Brokerages, exchanges, ETFs, ATMs, peer-to-peer markets and earning. Each trades convenience, cost and privacy differently. After this lesson you can name the three questions to ask any route.
What three things decide your experience after buying, whatever the route?
A brokerage quotes you a buy price of $101,500 while the market price is $100,000, and charges no visible fee. What is the hidden cost of a $10,150 purchase, in dollars?
Then prove it: a 3-question quiz · a challenge. The lesson marks itself complete at 100%.
After this lesson you can: name every common route to bitcoin and ask the three questions that matter about any of them.
There are more ways to get bitcoin than most people realise. The right one depends on how much, how fast, and how private you want to be.
The main routes
Brokerage. You buy from the company at a quoted price, usually with a spread or fee of around 1%. Simple, fast, and the usual first step. Requires identity verification (KYC).
Exchange. You trade on an order book against other users. Lower fees for larger amounts, more buttons to get wrong. Also KYC.
Spot ETF. Shares in a fund that holds bitcoin with a custodian. Convenient inside a brokerage or retirement account, but you own shares, not coins, cannot withdraw bitcoin, and pay an annual fee.
Bitcoin ATM. Cash in, bitcoin out, usually at a premium of 5 to 15% and with an ID scan.
Peer-to-peer. Platforms such as Bisq, RoboSats and Hodl Hodl match you with another person, with multisig or Lightning escrow. No KYC, more effort, smaller amounts.
Earning it. Getting paid in bitcoin for work, which has no purchase at all.
What matters
Six routes. The last column is the one that matters.
Whatever the route, three things decide your experience afterwards: whether you can withdraw to your own wallet, whether you understand the fees, and who holds the keys while the coins sit there. Fees are often hidden in the spread between the buy and sell price rather than shown as a line item.
Fees hide in the spread. Ask for the all-in cost of a $100 buy.
7 ways to get more bitcoin (even if you're broke) · The Exit ManualWatch on YouTube ↗How To Buy Bitcoin SAFELY · Step By Step Guide · Andrei JikhWatch on YouTube ↗
MINI CHALLENGEThe all-in cost
A brokerage quotes you a buy price of $101,500 while the market price is $100,000, and charges no visible fee. What is the hidden cost of a $10,150 purchase, in dollars?
dollars
You pay $101,500 per coin for something worth $100,000 per coin. $10,150 buys 0.1 coin.
About $150, or 1.5%. "No fee" and "no cost" are different things.
01Shares in a fund that holds bitcoin with a custodianETF shares track the price but cannot be withdrawn as bitcoin.
02In the spread between its buy and sell pricesCompare the quoted price with the market price to see the real cost.
03Whether you can withdraw to your own wallet, whether you understand the fees, and who holds the keys meanwhileWithdrawal, fees and custody are the lesson's three tests for any route.
