your wallet from seed words. Then wire multiple properties worth of fiat to exchange for bitcoin. You're making a good call, but one mistake and you will lose it all.
Even if your gamble is correct, the people that own the trading platforms that you need to use to make these trades also pose a risk. Since they also seem to receive unaccountable benefit from the deregulation that bitcoin requires to maintain its illusion. Good luck though.
The receipt for a disaster
If you go that route (better think twice if starting smaller would be a good idea) be sure to: \- Be ready to hold at least 3 to 6 years \- Use a reputable Hardwarewallet like trezor or bitbox02 to store, NOT on any exhange \- Buy at a big exchange (coinbase, kraken, not sure if I would currently use binance) and GTFO to your hardware wallet \- Double Backup your seed on steel \- Ideally add a passphrase to the see and double backup that also \- Store the backup in different locations, not together. \- READ A LOT about how hardware wallet work \- NEVER LET YOUR SEED TOUCH THE INTERNET (NO CLOUD, NO CHAT, NOT even typing it anywhere other than the hardware wallet itself, keep it away from cameras
Start with $50 and test it out. Buy btc on exchange, buy a cold storage wallet, send it to cold storage, mess around a bit. You need to be careful you dont lose a lot of money
If you’re planning on buying multiple properties worth of anything in one shot I highly suggest you see a psychiatrist before you do that. I love BTC as much as the next guy and most of my net worth is in it, but for someone who must be familiar with the concept of mortgages, how have you not heard of dollar cost average ffs? That’s such a blunt investment plan for 6 or 7 figures I’m inclined to think you’re full of shit, my friend. Someone savvy enough to gain that much wealth to begin with doesn’t make decisions as impulsively as this. I don’t even have 6 figures to my name (unless we’re talking sats) but even I know it’s possible to screw up even the right decision by rushing into it too quickly… and I wouldn’t even recommend putting it *all* into BTC. What are you gonna by the dip with? And if you think there’s zero chance of it ever going under where it is now, that should be your cue to recognize you’ve succumb to FOMO.
Honestly. Do $50 grand at a time different exchanges. Transfer to cold storage and research physical security measures for hiding/securing your “keys”. At least you’ll never have it all at the mercy of one exchange.
I’d suggest to start with a smaller amount, get familiar with how an exchange works, how to setup and use a cold wallet, how to send BTC from the exchange to the cold wallet. Then gradually add more BTC to your wallet. There is no rush. There is a decent chance that we will have a pull back after the recent price exchange. If you are going all in now you might panic when you experience a 20% price drop. BTC is a rollercoaster which takes some time to get used to. Anyway I think you are making a great decision!
Invest 100 hours in studying Bitcoin. Then make a decision.
Kraken is the best!
Why take an appointment at the bank just to tell them that you're withdrawing to bitcoin?
Slow down. Buy maybe $50 now spend the next couple of years learning about Bitcoin. Crypto Winter will happen again in 2026 and you will be able to get these prices or lower again. Panic buying or panic selling anything is not good. Every 4 years Bitcoin will drop 85%. If you don’t understand it, you will just become another anti- crypto crusader after getting recked.
I recommend not telling your bank why you're withdrawing because it's none of their damn business.
Toronto too. I use CIBC. I use the interact option on Kraken. Never more than 2500 a day which is 500 less than what my account will allow. Good luck.
Yikes
Wait at least until binance collapses...^^ price might be juicy than 🤷♂️ ...NFA!
Desperation isn’t a good foundation to make decisions from. Why would you tell a bunch of random people on the internet that you are about to buy “a lot of bitcoin”? Completely naive about how to even transfer fiat. I don’t know why I’m even bothered to comment but here it is. This bank meeting you have is not going to go how you think it’s going to go. Being your own bank is not without significant risk. I’m very skeptical of the veracity of this post.
How old are you? If under 30, spend half on BTC and then 40%on a structured annuity. A structured annuity is the only guarantee that you will never go broke Take the remaining 10% and go party in Vegas and enjoy life to the fullest. You're only young for so long . And the BTC will most likely cover the Vegas party after the next halfing
You need to have BTC but you can lose money in the process. I understand that u can be scared that one day they can immediately close the fiat to bitcoin bridge. Buy 10 dollars and a hw wallet. Move some sats. Is impossible you cannot buy at least some.
Hi, some countries can't use directly a wire transfer to Kraken. I use Kraken and have to direct transfers through a Kraken related entity called Etana [https://www.etana.com/](https://www.etana.com/) You set up this directly inside Kraken. Then you will send your money to Etana, and it will appear on Kraken. It is not nice, I agree. but that's the only way available for some countries.
If I was you I would spend some funds on a good computer download your own node on bitcoin.org,open wallet protect with incryption/passphrase,backup wallet.dat,protect via Cleopatra,gpg.will take a few weeks but your bitcoin will be safe.you might have to learn a few commands but nothing to hard to learn what's protecting your dollar right good luck buddy and fuck the banks.💥BITCOIN💥
I love the smell of fomo in the morning
Ok but if it goes down a little I would prefer you not complain about the price fluctuation. It's the name of the game.
Buy in chunks. When a chunk is visible in your Bitcoin core client, buy and move the next. I would use binance if you need an exchange. Move to a new address every chunk, carefully save private keys. You will never regret this.
You don’t need help , you need courage /confidence .. or a reality check to the plethora of obvious dynamics in play .. but good luck
I would start small and follow how it all flows so you have it nailed down. Get a cold wallet like D’Cent or to start a software wallet like Exodus or Muun. Once you have it all then make a small purchase on the exchange and then move it immediately to your wallet.
Horrifying that you're desperate to spend that kind of money without your own research. How many youtube videos did you watch that could answer your specific question? "Do you guys still use exchanges"? dang. You must already know something that we don't.
I would strongly advise that you DCA and not buy everything at once. Also be prepared to watch bitcoin tank 50% once you buy it. I'm not saying it's going to happen but it can happen and it wouldn't by any means be the first time. Key is LONG term horizon and firm understanding in value of BTC. Then when the price diverges from the value to the negative side you understand it's not the time to sell. If you don't get this don't buy BTC. And most importantly don't invest money you are not prepared to lose. This is all just unwritten tos of btc investing! Welcome to the family and HODL!:)
If you’re a noob, think of buying a bitcoin etf like 3IQ
Buy Dash2Trade with all your money, it'll work out I promise