how to buy crypto in south africa
The Cryptocurrency market is moving at a ground breaking speed in South Africa, with quite a good number of digital trading platforms to choose from, plus numerous investors who buy, hold & trade digital assets. Regardless, navigating the process can be such a drag for beginners. And if you are a Crypto enthusiast looking to invest in digital currencies like BTC, ETH and the likes. On this thread I’ll walk you through a complete guide to buy cryptocurrency in South Africa.
Please feel free to ask questions and contribute if you know about crypto. Keep all comments civil and on topic. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Step 1: Choose a Reputable Cryptocurrency Trading Platform
To buy Crypto in South Africa, You will need to sign up with a legit platform like Binance, Luno, VALR, to list a few. Before we proceed on how to sign up on these exchange platforms, its important to note that you could be scammed of your money and assets if you invest in a none reputable exchange platform.
Cryptocurrency investment/trading is legal in South Africa and is regulated by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA).
Step 2: Create an Account on a Cryptocurrency Trading Platform
Now, it is okay for you to choose whichever reputable platforms to buy Cryptocurrency. And what’s more interesting, you can invest as low as a 100 ZAR into Crypto, to either trade digital assets or just hold coins with a high future potentials. My personal advice would be to start with a fairly little amount, since the Cryptocurrency market investments carry profound risk, including market volatility and potential losses.
To Create an Account on either of these platforms, you will start by providing your email address and a password, or your phone and a password. A verification mail will be sent either to your email address, or as a text message for confirmation.
Step 3: Identity Verification
To comply with South African regulations, Cryptocurrency trading platforms ask their users to verify their identity. This simply means that you will be asked to provide identification documents, for example a valid ID card or passport, and proof of address. You can take it a step further by doing a Two-factor authentication for some extra security on your account. Every process is quite easy and self-explanatory once you get on the app.
Step 4: Deposit Funds
After a successful verification you can deposit funds into your Crypto exchange account using various methods. We will start with the most common method to deposit funds into your trading platform account, this method is called:Peer to Peer, P2P for short
The P2P fund deposit method is an easy and reliable way to deposit funds into your account and you can do this on the platforms we listed above, like on Binance for example. P2P is like a marketplace that connects you to sellers who are interested in withdrawing funds from the same platform you intend to fund.
The sellers account number will be available for you to send the amount you want to fund your account with, and the platform will hold their asset until they confirm your payment and the assets will be released into your account, as the buyer.
Note that you cannot fake a transfer as the platform will ask you for proof and ban you for life, if you are found guilty.
There is a long list of local banks available for you to directly transfer to, while using the P2P method. You will set up your local bank account, and you are all set to deposit using this method.
The P2P deposit option is clearly visible on your trading platform, all you need do is to select the option.
Deposit ZAR via Bank Transfer
For Binance Users you can deposit funds into your trading platform using Stitch, link your South African Bank Account to Binance through the Stitch platform.
Simply navigate to the deposit section on Binance, Pick ZAR as your currency and click on bank transfer as your payment method.
You will then be redirected to the Stitch platform website to finish up your bank transfer, after a successful transaction the funds will appear in your Binance account. The other listed platforms above, provide similar features.
Credit/Debit Card
You can buy Cryptocurrency assets using your credit or debit card on Binance and the other listed Cryptocurrency platforms. Click on deposit and choose the credit/debit card option.
Step 5: Buy Cryptocurrency Assets
After a successful deposit into your account, you can then buy digital assets by converting your USDT into whatever asset you want, or you can simply go through your trading platform’s marketplace, and pick a Cryptocurrency asset you want to buy, you will find hundreds of options available.
You will also find that they are quite different order types to choose from, they include:
1. Limit Order
You get to buy at any price you set for the order to be executed.
2. Stop-Limit Order
This order is executed when the market price reaches a certain point.
3. Market Order
This executes your order at the current market price.
Furthermore, you should note that you can either hold digital asset as a form of a long term investment or you can buy/sell them on the Futures perpetual & quarterly contracts on a trading platform you choose to use as a day trader.
After Buying Cryptocurrencies you can save them on platforms like Trust Wallet, Metamask, etc, these platforms do not support trading, but they serve as banks for digital assets. Meanwhile other platforms like Binance offers a built-in wallet to hold assets and also offers futures trading where you trade with leverage to increase potential gain.
Keep in mind that leverage increases potential losses too. Consider each step carefully before buying Cryptocurrency, as earlier mentioned Cryptocurrency carries significant risks, market volatility & potential losses.