Would like to buy some BTC & ETH. Some questions

[cflannagan]

Would like to buy some BTC and ETH (and much smaller positions in Dogecoin), just for starters. Plan is to just buy and hold, for years (decades?), like I do with equities & bonds. I have account with Coinbase. Played with purchase preview, the fees seems a bit steep-ish? (close to 15%?)

1) Read upon this, it sounds like I probably should buy via Coinbase Pro instead for lower fees (if I still wanted to do it thru Coinbase network), does that sound right? Guess I should find something else, Coinbase is on "not recommended list" because it's a "custodial wallet". I premise because I don't have control of my keys?

2) Perhaps more importantly, should I be look into setting up account with something other than Coinbase, if there is one more suited for buy-and-holders with lower fees?

3) Anything I can do with my "idle" BTC and ETH positions once I get those? (like can I "lend" them out and earn some interest? Or would I forfeit any price gains/losses if I "lend" out the BTC/ETH positions?

Sorry if those questions don't make sense, but it's a starting place for me, clearly I'm new here

[jackg]

Coinbase pro was easy to register for for me and the fees were a lot lower (although to get a 15% fee you're either not buying much or using a card or another expensive method).

The most you'll pay to buy or sell from coinbase pro at the moment is 0.5%.

Regarding using a custodial wallet, if you're confident you'll be bale to manage your bitcoin then get one - if you're not - you might be better off getting comfortable with sending funds first and practicing good security with those.

And there are sites that will give you returns on your crypto but those also are custodial.

[mk4]

1-2. Coinbase Pro is the way to go if you don't mind providing personal identification documents. But since we're mostly paranoid people here, we mostly prefer peer-to-peer platforms such as LocalCryptos[1] and HodlHodl[2]. Also, you can freely use Coinbase, it's just that we definitely do NOT recommend leaving your funds there. If you're planning on investing a good chunk of money, definitely grab a Ledger[3] or Trezor[4] hardware wallet.

3. You can lend them out. Completely up to you if it's worth risking handing over your funds to a custodial service despite custodial services getting hacked[5] left and right. Personally though, I'm totally happy with price appreciation. Wouldn't want to lose sleep over hoping that the custodial service that's holding my coins doesn't get hacked.

[1] https://localcryptos.com/
[2] https://hodlhodl.com/
[3] https://ledger.com/
[4] https://trezor.io/
[5] https://cryptosec.info/exchange-hacks

[tranthidung]

[5] https://cryptosec.info/exchange-hacks

Cryptowisser.com - Exchange graveyard
Notyourkeys.org - Not your keys, not your coins

Exchanges can be hacked and don't make compensation for customers. They can have scam exit. They can be shut down by government and else. Generally there are many risk when you leave your coins on exchanges and don't have access to private keys or mnemonic seeds.

If exchanges run into troubles, you will probably lose your coins.

[cabron]

It's pointless to lend them out to some custodial platforms that will ask KYC. You have been trying to avoid KYC from buying it and then just going into DEFI platform that will ask KYC.

There are Defi platforms that don't ask KYC but you might consider sending only a percentage of your investment. This one Sovryn could be one that you might like. It's hard to trust those Defi platforms actaully since there is not much regulation yet about them so do it with caution. They may ask KYC all of a sudden.

[cflannagan]

I'm trying to figure out where I want to buy small amount of BTC (just to get my feet wet). I checked out eToro (was on top of recommended list under "Where to Buy" list for exchanges to buy BTC).

Created account, played with virtual portfolio at eToro. Wanted to make sure I understand the UI before I deposit anything real there.

I don't see options in their UI to transfer BTC I purchased, to a Bitcoin address? I have created some addresses for cold storage. But I don't see how I can transfer my BTC from eToro to addresses that I have key for?

[Jawhead999]

I don't see options in their UI to transfer BTC I purchased, to a Bitcoin address? I have created some addresses for cold storage. But I don't see how I can transfer my BTC from eToro to addresses that I have key for?

Click portfolio and follow next guides here https://www.wikitoro.org/etoro-withdraw

eToro etc etc were listed on top in some article are got paid from the exchanges, it's not based on honest review and trustworthy. IMO eToro isn't really good exchanges, there're some cases they charge insane fees. Since you're okay to submit KYC, I would suggest to use Binance or FTX.

[cflannagan]

I don't see options in their UI to transfer BTC I purchased, to a Bitcoin address? I have created some addresses for cold storage. But I don't see how I can transfer my BTC from eToro to addresses that I have key for?

Click portfolio and follow next guides here https://www.wikitoro.org/etoro-withdraw

Ah yes, getting somewhere. Seems like I can withdraw crypto, not just cash. And looks like i have to, I think, move cryptos I own toward eToro wallet, which I can then move to external wallet.

eToro etc etc were listed on top in some article are got paid from the exchanges, it's not based on honest review and trustworthy. IMO eToro isn't really good exchanges, there're some cases they charge insane fees. Since you're okay to submit KYC, I would suggest to use Binance or FTX.

Ah okay. Checked eToro cuz it was mentioned on top of list at "How to Buy Bitcoins in 2021: A Complete Guide for Beginners" which was linked from "How to earn Bitcoins"

I will check out Binance or FTX. Just so I know (learn more) what's out there, what options are there if I don't want to do KYC? KYC means the exchange learns who I am by me verifying myself, that kind of thing correct?

[Jawhead999]

I will check out Binance or FTX. Just so I know (learn more) what's out there, what options are there if I don't want to do KYC? KYC means the exchange learns who I am by me verifying myself, that kind of thing correct?

You can only explore the exchanges if you're unverified user, use decentralized exchanges instead if you don't like KYC.

Correct, just like above members mentioned. But since you're use eToro which mean you've provided your personal information, so they already know who you are, your face, live, money etc. Depends on your privacy concern, but you can't become 100% anonymous again.

[jrrsparkles]

I don't see options in their UI to transfer BTC I purchased, to a Bitcoin address? I have created some addresses for cold storage. But I don't see how I can transfer my BTC from eToro to addresses that I have key for?

Click portfolio and follow next guides here https://www.wikitoro.org/etoro-withdraw

Ah yes, getting somewhere. Seems like I can withdraw crypto, not just cash. And looks like i have to, I think, move cryptos I own toward eToro wallet, which I can then move to external wallet.

You can withdraw your BTC or any cryptocurrency asset to your wallet so its not just about only in etoro meanwhile you can't withdraw cryptocurrency to your wallet when you are buying on PayPal so understand those differences first.

Since you are preferring non KYC then you can choose FTX which allows users to withdraw $2000 per day for unverified accounts if I am not wrong.

[jackg]

I don't see options in their UI to transfer BTC I purchased, to a Bitcoin address? I have created some addresses for cold storage. But I don't see how I can transfer my BTC from eToro to addresses that I have key for?

I'm not entirely sure on that one but I think they split into two parts while I was using them and had their regular cfd exchange and a "money" bit. I've only ever used the app to exchange crypto for cash though.

I'd be putting it nowhere near the top on a list of places to buy crypto from, especially if you want to withdraw it - they made that a confusing process by splitting the two things up.

[UserU]

@cflannagan, have you tried custodial wallets like Celsius Network?

They're basically financial institutions dealing with loans and financial services, and they offer saving accounts with rates of up to 6.21% APY for Bitcoin and much higher for stablecoins (e.g. USDT). All you got to do is simply deposit your coins and let them sit there gathering interest.

I've been doing this and they're a much better way than letting the portfolio sit idle.