Proven methods to buy Bitcoin in the United Kingdom, and other cryptocurrencies

Here are the three best ways to buy Bitcoin in the United Kingdom. Learn from my mistakes and become a Bitcoin Boss!

I have tested countless ways to buy Bitcoin in the United Kingdom by loading fiat currency onto exchanges and various . I have also battle tested various wallets and am here to share my learnings and distilled knowledge with you. I’ve taken the risks so you don’t have to. You can start right away with my best methods.

You will learn as you go. When you look back in a year’s time, you’ll be grateful you started on the shoulders of giants (full disclaimer: I’m only 6 foot 1). Maybe you don’t want to learn and are just into pure financial speculation? Following my advice will save you some pain for sure.

All methods will require you to submit details by law to “know your customer”. I advise registering in advance. Most will require a picture of some identification document. This may be reviewed by machine and automatically accepted, or may require human review.

What follows are my best recommendations for tested ways to buy Bitcion in the United Kingdom.

Method 1. Buy Bitcoin in the United Kingdom with a bank transfer in under 10 minutes using Bittylicious.com

Bittylicious.com is the quickest and most direct method to buy Bitcoin in the United Kingdom. It instantly turns your fiat Pounds (GBP) into Bitcoin (or another crypto currency). A key advantage is that you can specify any wallet destination. I have tested both exchange wallets and my own wallets. This saves you transaction fees. Other services may mean your cryptocurrency sits in the wallet of a third party, and you will pay further blockchain transaction fees to move the bitcoin to your own wallet.

Bittylicious provide a step by step help guide https://help.bittylicious.com/index.php/Bitcoin_buying_guide

Bittylicious.com works like a broker and escrow, matching buyers and sellers for Bitcoin and other crypto currencies. This means they match buyers and sellers and ensure no funny business by acting as a trusted middle-man/woman. We’ll focus here only on buying bitcoin, but you can also buy and sell other crypto currencies. Here’s a summary of the process with Bittylicious.

Step 1 – Lock in the Rate

Choose Buy from the first drop-down list. Next, you specify a Pound amount, or an amount of Bitcoin, by toggling the options in the second drop-down list. For example, choose Pounds to buy a Pound amount. Choose Bitcoin to buy an amount of Bitcoin you specify. Click away to see the price offered. If you are happy with the offered rate, proceed by:

1. Entering your Bitcoin wallet address – this can be a personal wallet or an exchange address provided for you by the third-party that holds your bitcoin (Crypto.com address, Binance etc).
2. Click to “Get some coins”

The fees for Bittylicious are in the spread – the difference between bid and ask price. The difference is usually around 2%. I’ve checked against other exchanges that I can actually buy on; 2% is approximately standard. Check for yourself now.

Your offer is now locked in for 30 minutes and you are given UK bank transfer details. The beauty here is that the bank transfer option will use the UK Faster Payments network, which is usually done in seconds. You can pay via credit card but take note of the worse rate offered, which reflects the higher fee for credit card purchases.

Step 2 – Transfer fiat currency via your bank to Bittylicious.com (10 minutes)

Note you are given a special reference to identify you, which must be included in the usual way when setting up your beneficiary. The bank details you are given have no indication of being crypto-related. Bonus – no account investigations! Go ahead and set up your new beneficiary in your online banking. Send the specified amount of Pounds (GBP) via bank transfer to your new beneficiary. When done with the internet banking transfer, return to Bittylicious. Click “I have completed my transfer” on Bittylicious. The Bittylicious system will match your payment transaction. Bittylicious will then initiate the transfer of your Bitcoin by sending the Bitcoin from the seller to your specified wallet address, using the Bitcoin blockchain.

Step 3 – Track your transaction on the blockchain

Finally, the most exciting bit! Track the network confirmations as your Bitcoin arrives in your wallet using your favourite Bitcoin blockchain explorer, such as https://www.blockchain.com/explorer

Nothing compares to that warm feeling when you see the network start to confirm your transaction. It usually takes 3 confirmations until the transaction is confirmed and the Bitcoin is yours! Congratulations, you have used the Bitcoin blockchain.

Pros
Near instant gratification
Use any wallet you like

Cons
Cach transfer is a one-off
No ability to automate regular transfers
No app (web-only)

Bittylicious.com is the top way to buy Bitcoin in the United Kingdom. It wins for instant gratification and full flexibility to send the Bitcoin to any address.

Method 2. Buy Bitcoin in the United Kingdom after a bank transfer of under 10 minutes with Coinfloor.co.uk

Coinfloor.co.uk is my best way to automatically buy bitcoin in the United Kingdom. Coinfloor.co.uk may also be the best way to buy Bitcoin in the United Kingdom. They allow transfers in Pounds (GBP), Euros (EUR) and Dollar (USD). You’re comparing fees: it’s a £2.50 bank deposit fee, a minimum deposit of £250 and a 0.3% fee on buying Bitcoin. Crypto.com offers free bank deposit and is without fee to buy Bitcoin. That’s why I tend to use Crypto.com these days for all my non-automatic purchases.

Coinfloor.co.uk offers a unique advantage, which is automatically buying Bitcoin in the United Kingdom. If you just want to buy bitcoin and want the fewest steps and are likely to want to buy bitcoin in the United Kingdom again, this is a compelling option.

Register on Coinfloor.co.uk, providing identification details.

Steps for a one-off buy of Bitcoin using Coinfloor.co.uk:

1. Go to settings > deposit > sterling deposit to get your Coinfloor.co.uk trading account deposit bank details
2. Setup Coinfloor.co.uk as a beneficiary on your online banking
3. Transfer funds using the UK Faster Payments network (usually 10 minutes or less)
4. Use the Coinfloor.co.uk website exchange to buy your Bitcoin with your GBP balance in your trading account

Fees are reasonable at 0.3% but there is that £2.50 deposit fee and deposit minimum of £250.

The Coinfloor.co.uk exchange comes in both “new” (more complicated) and “legacy” (simpler) versions. If you are not familiar with using exchanges, I recommend the legacy version. Honestly though, the simplest method to buy one-off is also to use the following approach to automatically buy bitcoin in the United Kingdom. You can use the method once or just occasionally.

Auto-buy steps:

1. Go to settings > auto-buy > accept terms > to get your Coinfloor.co.uk deposit bank details for Auto-Buy. Note this is a different reference to the regular bank details which fund your trading account. Funds transferred here will automatically turn into Bitcoin!
2. Setup Coinfloor.co.uk Auto-Buy bank details as a beneficiary on your online banking.
3. Transfer funds using the UK Faster Payments network (or setup a regular payment schedule)
4. Bitcoin are automatically purchased for you at approximately 08h30 the following morning. If using a scheduled payment from your bank, the Bitcoin are purchased around 08h30 on the morning of the scheduled payment.

Minimum Auto-Buy deposits are £10, with a fee of 2%, or a £0.50 minimum fee. This means that deposits below £25 incur fees higher than 2%.

Pros
Bank transfer in under 10 minutes via Faster Payments Network
Auto-buy as little as £10 at a time
Total automation to buy bitcoin with desirable fixed fees
Auto sweep to any wallet you like

Cons
No App
Minimum bank transfer of £250 for
Auto-buy bank deposit fees are a bit high for the smallest transfers
Bitcoin held by third-party

Coinfloor.co.uk is a favourite here at Making Better Mistakes. Coinfloor.co.uk is the best method I’ve found to automatically buy bitcoin in the United Kingdom using my bank account. I searched high and low and learned a lot along the way (yes, mistakes were made). Save yourself the hassle and make better mistakes.

Method 3. Buy Bitcoin in the United Kingdom after a bank transfer of up to 12 hours using Crypto.com (only EUR from February 2020)

Crypto.com is another tried and tested method. You’ll need to register as normal, but it’s all quick and in-app. Crypto.com supports British Pound (GBP) and 20+ different currencies for fiat on-boarding and off-boarding (bank account transfers) and card payments.

You will need to register and provide some identity verification. Use my referral link/code https://crypto.com/app/6zyy8ewsj8 to sign up for Crypto.com and we both get $25 USD if you end up using the app:)

Crypto.com has both an app and an exchange. This can be confusing. You can and should start with just the app. In fact, the app allows you to do all sorts of things, such as:

• Transfer fiat currency, such as Pounds (GBP) or Euros (EUR) to your Crypto.com fiat wallet – free
• Exchange/buy/sell between Bitcoin, other cryptocurrencies and your fiat currency, such as Pounds (GBP) – free
• Transfer fiat currency back to your bank account – free
• Set up auto-buy functionality on a schedule
• Move your Bitcoin and crypto to another wallet you own

There is no functionality yet to send Pounds (GBP) via bank transfer and automatically receive Bitcoin.

Note that as at February 2020 fiat transfers in GBP have stopped and we await the return of this functionality. In the meantime, a three-step workaround is to use Revolut. Transfer GBP to Revolut and convert to EUR. Send EUR to Crypto.com. This demotes Crypto.com to fourth. Binance is now my preferred and tested multi-asset exchange.

Step 1 – Setup Crypto.com as a beneficiary in your UK bank account

Your personalised bank details for Crypto.com are available within the app.

Step 2 – Transfer fiat currency via your bank to Crypto.com

No fees are charged by Crypto.com to receive funds. You may have to wait up to 12 hours for the Pounds (GBP) to clear into the Crypto.com app “GBP fiat wallet”.

Step 3 – Instantly buy Bitcoin in the Crypto.com app

Use the app to instantly buy Bitcoin or other crypto currency using your in-app GBP fiat wallet balance.

Crypto.com is a great way to buy bitcoin in the United Kingdom. There are no fees and they support many different crypto currencies. You’ll pay to move the crypto currency off to a wallet you own or another exchange. The only snag is the 12 hour delay, pushing them to second place No direct GBP deposits at present drops them to third.. The app can be slow at the busiest of times too. But really, their other features make Crypto.com equally as valuable to me as Bittylicous.com. The app can be a bit chirpy so turn off notifications!

Pros
Fee-free and easy

Cons
App-only
12 hour delay for bank transfers to arrive
Bitcoin held by third-party

I use the app for one-off purchases and it is one of my favourite way to buy other crypto currencies that are not Bitcoin or for trading. I also stake coins on Crypto.com to earn interest and you can too. Click my link or the button below to register and we both get a bonus worth $25 from Crypto.com if you end up using the app (my referral code is 6zyy8ewsj8).

Summary

• Bittylicious.co.uk is boss for UK Faster Payments network transfers and allow direct transfer to any address.
• Crypto.com have a deposit delay but are otherwise without fees for depositing or withdrawing fiat currency like Pounds. Their app allows buying and selling of many different crypto currencies. (For a sign-up bonus worth $25 use my referral code 6zyy8ewsj8 at this link.)
• Coinfloor.co.uk focus only on Bitcoin but do it very well. They also have a unique auto-buy and auto-sell function. Coinfloor.co.uk is the best way to automatically buy bitcoin in the United Kindgom.

If you like this content, please use my links to sign up. I’ve tried and tested 27+ exchanges, companies and services, putting my own money on the line, so you don’t have to. I’ve tested these services and can honestly recommend these as reliable ways to buy Bitcoin in the United Kingdom, and other crypto currencies too! By clicking on my links to sign up you help validate the pain of my mistakes in a small but meaningful way. Stand on the shoulders of giants and make better mistakes. You’re welcome. Knowledge only grows when shared.

I’d love to hear how you are doing on your Bitcoin and cryptocurrency journey. Please leave a comment below. Let me know if you try out any of these services.  I’d love to hear how others are getting on board the crypto revolution!

Update February 2020: Crypto.com stopped their GBP transfers since January while continuing to say it’s back soon. Binance is now my preferred multi-asset exchange.