How did people buy bitcoin and other cryptos back in the old days?

[yat97]

Like around 2011 to 2015? Before it became available on major exchanges?

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[thecodebear]

I started buying in late 2013 and there were major exchanges then, wasn't any harder than it is today. Was probably harder back in 2011. I think Mt Gox did the majority of the global volume back in 2011 so basically you'd just go use Mt Gox I'm guessing.

[LFC_Bitcoin]

I started buying in 2014, I used a UK site called www.bittylicious.com for the first year of buys. I then moved to www.localbitcoins.com before Coinbase & Kraken.

People used MtGox before I started buying. Google the story behind MtGox.

[masterzino]

Like around 2011 to 2015? Before it became available on major exchanges?

I remember most of the time deals were in person, for P2P transfers, through sites like LocalBitcoins, forums, and local exchange sites. I also used to use Kraken and CEX back then.

It wasn't that easy as it now

[target]

I started buying in late 2013 and there were major exchanges then, wasn't any harder than it is today. Was probably harder back in 2011. I think Mt Gox did the majority of the global volume back in 2011 so basically you'd just go use Mt Gox I'm guessing.

I wasn't here yet back in 2011. I'm sure it's harder for someone in a country where there is yet no online banking.
The currency exchange forum is already active during that time, those who have thought of buying BTC could just be using Paypal. It's what brought me here in the forum actually since I heard so much about Bitcoin so I head over here to try it and then learn to join a campaign.

[dothebeats]

I started my buying in 2014, and back then there are already a lot of exchanges catering to bitcoin and other crypto that either went broke or went exit scam mode. It was relatively easier to purchase to buy bitcoin back then IMO since not much checks and KYC was happening, but you can still get your crypto provided that you fund your account good.

The forum itself, too, was an excellent buy and sell platform that only a few people utilized. Used to buy Steam gift cards for bitcoin in here for $20 denominations and most went smooth.

[notblox1]

Back in 2010 member dwdollar created his own Bitcoin Market for purchasing and selling Bitcoin from person to person or using Paypal, but he closed it in June of 2011 .
In July of 2010 Mt.Gox posted first message on forum and it was later sold to Mark Karpeles.
Then the story goes on with other exchanges but I guess people exchanged Bitcoins for fiat and other stuff p2p since the very beginnings.

Hi everyone.  I'm in the process of building an exchange.  I have big plans for it, but I still have a lot of work to do.  It will be a real market where people will be able to buy and sell Bitcoins with each other.  In the coming weeks I should have a website with a basic framework set up.  Please bear with me.

Hi Everyone,
I just put up a new bitcoin exchange.
Please let me know what you think.
https://mtgox.com

[pooya87]

There weren't really "other cryptos" back in early days like 2009 when bitcoin was created and the first altcoin which I believe was Namecoin came out on April 2011, same as Litecoin which is about 2.5 years later.

In early days (ie. 2009-2010) you didn't really have to "buy" bitcoin. You simply downloaded the satoshi client and mined bitcoin. Or you could simply go to a faucet or on a forum and ask people to give you some bitcoins to test this new internet currency (example first faucet giving 5BTC in 2010).

Then trading started slowly in a P2P form and eventually the exchanges came out. There were a couple of them in early years with MtGox starting in July 2010 and eventually becoming a "major" exchange after some time and finally scamming people in 2013 and causing a lot of drama.
Some of these exchanges included the handful of altcoins for trading too.

[The Cryptovator]

Like around 2011 to 2015? Before it became available on major exchanges?

I think until 2015 there was already a major exchange that started the business. See the list of exchange when they come on the market. Even a few crypto exchanges were founded in 2011. Before that Bitcoin mostly traded peer to peer, because there wasn't another way to gain Bitcoin except mining. Bitcoin wasn't much popular back in 2011, there weren't many propels to buy it as well. And not much altcoin was there. When altcoin started development then slowly exchange is coming as well. Think simply, no demand means no opportunity to exchange. When demand increasing exchanges increasing as well.

[Lorence.xD]

I started buying in late 2013 and there were major exchanges then, wasn't any harder than it is today. Was probably harder back in 2011. I think Mt Gox did the majority of the global volume back in 2011 so basically you'd just go use Mt Gox I'm guessing.

Mt Gox is the one that is always on the headline back then, being the biggest exchange and being always attacked by hackers, they sure do love the headlines. AFAIK people buy bitcoin the same as today, the only thing that changed is the exchanges that they used, you don't even have to buy because back then the problems to solve to mine blocks are far easier so if you want bitcoin back then, you just have to mine it in your computer.

[hilariousetc]

How do people buy anything new or from an emerging market? They find a way. I believe there was a rumour ebay was first created as a way to sell Pez dispensers online but if I recall correctly it's popularity took off with people selling Beanie Babies on there but before ebay they would have likely traded them either in person meet ups or via online forums and such and that's what happened here. The first major exchange of bitcoin was done on this forum for two pizzas. After that people would have traded their cash, Paypal, bank transfers or other products or services for bitcoins and many still do and we have a Currency Exchange dedicated to that: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=53.0

[sheenshane]

Probably it's easier than I think because most exchanges before didn't allow impose KYC verification on their users.  I remember this in somewhere article (IIRC) buying Bitcoin on Mt. Gox exchange is $1K per day and that is a whole number of Bitcoin back then.  It's very easy to have a whole number of Bitcoin back then, but unfortunately, I found and discover Bitcoin year 2017 when there's a bull run after the second halving.

I tend to agree that even joining a faucet before you can have Bitcoin, but of course, the dollar value isn't big compared today and nobody's interested because they think it's a waste of time.

But now, even a single of satoshi is had value to us and you can cover even fees.

[el kaka22]

I sold to other people using paypal. Back in the day we didn't cared about our bitcoins all that much about paypal and centralization and many other things, it is funny that paypal is getting into bitcoin just now but back when I didn't had any sort of local exchange that allowed me to deposit or withdraw fiat, I was capable of using paypal and just sent or received money from there, no chargebacks or anything ever happened to me neither, which I have to say would be very risky to do right now but back in those days we were only a few people so it wasn't really this scary, now you could get screwed over 10 bucks on paypal if you are not careful enough.

Of course there was P2P as well, it was always available, there were many times a guy I know wired money to my bank account and I made a profit from that, eventually he started his own exchange as well so it was really cool to see that.

[Wexnident]

The earliest major source I knew of Bitcoin back then was mining and faucets. People didn't really start trading much, every now and then some would though but that mostly consists of p2p trading. Though I didn't really participate back then, my friend who got me into Bitcoin often used to mine using my PC and the university's pc sometimes when he was able to use it. He often used p2p to buy and sell whenever he needed to. Plus, the earliest exchange that most people know of back then was Mt Gox.

[mersal]

Like around 2011 to 2015? Before it became available on major exchanges?

I used LBC to buy bitcoins when there is no enforced KYC requirements to trade there and it was most reliable at that time because most exchanges didn't have fiat deposit for many countries after that 2017 lot of local exchanges popped up so we can get better deals for fiat than LBC in the recent times.

[cryptomaniac_xxx]

Perhaps this is one option, Bitcoin at $50k: Looking back at the price perspective. You can buy it at a very cheap price. I also link a old thread there, it was like auctions in the early days of bitcoin.

[ampere]

Like around 2011 to 2015? Before it became available on major exchanges?

Well; bitcoin and cryptos were firstly mined; before being listed on exchanges, back then i believe there was nothing like major or minor exchanges; neither was anything like fringe exchanges. It traded on exchange and people engaged with it cautiously or curiously through mining and purchases. Also, p2p was a great way to transact it back then

[Wind_FURY]

Like around 2011 to 2015? Before it became available on major exchanges?

I used LBC to buy bitcoins when there is no enforced KYC requirements to trade there and it was most reliable at that time because most exchanges didn't have fiat deposit for many countries after that 2017 lot of local exchanges popped up so we can get better deals for fiat than LBC in the recent times.

I used LocalBitcoins for my first purchased Bitcoins too. In fact, everyone should create good trading relationships from the P2P marketplaces. One day, you won’t be needing the platform to trade with one another. It would be a simple peer to peer transfer, preferably in person.

[Distinctin]

I have nothing to add since I only know Bitcoin at the time of joining the forum. I got heard about MT. GOX but never have an experience with this and those years as mentioned by OP, Bitcoin isn't widely known for everyone. But to wonder if those people who bought Bitcoin are still in crypto now or they are losing it as their keys being misplaced.  

Anyways, I can't figure out how hard to make a trade in the past compared today as we have a lot of Bitcoin exchanges available. Honestly, they are so lucky to have that experience, buying Bitcoin as $1, $12, having traded for pizza? That is overwhelming.

[DoublerHunter]

^ Back then, in the year 2015 I bought occasionally in LocalBitcoin, it was easy to buy before because people can buy more BTC without worrying about the KYC. But during that day, I have doubted BTC and I did not fully understand the system which is very profitable today which is I did not realize before.
The first BTC faucet that I have joined before was Freebitco.in, they are doing this before and until now this feature was still there. It is very easy to accumulate BTC before since it is very cheap in the market and even faucets gives a decent amount of BTC.