If you’ve been following cryptocurrency news recently, you might have heard a lot about dogecoin. It’s a cryptocurrency that began life as a joke project created by two software engineers, but quickly became a prominent alternative to major market leaders like bitcoin and ethereum. Dogecoin doesn’t have the same kind of dedicated following as those alternatives do, but there’s no doubt that it’s carving itself a place in a very crowded market.
As a crypto investor – or someone who’s simply interested in getting on the cutting edge of future currency innovations – you might be thinking about buying dogecoin. As you might expect, it’s not quite as simple as that. You’ll need to think about where you actually want to buy the currency from, how much of it you want to buy, and whether investment is actually a sound idea at all. Here’s our guide on where you can buy dogecoin, how to do it, and whether you should.
Credit or debit card
Naturally, the first choice you’ll probably want to consider when paying for dogecoin is your credit or debit card. Happily, there are a number of platforms that accept this form of payment for the dogecoin currency. The biggest cryptocurrency exchange, and the one that’s most famous among traders, may well be Binance, which accepts credit and debit cards if that’s how you want to pay.
Alternate platforms on which you can use credit or debit cards include eToro, a trading platform that allows you to trade in dogecoin, and Bitpanda, which also accepts this form of payment. Credit and debit cards are likely to be many people’s default form of payment, so it’s important that you find the right platform for you. Make sure to do extensive research before you purchase your dogecoin.
PayPal
If, like many, you’re security-conscious about your payments (and you have every right to be), then you may wish to opt for PayPal instead of a traditional card payment. Unfortunately, many cryptocurrency platforms won’t accept PayPal, so your best bet if you want to use this method is eToro. Many crypto brokers rate eToro highly for purchasing crypto, so if you do use it for dogecoin, you’re in good hands.
Bank transfer or wire transfer
The best place to buy dogecoin if you want to use a bank transfer is Kraken. The platform bills itself as “the most trusted” cryptocurrency exchange on the market, and true to that description, it doesn’t accept most forms of payment, limiting itself instead to wire transfer and SEPA (single Euro payment area). However, this has the advantage of being by far one of the most secure ways to buy dogecoin.
There is one thing to be careful of, however. If you’re looking for a secure place to buy and trade crypto, be sure to verify the security of that place beforehand, especially if they only accept bank transfer payments. Often, bank transfer-only platforms are trying to defraud you, and nowhere is this more true than in the high-octane world of cryptocurrency trading.
What do you need to buy dogecoin?
It’s not just about where you buy your dogecoin from. There are two things you’re going to need if you want to buy doge (or any cryptocurrency, for that matter): a wallet and fiat currency to exchange for the coin. The latter is an easy guarantee; if you’re looking to buy dogecoin, you almost certainly have currency to spend on it. However, it’s easiest to buy the currency using US dollars (USD) or euro (EUR), so if possible, try to convert your currency to either of those formats before you proceed.
The second and most important thing you’ll need to buy dogecoin is a wallet. You can either get software or hardware wallets, and depending on your needs, one or the other solution may appeal more. Here’s a quick breakdown of the differences between the two.
Software wallets
As you might expect, a software wallet for dogecoin only exists on the software side. Online wallets are easy to use, provide instant access to your dogecoin, and are constantly connected to the internet, making it quick and simple to buy and trade crypto whenever you need to.
There is, however, a major drawback to wallets that exist on the mobile or web side of the crypto world. As you’ve probably predicted, software wallets are far more open to attack. If they’re constantly connected to the internet, then they can constantly be seen by bad actors who might want to steal your coin or defraud you out of fiat currency. If security is a major concern for you, then you’re much better off sticking to hardware wallets.
Hardware wallets
As opposed to software wallets, hardware wallets are physical entities on which you can store dogecoin. Think of them as essentially like incredibly secure USB pen drives. You’ll often see hardware wallets referred to as “cold wallets”, because they’re similar to cold storage; you can’t immediately access dogecoin to buy and trade it, but they’re much more secure. When you’re setting up a hardware wallet, you’ll be asked to create a PIN, usually a fairly complex string of numbers that you’ll need to remember. Whenever you want to access your dogecoin balance, you’ll need to input this PIN.
Hardware wallets have their own distinct advantages and disadvantages. On the one hand, they’re extremely secure and can’t easily be accessed by hackers. They’re usually compact and easy to keep on you, too, so if you do want to access them, there’s rarely more than a couple of steps involved. However, hardware wallets are usually extremely expensive, and they’re not as easily accessible as software wallets, so be sure you pick the right option when you’re setting up your dogecoin. There’s nothing stopping you from getting both!
We hope this guide on buying dogecoin has proven useful. Are you planning to get involved in the world of cryptocurrency? Do you already trade dogecoin? What do you think the next major trend in the crypto world will be?