Buy Bitcoin in Australia - Beginner's Guide to BTC/AUD (2024)

How to Buy Bitcoin in Australia

The easiest way to buy Bitcoin in Australia is to purchase it online from a crypto exchange. Exchanges make buying and selling Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies easy from your smartphone, tablet or computer.

Check out our recommended platforms below and follow the steps to safely buy Bitcoin in Australia.

1. Choose a Platform

The platform you pick should work specifically in Australia. It should operate within the financial services laws and ideally be regulated by a native government agency or by one recognised by local authorities. Our top picks below all fulfil these criteria.

2. Create and Fund Your Account

Input your name, contact information, and other details in the sign-up form usually displayed after clicking a Sign Up button on the home page. To fund your account, you must pass KYC by submitting identity and address documents like an ID and a utility bill.

3. Buy Bitcoin Australia

Navigate to your account’s explore or discover page and search for Bitcoin. You may see tickers like BTC/AUD, or BTC-USDT, depending on the platform. Purchase Bitcoin directly using a funding method of your choice or with your account balance.

How to Buy Bitcoin in Australia - Tutorial

Our guide focuses on eToro to buy Bitcoin in Australia. However, these steps can be applied to other exchanges in this guide.

1. Open an Account

Click on the Start Investing button on the homepage to get started. Fill in your details on the signup form and create an account. You can also download the mobile app from the Play Store/App Store and do the same.

2. Verify Your Account

You’ll receive an email verification link when you create an account. Click on it to start the process. Complete your profile by submitting details like your date of birth and a passport photo, after which you submit KYC documents.

These documents include proof of ID (National ID or driver’s license) and proof of residence (utility bill).

3. Make a Deposit

Once your account has been verified, click on Deposit funds on the left pane of your dashboard. The deposit options available will be displayed. Choose one and set the amount you’d like to deposit. You can deposit Australian dollars directly using credit cards, PayPal, and Poli.

4. Buy Bitcoin Australia

Search for Bitcoin in the Discover tab. An interface like the one below should load. You can buy immediately at market price or set a price you’d like to buy at.

Is Bitcoin a Good Investment?

We cannot outright say whether or not Bitcoin is a good investment. However, we can give pointers to help you arrive at that decision yourself.

Decentralisation

Firstly, Bitcoin is decentralised. It does not depend on governments to legitimise it or companies to run and maintain its blockchain infrastructure. Transactions are free from many of the controls and drawbacks of traditional finance networks like high fees for international transfers.

As the digital age progresses, more components of our lives will be moved to the digital space. Crypto technology mathematically safeguards digital assets and places ownership with users, making it crucial for a free digital future.

Liquidity

Cryptos are generally very liquid and portable assets. They can be bought on one crypto exchange, moved to another exchange in a different country and sold in a matter of minutes, creating a way to move wealth easily.

High Return Potential

Bitcoin has a track record of delivering high returns on investment either due to its volatility or more fundamental reasons like growing adoption and institutional interest. Combine this with the fact that blockchain technology is still in its early stages, the growth (and profit) potential is significant.

Store of Value

Crypto can be used as a long-term store of value, especially those with deflationary mechanics, like Bitcoin. Because supply is capped, the value of deflationary coins is projected to grow over time, provided demand remains constant. This makes digital currency a possible long-term alternative to gold.

Portfolio Diversification Option

Bitcoin is a digital asset that can be used as an asset class when building a diversified portfolio. Its equity potential (the capacity to increase in value) makes it worthy of consideration for modern portfolios.

Risks of Buying Bitcoin

There are downsides to buying Bitcoin. The first is its volatility. Crypto is known to swing wildly, losing significant portions of its value within a few weeks and often leaving investors reeling from losses.

There is also a risk of rug-pulls, blockchain attacks, and wallet hacks. These are technological risks that involve an attacker hacking a crypto’s blockchain network or your wallet and usually end with funds getting stolen.

Finally, crypto at large is still the target of legal crackdowns and harsh regulatory policies that could stunt its growth and adoption rate.

What Payment Methods Can I Use to Buy Bitcoin in Australia?

Ideal payment methods should support Australian dollars natively and while not all platforms allow deposits in AUD, these are the methods you can easily use to buy Bitcoin in Australia.

Credit/Debit cards

Credit or debit cards are probably the most accepted payment method across platforms but also the most expensive. eToro doesn’t charge fees but those of Binance and Coinbase are 1.8% and 2.49% respectively. On other platforms, fees generally range between 1% – 3%.

Discover the best places to buy Bitcoin with a debit card.

Bank Transfers

Local transfers through an Australian bank account are available for all platforms listed. It is free on eToro, costs $1 on Binance, and can vary on Coinbase depending on the bank. A conversion fee may be charged for deposits in other currencies than the account-denominated currency.

Read our step-by-step guide for more info on how to buy Bitcoin with a bank account.

PayPal

PayPal is one of the most popular payment services and electronic wallets in use today, however, it is not as widely supported as the first two payment methods. For example, Binance and Coinbase do not support PayPal as a direct funding method in this region.

Learn where to buy Bitcoin with PayPal in our comprehensive guide.

Cash via ATM

This method involves going to a physical location to use a machine that lets you deposit cash and buy and send crypto to your wallet. Australia houses about 54 crypto ATMs in several major cities like Sydney (12), Melbourne (21), Brisbane (9), and Adelaide (6) among others.

Most ATMs allow you to purchase Bitcoin, but some also support Ethereum and Litecoin.

Ways to Invest in Bitcoin in Australia

There are several ways to gain exposure to Bitcoin and profit from its price movements in Australia. This section dives into them and how they relate to Bitcoin.

Buy and Hold Bitcoin

The buy-and-hold strategy involves buying Bitcoin and holding it for a long time, usually as long as you can. This strategy is popular in the industry as it has proven to be effective over long periods, usually years.

This strategy can be varied using a buying technique called dollar cost averaging (DCA) where you buy a set dollar amount of Bitcoin at fixed intervals regardless of price.

Trade Bitcoin

This strategy profits from Bitcoin’s volatility. Trading BTC involves relatively short-term buying and selling, usually from as little as a day to as long as a year. Positions held for longer are often classified as investments.

Trading creates an opportunity to explore other financial derivatives like futures, options, and CFDs that give traders exposure to BTC’s price movement without the need to buy the coin. It also allows for leverage facilities that can magnify traders’ wins (or losses).

Choosing a Bitcoin Wallet in Australia

Wallets are important because they store your valuable cryptos, so choosing the right one is crucial. Wallets are generally split into hardware and software wallets.

Hardware wallets store cryptos offline on a device while software wallets store cryptos online and are always connected to the internet.

Software Wallets

• Web wallet: These wallets come as either browser extensions or web apps that store your private keys in your browser. Web app variants are accessible through any browser, however, the extension variant must be installed on a new browser and a seed phrase must be used to recover your wallet. eToro, Binance, and Coinbase provide free web wallets that store Bitcoin.
• Mobile wallet: This wallet is a mobile app downloadable from the Play/App stores or the internet. Binance’s mobile wallet is called Trust Wallet and it supports Bitcoin.
• Desktop wallet: This is an application that runs on your computer and stores your private keys on your hard drive. There are several desktop wallets available depending on the level of control you want and your familiarity with blockchain technology. However, a good option for beginners is the Electrum wallet available for Windows, Mac, and Linux PCs.

Physical and Hardware Wallets

• Hardware wallet: A hardware wallet is a physical device that stores private keys offline. They are much harder to hack and are currently the safest storage option. Hardware wallets that support Bitcoin include Trezor and Ledger.
• Paper wallet: A paper wallet is a piece of paper with public and private keys printed on them. While they are a good way to keep your private key offline, they are not recommended as you may lose the paper or the ink could wear off with age. Paper wallets have gone out of fashion since the advent of hardware wallets.

Wallet Combinations

You can combine two or more wallets for added security or a better user experience. For example, you can use a hardware wallet like Ledger with a web wallet extension to buy coins on a decentralised exchange and immediately send them to your hardware wallet.

Should I Buy Bitcoin Now? - Things to Consider Before Buying Bitcoin in Australia

Whether or not you should buy Bitcoin now depends on the state of the economy, your investment goals, your risk tolerance, and the cost of investments. Consider these factors when making a decision.

Bitcoin Fees

The total cost of buying Bitcoin is made up of network fees, exchange fees, and deposit fees across exchanges.

The network fee is the charge the blockchain takes for processing transactions. This fee usually goes to computers that help secure and run the network. It could rise and fall based on the volume of transactions for certain blockchains, however, newer networks are built to accommodate high volumes without significant changes to transaction fees.

Exchange fees are charged for conversion, trading, or other related services. Some platforms are cheaper than others in certain regards. For example, conversions on Binance are cheaper than eToro at 0.1% per trade compared to 1% charged by the latter.

However, eToro trumps Binance when it comes to deposits as it supports free deposits while Binance charges $1 for bank transfers and 1.8% for credit card payments.

Aggregate the costs of using various components of an exchange to obtain a holistic view of the cost of using that exchange, then compare it with others to find a cheap option.

Bitcoin Price

Bitcoin’s price is known to change rapidly and swing wide i.e change quickly and by a considerable amount. For traders, this is good news as it presents opportunities to profit from this volatility.

Long-term investors, on the other hand, may not be too bothered by short-term fluctuations as price historicals show an overall uptrend with pocket downtrend periods. In the long-term investment case, a simple buy and hold strategy, or one combined with a DCA, may prove effective.

Buying Bitcoin in Australia Safely

Security is of the utmost concern when dealing with cryptocurrencies and the exchanges that sell them. The first thing you should observe is the exchange’s regulatory status. The ideal situation is when the exchange is registered in its country of operation.

However, this is not always the case. Crypto exchanges sometimes offer services to users in certain geographical regions using entities registered in a nearby jurisdiction or in a jurisdiction where regulations allow them to onboard users from other countries.

In this case, ensure the regulatory agency is transparent and enforces industry-standard security and legal practices.

Buying Bitcoin in Australia Anonymously

Buying Bitcoin anonymously is not as easy as some may assume due to widespread regulation on all major exchanges and platforms. The key to remaining anonymous is to refrain from providing personally identifiable data. Platforms do this to varying degrees.

Crypto ATMs are a way to buy crypto anonymously. They only require the money with which you buy crypto and the wallet address you want to send it to. Currently, most ATMs are limited to Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, but more are popping up with support for more coins.

Another method is using prepaid cards to purchase cryptos on peer-to-peer markets. You send the code to the counterparty and they send your crypto. Visa offers prepaid cards but you’ll need to ensure you won’t have to give up personal details to obtain it.

Is Buying Bitcoin Legal in Australia?

Yes. Bitcoin is legal in Australia. However, it is subject to the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (AML/CTF 2006) which characterises them as property, not currency.

Exchanges that register with the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) are legally allowed to sell Bitcoin and other cryptos (asides from controversial privacy coins) to residents.

More recently, exchanges have been required to hold an Australian Financial Services licence that treats them the same way as financial services companies. This means that crypto assets like tokens sold for investment and finance purposes must be classified as regulated financial products.

Is Bitcoin Taxable in Australia?

The Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 classifies cryptos like Bitcoin as property that are subject to Capital Gains Tax.

Since 2021, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has enforced a rule that punishes tax reporting violations by charging a 75% levy on outstanding tax on top of the original tax.

According to Australian crypto tax laws, you must report all crypto disposals which include exchanging one crypto for another, trading, selling, gifting crypto, and exchanging crypto for fiat.

In certain cases, transaction fees also have tax consequences as they are included in the cost base i.e. the total cost of acquiring, exchanging, or selling crypto assets. Visit the government website for more information about Australian crypto tax laws.

Final Thoughts

Australian citizens and residents have several options to buy Bitcoin, and we believe that eToro is the best because of its strong emphasis on regulation, its strong community, and its social investing features.

The platform allows users to invest in Bitcoin in Australia through deposit methods like bank transfers, credit/debit cards, Poli, and electronic wallets like Neteller.

Deposit limits are favourable at a minimum of $10 while withdrawal fees remain flat at $5 regardless of the amount withdrawn. Conversion fees remain affordable at a 0.75% – 1% markup to raw spreads.

To begin investing in crypto, visit eToro, sign up, and buy Bitcoin for as low as $10 (15.52 AUD).

More Cryptocurrency Guides in Australia

Check out more of our popular crypto guides for Australia below.

• How to Buy Neo in Australia
• How to Buy Cardano in Australia
• How to Buy Theta in Australia
• How to Buy Celo in Australia

Methodology - How We Picked the Best Platforms to Buy Bitcoin in Australia

We decided on the best platforms by first testing them individually. Our criteria for assessment include fees, deposit and withdrawal methods, reputation, credibility, security, ease of use, trading features, coin selection, and competitive edge.

The platforms listed on this page are ones that we found to be the best at the features we listed them under e.g. cheapest way to buy Bitcoin. All platforms have a track record of providing value to users.

We also placed an onus on security and credibility. These platforms have millions of users and employ some of the highest security measures in the industry.

Finally, we considered fees and limits. These platforms have various fees and deposit/withdrawal limits, however, they are all within reasonable limits.

To learn more about how we test and choose platforms, visit our why trust us and how we test pages.