How To Buy Cryptocurrency in Australia

If you are looking for a super quick breakdown on how to buy cryptocurrency in Australia you can find our step-by-step below. We highly recommend Swyftx since it’s very easy to use, they have the lowest fees in Australia, their support team is truly excellent and you’ll be assigned an account manager. Alternatively, check out our comparison of the best crypto exchanges in Australia.

How To Buy Cryptocurrency in Australia

1. Register an account on Swyftx
2. Enable 2-factor authentication
3. Verify your account
4. Deposit AUD
5. Click on “Trade” in your dashboard
6. Search for the Cryptocurrency you are looking to buy and click “Buy Coin”
7. Enter the amount of AUD you want to spend or how much of the particular Cryptocurrency you want to buy
8. Click “Buy”
9. If you have any trouble with the above steps, you can reach out to their support team 🙂

If you are looking for more detailed guides, you can find them below.

Where To Buy Cryptocurrency

We highly suggest using Swyftx to buy and sell Cryptocurrency. We’ve done a comparison of the top 10 exchanges in the world for Australians to use and Swyftx clearly deserves the top spot.

Find out more about Cryptocurrency Exchanges in Australia

Interested in cryptocurrencies but not sure where to start? Hesitating whether this type of investment will suit you personally?

We’re not going to lie, trading and investing in digital coins involves substantial risk of loss that requires some patience and self-control to stomach it. It’s no wonder that so many traders remain gun-shy and reserved.

In our guide today, we’ll focus on the Australian crypto market and settle all your doubts on where and how to buy cryptocurrency, whether digital assets are worth investing at all, how are they regulated in Australia, etc.

We remain positive that by the end of the text, you’ll have made your decision on joining (or not!) this international trend.

Cryptocurrency in Australia

There’s this unjustified belief that cryptocurrencies are a ten-year-old invention. In reality, the idea about using digital coins goes back to the late 80s, when discussions about decentralizing our financial system were gathering strength.

Developing the right technology to support such a peer to peer electronic payment system was not an easy task. It took software engineers more than 20 years before they could overcome most of the challenges.

Finally, in 2008, Satoshi Nakamoto published the Bitcoin white paper and open-sourced its underlying blockchain technology the following year. Even then, traders were slow to pick up cryptocurrency trading. The stakes were too high, the industry too uncertain and volatile.

The crypto community in Australia was no different. It wasn’t until 2017 that Australia, and the world in general, started to show a growing interest in Bitcoin and make their first investments. Analysts point at the shift in Australian regulatory frameworks as being one of the main reasons for the shift in attitude towards crypto trading.

Cryptocurrency Regulations

In the past, cryptocurrencies were subjected to notorious double taxation under Australia’s goods and services tax (GST), which meant that Australians were liable to pay the tax both when buying and spending cryptocurrencies.

Finally, in 2017, the new bill recognized Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies with the same features as property and are now subjected to Capital Gains Tax (CGT). In the GST legislation, a “digital currency” is a unit of value that’s fungible, available without restrictions, and verifiable.

In the same year, the Government passed the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Amendment Act that encompasses cryptocurrencies as well. Digital coins have been accepted as a legitimate payment method, resulting in wider adoption and a number of Australia-based ICOs raising millions of dollars for crypto projects.

The fact that the Australian government has changed its approach towards the crypto industry is indicative of the country’s progressiveness and the initiation of the crypto market into Australia’s economy.

What Kind of Cryptocurrencies Are There?

The number of cryptocurrencies has amounted to over 5,000 different digital coins, according to CoinMarketCap. It’s very hard to topple Bitcoin’s legacy, which is why thousands of these coins, also known as altcoins, are mostly short-lived.

Bitcoin was a financial breakthrough, after all, and it’s still backed up by the industry’s best minds. Altcoins, on the other hand, are highly volatile and lack sufficient security due to their low hash rates.

However, there are a number of altcoins that have managed to build a secure infrastructure for their ecosystem throughout the years. Ethereum, Ripple, and Litecoin are just a few examples. What makes them stand out from other altcoins is their versatility and project goals.

Instead of being used simply as a store of value, these coins serve different purposes. Some of them are designed for small-scale everyday purchases. Others play their role in popularizing blockchain technology for building smart contracts and decentralized applications. They protect the networks from spams and DDoS attacks.

Finally, we have digital tokens that are usually built on top of other blockchains because they lack one of their own. These coins serve as utility tokens that users spend on service fees, or purchase them to get a discount on transaction fees or earn voting rights.

How to Invest in Crypto in Australia

Investing in and trading with cryptocurrency is quite a plain sailing process where all you need is a reliable online platform that works for your investment strategy.

For someone who hasn’t done this before, it would be best to go with a fiat-to-crypto exchange where he/she can make the first deposit in fiat currency. If they choose a crypto-to-crypto exchange, they would have to convert fiat into crypto using a different payment provider. Going back and forth between online platforms puts your money at a greater risk.

You should be aware of the difference between centralized and decentralized exchanges. For example, some of the most popular exchanges such as Swyftx are centralized. These are companies that offer escrow services and either match buyers and sellers of crypto or provide the coins themselves. High-level security is their strongest facet.

Decentralized exchanges are peer to peer platforms where traders typically purchase, sell, and exchange cryptocurrencies anonymously. There’s no central authority in charge of your transactions, and everything is arranged between you and the other individual making the deal with you. Different sellers accept different payment methods, so you easily find one that works for you.

If you’re not sure which one to choose, think of what’s more important to you. If you are ready to compromise your privacy but use an exchange you can trust, go with a centralized one. Most of them are licensed and comply with AML and KYC regulations. If you care about your privacy and don’t intend to keep your funds online, choose one of the decentralized platforms.

How to Store Cryptocurrencies

We hope that our guide has encouraged you to try yourself out as a crypto trader in the near future. This general knowledge is enough to grant you a headstart over other crypto players. It’s up to you to plan out your investment strategy and choose a coin that goes in line with it.

Once you’ve finished your homework and purchased the coin you’re after, you’ll need a suitable wallet to keep the coins safe.

Most reliable crypto exchanges include a digital wallet as part of their features. If you already have an account on one of these platforms, once you purchase the coins, the exchange can automatically transfer them to your wallet balance.

In case your exchange doesn’t provide a wallet, you have the option to register for any free third-party wallet on the Internet. The only drawback is the inevitable risk that comes with storing funds online. No matter how strong and state-of-the-art their security measures are, we recommend using online wallets as a short-term solution.

The best choice is to invest in a hardware wallet, a USB-like device that keeps your money locked with a private key that only you have access to. This wallet doesn’t actually store your coins, as they aren’t physical objects on their own, but it remains disconnected from the Internet and can’t be affected by malware or hackers.

Whichever wallet you choose, make sure to check the supported cryptocurrencies as different wallets are designed with different cryptocurrencies in mind. Naturally, the range of options will be greater for Bitcoin and other prominent coins.

About The Author