In 2021, the crypto bull is running hard, with Bitcoin’s price soaring higher than $60,000. Old records are being broken and new ones created, while big-time influencers are increasingly turning to cryptocurrencies.

Considering Elon Musk’s activities on Twitter to Micro Strategy’s radical BTC acquisition, the wind is certainly blowing in favor of the global blockchain-cryptocurrency community. 

On the inside, as well, innovations and research of the technology’s betterment are faring better than ever. As blockchain ecosystems become more diversified, and simultaneously, more robust, they also become more reliable in terms of value.

Sidechains and Parachains, among others, are substantially mitigating scalability and interoperability concerns.

Gradually, privacy and user autonomy are being etched in the fundamentals of business processes, making them more relevant for the digital future. 

Long story short, the blockchain-cryptocurrency industry is rapidly proliferating. It’s witnessing parabolic growth, as some might argue, and with good reason.

Not just Bitcoin, but the value of altcoins such as Ethereum has risen 50% higher, while yet others have witnessed a two-fold boost.

In more ways than one, now is the time to enter this domain, in case you haven’t already. To help, this article discusses some ways in which you can start your crypto journey right away.

Ways of Getting Into Cryptocurrency

In this article, we will focus on the buying aspect, but what’s less obvious is that you might also get paid in crypto. Furthermore, you can win cryptocurrencies as rewards from bounties, raffles, and so on.

Such alternatives, however, involve substantial contingency and risk, which restricts their relevance to a niche and technically-competent subset of crypto users. 

Another aspect to consider before we proceed—what can you do with cryptocurrency? In other words, why should you even care? Even half-a-decade ago, cryptocurrencies were predominantly for use by techies.

Payment addresses, for instance, were long, 60-character strings of numbers and alphabets. That apart, only a few tech-savvy merchants or individuals accepted payments in crypto-assets. 

Today, the scenario has changed manifolds. Several business giants—Microsoft, AT&T, Burger King, and Namecheap, among others—have already integrated crypto-based payment methods.

SMBs around the globe are increasingly getting on board. Furthermore, with innovations in Decentralized Finance (DeFi), crypto-based financial services for lending, borrowing, derivatives, trading, and so on, are also available and evolving. 

Apart from paying with crypto, you can also generate passive income from your assets. In fact, new cryptocurrency use-cases are becoming realities almost every other day, but for now, let’s not get stuck on this point.

Similar to using cryptocurrencies, you can buy them in more than one way. In the following paragraphs, we highlight three broad and generic methods of getting into crypto. 

Digital Wallets

Futuristic digital wallets unify most of the above pathways to the world of crypto, thereby easing the journey for aspirants. While there are several solutions in this domain, for example Skrill’s digital wallet where customers can pay quickly, enable card, bank and local payment methods all in one place.

Exchange & OTC

Crypto exchanges are platforms where users can buy, sell, and trade cryptocurrencies using fiat, digital, or other compatible currencies. Based on their underlying framework and network policy, these exchanges may either be centralized and custodial or decentralized and non-custodial.

Binance, Kraken, and bitFlyer are some examples of the former, while Uniswap and AlphaEx fall in the second category.

Over-the-Counter (OTC) trading is another way of buying crypto. However, unlike exchanges, counterparties in this method necessarily interact directly. Moreover, OTC trades are usually leveraged for high-value crypto deals. 

Bitcoin ATM

Bitcoin ATMs work similarly to ordinary ATMs, except that they accept deposits by cash or card in return for Bitcoin (BTC). The uniqueness of this method lies in the fact that it allows individuals to buy BTC using cash, which is not possible on digital platforms. 

Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Trade

Ās the name suggests, P2P trades are direct crypto-based interactions between two counterparties, without involving any facilitator or intermediary.

Essentially, this method stands truest to the original principles of cryptocurrency. Presently, several P2P trading platforms are already available for users across the globe, with more definitely in the making.