The Best Places to Buy Bitcoin

Congratulations–you’re finally ready to buy your first Bitcoin. I’m going to walk you through the best ways to buy Bitcoin if you live in America.

1. Swan Bitcoin – cheapest way to buy your first $10K of Bitcoin (no fees on first $10K)
2. River – cheapest way to regularly buy Bitcoin (zero fees on recurring orders)
3. Cash App – quickest way if you already have Cash App (medium fees)

Cheapest way to buy Bitcoin – Swan

The cheapest way to buy your first Bitcoin is with Swan Bitcoin. There are no fees on your first $10,000 of Bitcoin buys. This is the best place to start your Bitcoin journey whether you want to dip your toes on a $100 buy, smash buy thousands, or start saving in Bitcoin with a recurring order.

How to buy Bitcoin with Swan

1. Sign up for Swan Bitcoin
2. Enter your personal information
3. Link your bank account
4. Make your first purchase
5. (Optionally) Set up a Bitcoin savings plan

Cheapest way to buy Bitcoin regularly – River

If you’re ready to save in Bitcoin, the cheapest way to buy it regularly is with River. When you set up a recurring buy order, there are no fees after the first week. You’ll pay a low 1.20% fee for your first week and no fees after that. The app is well-designed and very easy to use for beginners. Take advantage of the dips when you dollar-cost-average (DCA) into bitcoin.

How to buy Bitcoin on River

1. Sign up for River
2. Tap Buy Bitcoin
3. Link your bank account through Plaid
4. Tap One-Time Purchase to change the order type
5. Select Recurring Buy Order
6. Choose the frequency
7. Enter the amount
8. Preview and place order

Quickest way to buy Bitcoin – Cash App

The quickest way to buy Bitcoin on your phone is to use CashApp if you already have it. CashApp is a peer-to-peer payment service like Venmo, Zelle or PayPal. If you have CashApp installed already, then it will be the fastest way to buy your first Bitcoin because you won’t have to sign up for a new account anywhere else. One downside is the CashApp fees are a bit higher than the others, so it’s not the best long-term solution if you decide to buy more Bitcoin later.

How to buy Bitcoin with Cash App

If you’re already using the Cash App to send money to friends, you can buy Bitcoin directly from your phone using the app. When you open up the app on your phone, you should see a little Bitcoin logo ₿ on the bottom navigation to the far right.

1. Tap the ₿ icon
2. Tap Buy
3. Choose how much you want to buy. Use the “…” button to buy more than $500.
4. On the confirmation screen you’ll see the funding source, amount in “sats” (Satoshis are the smallest unit of Bitcoin), the fees and a few other things. Tap “Confirm” to complete the purchase.

Summary

You’ll want to use Swan Bitcoin for your first Bitcoin buys up to $10,000 since there are no fees. When you’re ready to start buying Bitcoin regularly, River is your best bet as there are zero fees on recurring orders. If you want to buy Bitcoin quickly, and you have Cash App already, you can get some there.

Whether you’re planning to buy Bitcoin once or ready to set up a savings plan to DCA into Bitcoin regularly, these are the best places to buy your first Bitcoin.