How To Buy Bitcoin With Prepaid Card | Beginner’s Guide (2024)

For many newcomers, Bitcoin is the go-to cryptocurrency for those who want to get involved in this new and exciting industry. Starting your journey can be a bit overwhelming at first, especially if you don’t know where to make your first purchase. There are various ways you can go about purchasing Bitcoin in 2023, and today we’ll explore a lesser-known option: prepaid cards. Keep reading this guide to learn more about how to buy Bitcoin with this payment method.

Top Bitcoin Brokers That Accept Prepaid Cards

Prepaid cards are mostly cards that are bought preloaded with money. One of its main uses is to help you put a cap on your expenses. Once the funds are exhausted, you usually need to top-up your card for further spending.

These are cryptocurrency brokers and exchanges that currently accept prepaid cards as payment for Bitcoin:

What Is a Prepaid Card Bitcoin Broker?

Finding a cryptocurrency exchange or broker that accepts prepaid cards might have been difficult a few years ago, but it is now easier.

The Bitcoin broker or exchange will convert or use the value of the funds in your prepaid card to facilitate the Bitcoin transaction you want to make.

What Crypto Platforms Accept Prepaid Cards?

More platforms now allow you to use your prepaid cards to buy Bitcoin. These platforms cut across brokerages, cryptocurrency exchanges, and peer-to-peer (P2P) transaction platforms.

Below is a concise explanation of some of these platforms, as well as the way they work:

Changelly

Changelly is one of the simplest ways to purchase Bitcoin and over 50 other cryptocurrencies. It accepts some prepaid debit cards through its Moonpay integration, and many users don't even need to complete KYC. Whether you want to buy, sell, or swap, the process only takes a couple of clicks. The main downsides are the 4% fee on card purchases and the fact that transactions can take up to a few hours.

KuCoin

KuCoin is known as the number one altcoin exchange thanks to its extensive selection of over 700 cryptocurrencies. As well as its advanced trading features, KuCoin caters to beginners too with its simple card purchase feature, where you'll be able to use prepaid cards.

Coinmama

Coinmama was developed to be a cryptocurrency trading platform allowing you to use prepaid cards for transactions.

Both prepaid cards and credit cards are supported. You can also leverage the platform to buy other cryptocurrencies, including Ethereum, QTUM, and Ripple.

Paxful

Paxful is a P2P crypto platform that accepts prepaid cards as payment for Bitcoin. You can pay with several prepaid cards, including eBay Gift Card and Google Play Gift. You will need to look for a seller who accepts your chosen payment method. Paxful doesn't charge any fees for buying crypto, but the price you pay will be decided by the seller.

LocalBitcoins

This is a cryptocurrency P2P platform that connects both the buyers and sellers of Bitcoin. Through LocalBitcoins, you will have access to an escrow service that holds the funds securely until the sellers finalize their end of the transaction.

How to Buy Bitcoin With Prepaid Cards

After choosing a prepaid card Bitcoin broker or exchange, follow these steps:

How to Deposit and Withdraw via a Prepaid Card

Deposit

You can begin the process of adding your prepaid card to a cryptocurrency brokerage or exchange by entering the details of the card. After that, you will be required to provide an additional security feature, such as verifying your profile.

Your prepaid card will shortly be activated for purchasing Bitcoin on the cryptocurrency brokerage/exchange.

Withdraw

Don’t want to leave your Bitcoin on the exchange/brokerage? You can withdraw it to any place of your choice.

Note that some cryptocurrency brokerages/exchanges may not allow you to withdraw Bitcoin bought with prepaid cards if you have traded it—if you want to withdraw the coin, it must not have been used for trades.

You can withdraw your acquired Bitcoin to either a software/online cryptocurrency wallet or an offline/hardware cryptocurrency wallet.

Withdrawing your Bitcoin helps to keep your asset safe against the security threats that cryptocurrency exchanges are susceptible to.

What Should I Look for in a Prepaid Card Bitcoin Broker?

Different factors are worth considering before choosing a cryptocurrency broker or exchange that accepts prepaid card payments for Bitcoin purchases.

These are some of the things to consider:

Liquidity: Ensure that the cryptocurrency brokerage or exchange you want to use has liquidity. This means that transactions should get confirmed in real-time as there are lots of people trading BTC. If it were to be a P2P brokerage or exchange, find out if there are many sellers because that gives you more options to choose from.

Security: Exchanges ought to keep you and your funds safe through features such as cold storage, 2FA, and address whitelisting. P2P platforms should provide escrow, which is a moderation service used to protect the interests of both the sellers and the buyers. This protects your prepaid card from being compromised while transacting on the platform.

Fees: Does the brokerage/exchange charge fees for transactions? Also, find out if the card has an additional charge for every transaction you make.

Global Presence: You should be able to use the cryptocurrency brokerage/exchange, irrespective of the location you are in. Find out if the platform has a global presence and if its services are available in your current location.

Customer Support: Can you contact the customer service team of the platform to resolve issues in real-time? Customer support should have several channels of access, including live chat, email, and phone.

Should I Buy Bitcoin Using a Prepaid Card?

Is Using Prepaid Cards the Best Method to Buy Bitcoin?

Prepaid cards are best if you need to put a cap on the amount you spend on Bitcoin. It may also mean better security when transacting. Since the card isn’t linked to your traditional bank account, there will be limited options for the bank to track your transactions, offering a sense of anonymity. Using a prepaid card for Bitcoin purchases also allows instant purchases of Bitcoin.

However, this payment option can pose some challenges, such as having a limited purchase size, and the time required to look for brokerages/exchanges that accept prepaid cards.

What are the Alternative Payment Methods to Buy Bitcoin?

Prepaid cards are excellent, but it wouldn’t hurt to use additional payment options to buy Bitcoin.

Here are some of the additional payment options you want to consider:

Credit /Debit Cards: These are similar to prepaid cards, but the difference is that they are linked to your bank account so have higher spending limits. There are far more platforms available that let you buy Bitcoin with a credit card or debit card.

PayPal: A few crypto platforms have started enabling users to buy Bitcoin with PayPal. This is a fast, secure, and convenient method, but you will be limited in which platforms you can use with PayPal. The PayPal app itself lets you buy a very small number of cryptocurrencies, but you'll likely encounter higher fees and fewer trading tools.

Bank Wire Transfer: Consider buying Bitcoin with a bank transfer when you want to make larger investments. In this case, you can wait for up to three business days for your payment to be confirmed. Thereafter, you can use the wired funds to buy Bitcoin on your preferred cryptocurrency exchange/brokerage.

Electronic Wallets: Some electronic wallets (e-Wallets) can be used to buy Bitcoin. Find out if the cryptocurrency trading platform you want to use supports buying Bitcoin with Neteller and Skrill.

P2P Lending/Marketplace: Through this platform, you can borrow Bitcoin from others and repay later. You can also transact directly with the sellers/merchants, while you pay in your local currency to the bank account of the seller.

Final Thoughts

The key to making a successful Bitcoin transaction with a prepaid card is to find out the availability of the payment method on the platform(s) you are considering. Prepaid cards are not as popular as debit cards and credit cards. As such, only a few cryptocurrency trading platforms are willing to accept them— research is required.

Despite the many advantages like faster transaction speeds, and ease of use, buying Bitcoin with a prepaid card might not be ideal if you are looking at making bigger transactions.

FAQs

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