OK, so you want to buy what is becoming the hottest cryptocurrency in the world right now — Ripple (XRP). Excellent choice! Unfortunately, it isn’t easy to buy it, especially if you live here in the US. To help you avoid some costly mistakes and better understand the current process, I put together this step-by-step guide to help you do it. Admittedly, it is confusing and difficult. If you lack patience then purchasing Ripple at this time may not be for you. If you follow this guide, however, I am confident your Ripple wallet will be filled with cryptocurrency happily gaining in value — by the minute! 🙂
So how do we do this? Again, be prepared — this is a lengthy process, but I’ll walk you through it. Here is an overview of all the steps necessary:
1. Purchase Bitcoin on Coinbase →
2. Deposit Bitcoin in GDAX →
3. Withdraw Bitcoin to Binance →
4. Buy Ripple (XRP) using Bitcoin on Binance →
5. Transfer XPR to your wallet.
Now, to accomplish this step-by-step!
1.0 PURCHASE LITECOIN ON COINBASE
Quick overview of Coinbase: Founded in 2011, Coinbase is a cryptocurrency exchange, brokering exchanges of Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Litecoin with fiat currencies (Fiat is currency that a government has declared to be legal tender, but it is not backed by a physical commodity) in 32 countries, and bitcoin transactions and storage in 190 countries worldwide. In a nutshell, is the gateway to purchase Bitcoin for most cryptocurrency investors wishing to use Credit Cards (instant) as well as Bank Accounts (5–7 days) for funding their Bitcoin purchases.
The first thing you need to do is establish an account on Coinbase.com. If you already have an account and you’ve validated your identification, please skip to step 2.0.
If you don’t have an account, please consider using my referral link. You will get $10 in bitcoin if you open your account and buy or sell $100 in cryptocurrency .
Go to Coinbase using my referral link
When you get there, you should see this screen:
Fill out the information as requested (name, email and password and click SIGN UP.
You should see a message to verify your email address
Go to your email, find and email from Coinbase with the subject Please Verify Your Email Address, click on it and verify your address
This is a pop-up that requests you go to your email account and find a message from Coinbase with a subject of Please Verify Your Email Address
This is a copy of the actual email with the link you need to click to verify your email address
The verification will take you back to Coinbase
You will see the following message:
Coinbase will ask you to select your State
Enter your phone number for verification
Enter your phone number
Coinbase will send you an SMS message with a verification code
Check your phone and enter the number on the screen
Enter your verification code
You should now have successfully opened a Coinbase Account
Your dashboard should look like the picture below. On this page, you can get a quick view on pricing for Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, and Litecoin.
Coinbase dashboard
If you click the link for Accounts, you will see the following screen:
View of the Coinbase Accounts Screen
It is from this screen that you can easily buy Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum and Litecoin. Notice the right hand side of the screen says Buy BTC. BTC is automatically selected by default when you look at your Accounts.
More background: As of now, you can’t directly purchase Ripple using US Dollars on Coinbase. You need to first purchase a cryptocurrency like Bitcoin, then exchange that currency for Ripple. Many people chose to purchase Bitcoin on Coinbase and then send it to another exchange that deals in Ripple, like Binance.
***If you haven’t validated your ID at this point, sending Bitcoin to Binance will be expensive. You will be charged a network fee which is running in the neighborhood of $32/transaction. So, if you purchase $100 in Bitcoin, $32 will be immediately taken away as fees! A solution is to transfer your crypto to Binance using a coin with a low cost network fee, such as Litecoin. Litecoin network fees are cheaper — currently around $0.25. That is a significant savings over the Bitcoin network fee.
We suggest you wait for Coinbase to validate your account. If that is the case, you should proceed to “FOR COINBASE ACCOUNTS THAT ARE VALIDATED”
If you are anxious to begin purchasing Ripple and don’t want to wait for ID validation, you’ll need to purchase Litecoin (or Ethereum) and send that coin to Binance. If you choose this path, please proceed to “FOR COINBASE ACCOUNTS THAT HAVE NOT YET BEEN VALIDATED.”
FOR COINBASE ACCOUNTS THAT ARE VALIDATED
Click on the Bitcoin (BTC) Wallet
Remember — to qualify for the $10 in free Bitcoin to be added to your Coinbase BTC Wallet, you need to buy/sell at least $100…
Next, Click on Buy BTC
You will see the screen below to add a method of payment. Coinbase allows you to use a credit/debit card, pull directly from your bank account or wire transfer. Initially, I set up my account using credit/debit and later added a bank account to reduce my fees. I suggest you start off using bank account as your Payment Method.
Like everything in life, there are Fees associated with purchasing cryptocurrency. If you use a debit/credit card, the fees will be higher than directly pulling from your bank account. Here are the fees:
Coinbase Fee Structure
Pros of Credit Card: Instant Purchase. Cons: Higher Fees
Pros of Bank Account: Lower Fees. Cons: 5–7 Business Day Wait
The banks Coinbase interfaces with are below. You will need to know your account number, routing number and other login information before connecting your bank account to Coinbase. Using a credit/debit card doesn’t require as much information.
List of Banks Working with Coinbase
List of Banks Working with Coinbase
If you are using a credit/debit card, they will charge you two small amounts to your card. You need to enter only the cents into the screen, not the full amount of the charge. For example, they charged my debt card. $1.57 and $1.02. In the screen, I entered 57 and 02. Those small charges will be removed in a few days.
Once your Payment Method is verified above, you will be returned to the following screen:
Select the Payment Method
If you only entered as in my case, Visa, you don’t need to click as it defaults to the only Payment Method you have. If you have both, you click into the Payment Method box and select the appropriate account to use. Next, enter the Amount you want Coinbase to pull from your Payment Method. In my case, I want to purchase $200 in LTC.
Click Buy Bitcoin Instantly
You will see the following screen:
Coinbase will not execute the purchase until after you confirm your transaction. Click on Confirm Buy now. Once successful, you will see the following screen:
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — –
FOR COINBASE ACCOUNTS THAT HAVE NOT YET BEEN VALIDATED
Click on the Litecoin (LTC) Wallet
Notice that the Buy BTC has now changed to Buy LTC — you are now ready to purchase some Litecoin!
Remember — to qualify for the $10 in free Bitcoin to be added to your Coinbase BTC Wallet, you need to buy/sell at least $100…
Next, Click on Buy LTC
You will see the screen below to add a method of payment. Coinbase allows you to use a credit/debit card, pull directly from your bank account or wire transfer. Initially, I set up my account using credit/debit and later added a bank account to reduce my fees. I suggest you start off using bank account as your Payment Method.
Set up a Payment Method screen
Like everything in life, there are Fees associated with purchasing cryptocurrency. If you use a debit/credit card, the fees will be higher than directly pulling from your bank account. Here are the fees:
Fees for Credit/Debit, Bank Account and Wire Transfer
Pros of Credit Card: Instant Purchase. Cons: Higher Fees
Pros of Bank Account: Lower Fees. Cons: 5–7 Business Day Wait
The banks Coinbase interfaces with are below. You will need to know your account number, routing number and other login information before connecting your bank account to Coinbase. Using a credit/debit card doesn’t require as much information.
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