Cardano (ADA) is still in the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap. Understandably, lots of investors want to buy Cardano. So, we put together this basic guide on how best to buy Cardano!
Let’s first go over different exchanges you can buy Cardano from. Then we will look at Cardano and why you might want to invest in it. Then we will go over a basic buying guide to finish off!
Binance
Binance is a good place to buy Cardano. It is the largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume traded.
You can buy Cardano on Binance relatively easily. Create an account, verify your identity, connect your payment method, and then you can buy Cardano directly.
Binance is a great crypto exchange for beginners to buy Cardano. It is very simple and easy to use.
One issue Binance has is regulations are often trying to limit where they can operate. Make sure to check if Binance operates within your country and or if they have faced problems in your country.
Binance has plenty of other cryptocurrencies for you to choose from too should you not only want to buy Cardano.
Pros
- Choose from a wide variety of coins, not just ADA
- Enjoy farming, Futures trading (leverage), peer-to-peer payments, borrowing and more
- Relatively low fees considering all the benefits
- Most popular exchange, meaning relatively safe, secure, and trusted
- A few different ways to buy ADA with
Cons
- The verification process can be trickier than in other cryptocurrency exchanges
- Unclear corporate structure
- Binance can be shut down in your country. Check to see if you can use Binance in your area!
Binance is a good crypto exchange for anyone wanting to buy ADA. As long as you are legally able to do so, create a Binance account and see if it works for you!
Coinbase
Coinbase is another fine choice to buy Cardano.
Coinbase boasts of being one of the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world. Their customer service, ease of use and relatively low fees make it a good choice for a beginner investor.
Coinbase has over 70 million users across 100 countries. They have billions of crypto assets and have one of the highest trading volumes of all crypto exchanges.
To buy ADA with Coinbase, sign up, complete the verification process, and add fiat currency to the exchange, then you can buy ADA directly. Coinbase makes a 0.5% fee on any of these purchases.
If you are going to make a large purchase, you should consider signing up to Coinbase Pro, which will allow you to pay fewer fees.
Pros
- All of the top coins are available to buy
- 2-factor login security authentication
- Watch and earn educational videos
- Trusted and secure exchange
Cons
- Transaction costs are higher than other trading platforms
- Fee structure can also be confusing
- Spread pricing can increase transaction costs
- Not available to use in all countries
Coinbase is a good all-round exchange if it is available in your country. You can trade Cardano, buy Cardano, and sell Cardano without any issues,
eToro
You can buy dogecoin without a problem on eToro.
To buy doge on eToro, download their app or visit their website, sign up, verify your identity, add your payment method, and then make a direct purchase for doge.
Like the other exchanges above, simply create an account, verify your identity, and then directly purchase ADA with your preferred payment method – be that through your bank account, wire transfers, debit card, and so on.
eToro boasts a demo feature that allows you to trade fake money if you are not ready for the real thing yet. It’s a cool feature just to see how you will make decisions should there be no real money on the line.
eToro also allows you to copy other people’s trades at no additional cost. This means you can follow “whales” or rich accounts and see how they are operating in the crypto market.
eToro also has a comprehensive list of popular crypto coins to buy.
With eToro you can access loads of different services, such as brokerage services, buying stocks and shares, and more.
Pros
- 15+ year track record
- Purchase regulated investments on eToro
- Approved licensing in the UK, Europe and Australia
- Fine to purchase ADA on
- eToro website is easy to use
- Get indirect investment advice through their copy trade system
- Excellent security measures
Cons
- At least $200 is required to use the CopyTrade system
- Crypto trading also requires a minimum funding threshold to begin to trade any crypto
- Less popular coins than other main exchanges (but still a respectable list)
eToro is a good exchange for most people. It’s especially good if you are interested in more than just crypto.
What is Cardano?
Cardano is one of the largest cryptocurrencies in the world. It is created by Charles Hopkinson, who had visions of being the next-gen evolution of Ethereum. Like Ethereum, Charles wanted a blockchain that’s sustainable, fast, scalable and used worldwide. Like Ethereum, he wanted a place where developers can use smart contracts to build decentralized applications (DApps), new tokens, games, art, and more.
However, Cardano is still yet to have fully rolled out its smart contract functionality even in 2022. It was predicted they would be ready by 2021 but Cardano still is not there yet.
What is ADA?
ADA is Cardano’s native token. Much like Ethereum has Ether, Cardano has ADA. You buy ADA, rather than Cardano. Cardano is the blockchain that ADA is used on. You would use ADA to pay for the fees whenever you interact with the Cardano blockchain. For example, if you swapped ADA for CAKE on Sundae Swap, you would pay a small fee in ADA.
How Does Cardano Work?
Cardano has opted for the proof-of-stake consensus mechanism, which they named Ouroboros. This is as opposed to the proof-of-work model that Bitcoin and Ethereum use. Ethereum will soon join Cardano on the proof-of-stake model when they finally upgrade to Ethereum2.0.
Explain Proof-Of-Work?
Sure! Proof-of-work was developed to ensure users do not spend the same money twice without a centralized authority to assist them. To achieve this, a “consensus mechanism” is used. The original consensus mechanism is called proof-of-work, which Bitcoin popularised through mining.
Unfortunately, proof-of-work requires a lot of energy. Computers around the world are competing to be the first to solve a time-consuming math puzzle. The winner then updates the blockchain, verifying the transaction, and the miner is awarded an amount of Bitcoin.
So What is Proof-Of-Stake?
Proof of stake uses the network of invested participants, called validators. Instead of providing raw processing power to help solve puzzles and verify transactions, validators simply stake their ADA.
- The network then selects a winner based on the quantity of ADA each validator has in the pool and how long it has been there. The most invested participant wins.
- Once this winner validates the latest batch of transactions, other validators attest to the accuracy. Once a certain threshold has been hit, the network updates the blockchain with the newly confirmed transactions.
- All validators receive an ADA reward, which is received depending on the amount of ADA you hold and how long for.
Should You Buy Cardano?
Cardano is an extremely popular cryptocurrency. Despite not having much use yet, it has still remained extremely relevant by sticking in the top 10 cryptocurrencies. Other similar coins like Solana are providing more utility but are still smaller in market cap compared to the Cardano network.
In theory, Cardano could one day have a brimming ecosystem, like Solana, Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain and the other blockchains out there. However, we are yet to see that day yet.
Overall, it is up to you if you believe Cardano is worth buying. It certainly has a cult following, holds some promise, and could one day have a popular ecosystem built on top of it. If you do decide to buy this digital asset, make sure to dollar cost average and not invest more than you are willing to lose. All cryptocurrencies are highly volatile. You do not want to pay too much for a coin on your first trade, so enter cautiously, and yes, DCA!
Guide On Buying Cardano
Here’s a quick guide on buying Cardano.
- Pick your exchange. Select an exchange above or another preferred crypto exchange.
- Create an account and verify your identity.
- Add money to your trading account. You should have options like bank transfer, wire transfer, and more.
- Most exchanges will allow you to buy ADA directly.
- If they don’t you might need to onramp your fiat, then trade Cardano for your fiat. Many investors start buying ada this way.
Keeping Your ADA Safe
After you purchase your ADA, it’s a good idea to keep it safe and secure! Now, you can keep crypto on an exchange. But your account could come in jeopardy as you don’t technically own your crypto when it is on an exchange. Really, they own your crypto! You essentially have an IOU to be able to withdraw your crypto, similar to how a bank is set up.
It is much better to have your own wallet. MetaMask is the most common wallet people move to from an exchange. You will be given a set of private keys (12 words), which is your password.
You can use one account as your hot wallet, where you connect to DApps and are actively trading with. Then you should also make cold wallets, where you store crypto you plan to hold for a long time. ADA could well be a coin you want to hold for a long time. Some will use a Trezor (hardware device) to help secure their cold wallets. It’s worth keeping some tokens in cold storage. Cold storage prevents you from losing your crypto if you fall for a scam or make a mistake.
That’s it! Hopefully, this was a useful guide to going from having no Cardano (ADA) to having some Cardano! Congratulations and keep that Cardano safe.
