How to Buy Crypto Without Navigating Multiple Platforms
Sometimes the hardest part of buying cryptocurrency isn’t deciding which coin to purchase, but how to purchase it in the first place. Despite mainstream adoption of crypto, the buying process can still be confusing due to the wide variety of platforms, technical jargon and outright scams making it difficult to know which options are safe.
But by choosing a service that combines funding, purchasing and storage, you can buy crypto without ever leaving a single platform. For some beginners, that’s the most practical way to start. Read on for what to know about the options available to you and their potential drawbacks.
CRYPTOCURRENCY AND OTHER DIGITAL ASSETS ARE NOT FDIC INSURED • ARE NOT BANK GUARANTEED • MAY LOSE VALUE
SoFi Crypto products and services are offered by SoFi Bank, N.A., a national bank regulated by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
The simplest way to buy crypto today
For most people, the easiest approach to buying crypto is to use an all-in-one platform that lets you deposit money, purchase crypto and store it in the same place. These platforms typically fall into one of three categories: payment apps, brokerages and centralized crypto exchanges.
Payment apps are primarily designed for sending money or making everyday transactions, but a few of them, including PayPal and CashApp, also let you buy crypto. You can usually purchase crypto in just a few minutes using a linked debit card or bank account. The trade-off is that these apps support a limited number of digital assets and tend to charge higher fees.
Brokerages like Robinhood and SoFi include crypto alongside traditional assets, offering them as part of a broader investment strategy. If you already use one of these platforms to trade stocks or exchange-traded funds (ETFs), adding crypto can be a fairly seamless experience. But while this approach simplifies tracking your investments, brokerages — like payment apps — tend to limit what you can do with digital assets to buying and selling. For example, they typically don't support crypto-to-crypto trades or crypto staking.
On both payment apps and brokerages, transferring your crypto off the platform and into an external wallet is often difficult or even restricted. That means you may have less flexibility if you want to experiment with active trading or decentralized finance in the future.
Centralized exchanges — such as Coinbase, Kraken and Crypto.com — offer the most complete crypto experience within a single platform. These platforms are designed for buying, selling and holding digital assets, so they tend to support a wider range of coins and features, like crypto staking and lending. Many of them also have a simple onboarding process and an intuitive interface to appeal to beginners.
Compared with payment or brokerage apps, centralized crypto exchanges can be slightly more complex, but often provide greater control over your assets and lower fees in return.
The key advantage of all three approaches is consolidation. You can move from depositing money to owning crypto without switching platforms. To choose between them, consider how much control you want, how many assets you want access to and how much you’re willing to pay in fees.
Buying crypto on a single platform
Once you’ve chosen a platform, the actual process of buying crypto is relatively simple.
Start by creating an account and verifying your identity. This step is required by regulated trading platforms and usually takes just a few minutes. Next, you'll have to link a payment method. Most platforms allow bank transfers; some also support debit or credit cards.
Once that’s done, select the cryptocurrency you want to buy. Bitcoin and ether, the cryptocurrency that powers ethereum, are two of the most well-known cryptos and the largest by market cap. Enter the amount you want to buy and review the transaction details while paying close attention to the fees and the final price you’re getting.
The crypto will appear in your account’s built-in wallet after confirming the purchase. You can leave it there, avoiding the extra step of transferring it to an external wallet unless you want more control over your assets.
The pros and cons of using a single crypto platform
Using a single platform streamlines the process of buying cryptocurrency because you don’t have to transfer funds between services, manage multiple accounts or navigate unfamiliar tools. For beginners, that can make a meaningful difference.
The biggest trade-off is that when you keep your crypto on a single platform, you’re trusting a third party to safeguard your assets. This is known as custodial risk, and it’s why many serious crypto investors eventually get a wallet of their own.
When you buy crypto on an exchange or trading app, the platform keeps it in a wallet it oversees. This means it has control over your private keys (the alphanumeric code that locates your assets on the blockchain).
If the platform holding your keys suddenly collapses, your crypto will likely be temporarily inaccessible — like what happened when FTX filed for bankruptcy in 2022 — or may be lost for good. And if hackers break into the platform, they might make it out with your keys and your funds.
These drawbacks can be minimized by choosing a platform that has a strong track record of safeguarding user assets and regularly audits its code and funds. Nonetheless, for crypto investors who are just starting out, the reduced complexity of using a single platform can outweigh the downsides.
Explore crypto with SoFi®
CRYPTOCURRENCY AND OTHER DIGITAL ASSETS ARE NOT FDIC INSURED • ARE NOT BANK GUARANTEED • MAY LOSE VALUE
SoFi Crypto products and services are offered by SoFi Bank, N.A., a national bank regulated by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
