.png){kind=logo}
Please keep in mind that cryptoassets are highly volatile unregulated investment products with no UK or EU investor protection. You could lose all the money you put into them. Capital gains tax may apply to profits from cryptocurrency sales.
Contents:
The easiest way to invest in Bitcoin if you live in the UK is to purchase it online from a crypto exchange such as eToro, Coinbase or Uphold. Crypto exchanges make it easy to buy and sell Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies directly from your smartphone, tablet or computer.
After purchasing Bitcoin, you can do one of two things:
On the one hand, you can leave your Bitcoin in the crypto exchange, where you will be able to monitor the value and exchange it for other cryptocurrencies (such as Ethereum, Solana, USD Coin, BNB, XRP and more) or for fiat currencies (such as GBP, USD, EUR and others).
On the other hand, you can move your Bitcoin and other crypto holdings to a secure Bitcoin wallet that can be separate from or owned by the crypto exchange you use.
In order to manage your Bitcoin, there are three basic concepts you must understand:
We’ve compiled a list of some of the best Bitcoin trading platforms in the UK. These are Bitcoin exchanges, wallets, apps and websites where you can buy Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, Cardano and other cryptocurrencies in the UK.
Please remember that cryptoassets like Bitcoin are highly volatile, unregulated investment products with no UK or EU investor protection. You could lose all the money you put into them. Additionally, capital gains tax may apply to profits from cryptocurrency sales.
Compare some of the best Bitcoin trading platforms in the UK below:
eToro is a multi-asset trading platform that offers both investing in stocks and crypto assets, as well as trading CFDs. With eToro, you have over 120 cryptocurrencies to choose from, including popular coins like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether, XRP, Binance Coin (BNB) and Solana. It is entirely free to open an account with eToro, and all registered users receive a US$100,000 demo account for free, which you can use to practice buying crypto and other assets before committing to them. eToro does not charge a deposit fee but charges a 1% trading fee on all crypto positions. Trading on eToro occurs in USD, so a conversion fee will apply if you deposit or withdraw in a currency other than USD. Withdrawals incur a fee of US$5, and the minimum withdrawal amount is US$50.
For UK customers, eToro offers an eToro Money app which allows you to convert your GBP to USD free of charge, thereby reducing your foreign exchange costs. The app also functions as a wallet for storing your crypto holdings and allows for easy transfer of your cryptocurrency from one exchange or wallet to another. In addition to cryptocurrencies, eToro offers other products, including 0% commission stocks.
Please note: Cryptoassets are highly volatile and unregulated in the UK. There is no consumer protection, and tax on profits may apply. Your capital is at risk. Additionally, 79% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
Coinbase is a cryptocurrency exchange that allows you to buy, sell and earn popular digital currencies, and keep track of them in one place. With Coinbase, you have over 500 cryptocurrencies and other digital assets to choose from, including popular coins and tokens like Bitcoin, Ethereum, USD Coin, Tether, Dogecoin and Cardano. You can set up recurring trades and invest in cryptocurrency slowly over time by scheduling buys daily, weekly, or monthly. You can also track your trades and monitor market movements via the web app or iOS and Android mobile apps. The Coinbase Wallet allows you to store all your crypto and NFTs in one place, trade 500+ assets on DEXes and earn interest.
There are multiple fees involved when trading crypto on Coinbase. Fees are calculated at the time you place your order and may be determined by a combination of factors, including the selected payment method, the size of the order, and market conditions such as volatility and liquidity.
Please note: Cryptocurrency is not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and is not subject to protection under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme or within the scope of jurisdiction of the Financial Ombudsman Service. Investing in cryptocurrency comes with risk and cryptocurrency may gain in value, or lose some or all value. Capital gains tax may apply to profits from cryptocurrency sales.
Uphold is a beginner-friendly cryptocurrency exchange that allows you to buy and sell over 90 cryptocurrencies and utility tokens, including majors, altcoins and emerging tokens. You can also buy and sell up to 3 national currencies, including GBP, EUR and USD. With Uphold, you can schedule regular transactions using AutoPilot, which allows you to set up recurring buy or sell orders and reduce the impact of price volatility. Uphold also lets users withdraw funds to bank accounts in 36 countries or to private wallets on five crypto networks - instantly and fee-free. Uphold currently has over 2 million customers worldwide.
There are multiple fees involved when trading crypto on Uphold. Fees are calculated at the time you place your order, so the price you see before your trade is the same price you pay when you trade. The most important fees to look out for are trading fees, FX fees, and market spreads.
Promo: Trade Bitcoin free of charge (no deposit fees, trading fees or commissions) from 5 Oct 2022 to 5 Jan 2023. Terms apply.
Please note: Cryptoassets are highly volatile unregulated investment products with no UK or EU investor protection. Your capital is at risk.
CoinJar is a cryptocurrency app and exchange based in the UK and Australia. With Coinjar, you can trade or invest in 50+ cryptocurrencies, including popular coins such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP and USD Coin. Customers can buy, sell, hold or spend cryptocurrencies via the CoinJar app and wallet. The CoinJar Card lets you make purchases with your crypto, online and in-store. It’s free to activate, and there are no monthly fees for using the card. You also earn CoinJar Rewards every time you spend with your card. CoinJar is suitable for both beginners and advanced investors.
The minimum deposit to open an account with CoinJar is £10. Deposits are made in GBP, so FX fees do not apply. There is a trading fee of 1% on the CoinJar mobile app and website. The CoinJar Exchange (for market orders and aggressive limit orders) charges 0.00% for taker orders and 0.04 - 0.1% for maker orders (limit orders).
Please note: Cryptoassets are highly volatile unregulated investment products with no UK or EU investor protection. Your capital is at risk.
Gemini, founded by Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, is an easy-to-use cryptocurrency exchange suitable for both beginners and advanced crypto traders. Gemini makes it simple to research the crypto market, buy Bitcoin, Ethereum and 50+ digital currencies, and build a portfolio of cryptocurrencies and tokens. With Gemini, you can trade assets, manage your holdings, set recurring trades, dynamic price alerts and choose a default currency from GBP, USD, AUD, CAD, EUR, HKD and SGD. You can also track your trades and monitor market movements via the web app or iOS and Android mobile apps. UK customers can access the Gemini Exchange, which offers various beginner-friendly and advanced crypto trading tools. UK customers can also access the Gemini wallet, which lets you store all your assets in an insured hot wallet or institutional-grade cold storage system.
There are multiple fees involved when trading crypto on Gemini, including transaction fees, Maker-Taker fees and withdrawal fees, depending on whether you access the Gemini Exchange via the mobile app, web app or ActiveTrader interface. Gemini charges between £0.75 - 1.49% for mobile and web app trades and Maker-Taker fees for orders placed via ActiveTrader.
Please note: Cryptoassets are highly volatile unregulated investment products with no UK or EU investor protection. Your capital is at risk.
Coinsmart is an easy-to-use crypto exchange on a mission to make cryptocurrency accessible to everyone. It is designed to be a simple crypto-trading platform that anyone can use and understand. With Coinsmart, you can buy and sell Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and other digital currencies quickly and easily on desktop and mobile. There are multiple fees involved when trading crypto on Coinsmart. Some of the fees include withdrawal fees (depending on your withdrawal method) and trading fees.
Promo: Get C$20 (~£12) in Bitcoin when you fund your account with a minimum of C$100 (~£63). Promo code: getcrypto.
Please note: Cryptoassets are highly volatile unregulated investment products with no UK or EU investor protection. Your capital is at risk.
OKX is one of the biggest crypto exchanges in the world, and it allows you to buy, sell and store hundreds of popular cryptocurrencies and altcoins. OKX users can trade Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether, USD Coin, XRP, ADA, SOL, DOGE and many other popular cryptocurrencies. Users can also trade a wide range of DeFi cryptocurrencies such as Uniswap, AAVE, Maker, Synthetix and Compound, as well as NFT-related cryptocurrencies such as ApeCoin, FLOW, Chiliz and MANA (Decentraland). OKX allows you to buy crypto with GBP and over 30 other fiat currencies or with your existing cryptoassets. OKX has crypto trading tools for beginners, advanced traders and institutions. Users can also earn high yields, access new tokens early, join OKX’s mining pool, or use cryptoassets to take out low-interest loans.
OKX charges Maker-Taker fees for trades conducted on the exchange. These fees are different for regular and VIP users. Regular users are categorised into tiers by their total OKB holdings, whereas VIP users are categorised by 30-day trading volumes and daily asset balances. The trading tiers are updated daily.
Promo: Buy or deposit US$50 worth of crypto and get a Mystery Box.
Please note: Cryptoassets are highly volatile unregulated investment products with no UK or EU investor protection. Your capital is at risk.
Phemex is a crypto trading platform with custom-built trading engines that process 300,000 transactions per second with order response times of less than one millisecond. The founding team consists of ex-Morgan Stanley executives who boast decades of practical Wall Street experience. With Phemex, you can buy Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether, Dogecoin, Chainlink, Cardano, XRP, Litecoin, and other popular cryptocurrencies with your debit or credit card. The platform is suitable for both beginners and advanced crypto traders. However, advanced traders will find Phemex particularly appealing as you can trade BTC, ETH and over 224 Crypto Pairs with zero trading fees (Premium users only). Users can also boost their crypto knowledge by taking advantage of the 400+ articles on hot crypto projects available on the platform.
There are multiple fees involved when trading crypto on Phemex, including trading and withdrawal fees. These fees depend on whether you trade cryptocurrencies via the Phemex wallets, trading accounts, spot trading platforms or contract trading platforms. Click here to learn more.
Promo: Up to US$180 welcome bonus. Learn more here.
Please note: Cryptoassets are highly volatile unregulated investment products with no UK or EU investor protection. Your capital is at risk.
Bitcoin is a form of digital money that you can buy, sell or securely send to anyone anywhere in the world without the interference of banks, payment platforms or central governments.
Launched in 2008, Bitcoin is by far the world’s biggest and most popular cryptocurrency, with a market capitalisation of around £263 billion (at the time of writing).
Market capitalisation (or market cap) is a metric used to measure the size and popularity of a cryptocurrency based on its current price and the volume of the cryptocurrency in circulation. The higher the market cap, the more popular the cryptocurrency is.
There will only ever be 21 million Bitcoins in the world, making it a scarce cryptocurrency. Around 3 million Bitcoins are still available to be mined, and this will happen slowly over the next hundred years. The last blocks will theoretically be mined in the year 2140.
Bitcoin was created in 2009 by a person or organisation called Satoshi Nakamoto, who explained their theory of digital peer-to-peer transactions without the interference of the government in a white paper entitled "Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System".
A blockchain is a specific type of database containing a list of transactions that anyone can view and verify. You can think of it like your bank statement or a bank ledger where you can see a history of transactions carried out over a particular period. In the case of Bitcoin, the Bitcoin blockchain is a record of every time someone buys or sells Bitcoin. Read more about blockchain here.
In early 2010, one Bitcoin was valued at a fraction of a penny. By October 2013, it had grown to over £100 (over 1,000,000% growth in just three years), and by December 2017, the price skyrocketed to a whopping £15,000 (an increase of about 15,000% in four years). As of April 2022, the price of Bitcoin was £33,000 (120% growth from 2017). Today, the 27th of November, 2022, one Bitcoin is equal to £13,673.97.
Bitcoin uses cryptographic technology, making it more secure than standard debit or credit card transactions. However, there are some risks involved with Bitcoin transactions. For example, Bitcoin wallets are not necessarily anonymous, and they rely on passwords that can never be recovered once lost.
The current price of Bitcoin is £13,673.97 (at the time of writing). At any point in time, the current price of Bitcoin can be found here.
It is perfectly legal to buy Bitcoin in the UK, and all UK residents can buy Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies from crypto exchanges. While the UK’s financial watchdog, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), does not currently regulate cryptocurrencies, it displays a list of the crypto exchanges registered with it. Some of them include eToro, Coinbase and Uphold. The FCA’s position on cryptocurrencies is: “Cryptoassets are considered very high-risk, speculative investments. If you invest in cryptoassets, you should be prepared to lose all your money. You are unlikely to have access to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) or the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) if something goes wrong.” To learn more about the FCA’s position on cryptocurrencies, read its guidance.
Beginners can invest in Bitcoin by purchasing it online from a crypto exchange such as eToro, Uphold or Coinbase. Crypto exchanges make it easy to buy and sell Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies directly from your smartphone, tablet or computer. They also allow you to monitor the movements and performance of your crypto holdings.
The smallest amount of Bitcoin you can buy is 1 satoshi which is 0.00000001 Bitcoins. This essentially means that you can start buying Bitcoins with as little cash as you are comfortable with. Most cryptocurrency exchanges allow you to invest in Bitcoin with as little as £10.
The top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalisation in 2022 can be found here.
As with all investments, it is entirely up to you to decide if they are worthwhile. Most people buy Bitcoins as a speculative investment or as an addition to their larger long-term investment portfolio. If you think the price of Bitcoin will go up in the future (for whatever reason), buying it now means you can sell it at a higher price in the future. That said, please remember that when it comes to investing, profits are not guaranteed, and your capital is at risk.
Yes, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are taxable in the UK. HMRC requires UK residents to pay Capital Gains Tax (CGT) on the profit they make from Bitcoin (and other cryptocurrencies) in the same way they pay CGT on the profit from other assets like stocks. For more information on taxes on cryptocurrency, please read HMRC's guidance.
You can buy Bitcoin in the UK from the following crypto exchanges:
Here are some of the popular Bitcoin Wallets in the UK:
To buy Bitcoin in the UK, you need to:
Every month, we'll send you The Plug - a curation of the best personal finance content in the UK. We share real-life stories, how-to guides, top personal finance news, popular community questions, and tips to help you stay on top of your money.
