I am planning to buy a sizeable amount of Bitcoin using funds from my Czech bank account which is with UniCredit bank in Prague. The funds are in Czech currency (Czech koruna, a.k.a. Kc, a.k.a. CZK).

Are there any Czechs here with experience buying Bitcoin?

It seems to me that I will need to send my Czech-currency funds from my Czech bank account to some suitable cryptocurrency exchange, so what is the best exchange to use when buying Bitcoin in the Czech Republic? Coinbase, eToro, Binance, Bitstamp, Bitpanda, etc.?

Are there any good crypto exchanges which accept Czech currency (Kc), or would I have to convert the funds to euro (EUR) when sending?

I know that the Czech Republic is generally a crypto-friendly country, e.g. SatoshiLabs (company behind the Trezor hardware wallet) is based in Prague, as is General Bytes (the world's second largest manufacturer of Bitcoin ATMs), and there have been many Bitcoin ATMs throughout Prague for many years now.

So I would expect that it should not be *too* difficult to accomplish my goal, but I am anxious that UniCredit might make it difficult for me to send my funds over to a crypto exchange, as there are still some banks out there nowadays which generally make it difficult when sending money to crypto exchanges... I do not know where UniCredit bank stands in that regard. I am not quite comfortable walking into the bank and bluntly asking them, "So, do you mind if I start using my account here to buy large amounts of Bitcoin...?"

I have been investing in and trading cryptocurrencies for 8 years now, but it was previously always in a different country -- never before in the Czech Republic. I am quite experienced and knowledgeable with crypto generally, but this would be my first time buying crypto in the Czech Republic, so it is a peculiar sensation for me to feel like a novice again due to this different national/banking context.

Given the substantial amount I am looking to invest in Bitcoin, it would be grossly inefficient and so pretty much pointless to use a Bitcoin ATM (which is a pity, as there are tons of them all over Prague). To my mind, the only option which is appropriately secure and viable for me is to send funds from my Czech bank account to a suitable Czech-friendly cryptocurrency exchange. So any advice in that direction?

Thanks!

I have a Barclays account in the United Kingdom and I intend to make a substantial purchase (several hundred thousand pounds’ worth) of Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) in the coming weeks (early 2023). What is the best way to do this as securely and efficiently as possible, and with minimal friction on the banking side?

I already have a verified account with Coinbase and I am already very comfortable with that already as I have already used Coinbase happily for several years -- but on all those previous occasions I funded my Coinbase account by sending the money from a different bank account in another country (not from Barclays and not from the UK). I have never sent money before from my Barclays U.K. bank account to any crypto exchange, whether Coinbase or otherwise.

I assume that it should be possible to send the money as an international wire transfer from my Barclays UK bank account over to the Coinbase bank account in the U.S. (indicating my personal Coinbase account code in the ‘Reference’ section on the wire transfer instructions), and I assume that I should do this in person at a Barclays branch. I can break it up into multiple transfers over several weeks if needed, although I’d prefer to do it all in one or two transactions.

My main concern right now is whether Barclays is going to freak out and hassle me (or worse) when I attempt to send large wire transfers to a crypto exchange (even to an established mainstream exchange such as Coinbase)?

Any advice for sending money successfully from a Barclays UK account to fund a Coinbase account? Is this doable nowadays, or will my Barclays account get flagged or frozen?