How to Buy Bitcoin in Qatar - Beginner's Guide (2024)

How to Buy Bitcoin in Qatar

The easiest way to buy Bitcoin in Qatar 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 Qatar.

1. Choose a Platform

The platform you pick should work specifically in Qatar. 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 Qatar

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 Qatar - Tutorial

Our guide focuses on eToro to buy Bitcoin in Qatar. However, these steps can be applied to other crypto 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 licence) 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 Qatar rial directly using credit cards, PayPal, and Poli.

4. Buy Bitcoin Qatar

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 outrightly 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. Combining 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 the 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 ability 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 Qatar?

Credit/Debit cards

Credit or debit cards are the most accepted payment method across platforms, especially in Qatar, but are also the most expensive. eToro and Oanda don’t charge fees but that of Binance is 1.8%.

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

Bank Transfers

Local transfers through a Qatari bank account are only available for platforms that are not traditional crypto exchanges like Oanda, eToro, and Pacific Union. They do not work for crypto exchanges like Binance. However, crypto P2P markets can be used to bypass this restriction.

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

Ways to Invest in Bitcoin in Qatar

There are several ways to gain exposure to Bitcoin and profit from its price movements in Qatar. 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 Qatar

Wallets are important because they store your valuable cryptos, so choosing the right one is crucial. Crypto 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.

• 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 Qatar

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 Qatar 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 Qatar 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.

One 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. You’ll need to use international P2P markets with this method as supported payment methods within Qatar are limited.

Visa offers prepaid cards but you’ll need to ensure you won’t have to give up personal details to obtain them.

Is Buying Bitcoin Legal in Qatar?

Unfortunately not. In 2018, the Qatar Central Bank warned financial institutions against trading virtual currencies or providing services to individuals. In 2020, the Qatar Financial Centre Regulatory Authority (QFCRA) declared that all virtual currencies are banned for companies under its finance centre.

The only exception to the ban so far is security tokens regulated by the QFCRA, the Qatar Central Bank, or the Qatar Financial Markets Authority because they are subject to AML guidelines.

Is Bitcoin Taxable in Qatar?

Bitcoin is not taxable because it is not legally recognised. Local institutions found to provide virtual asset services for non-AML-compliant assets (which most cryptos are) can be penalised under the current legislation.

Citizens who hold crypto do so at their own risk which explains the lack of a local crypto exchange.

Final Thoughts

Bitcoin is not yet legal in Qatari as the legislation frowns upon it. However, there are no laws expressly preventing citizens from purchasing the digital coin. International exchanges that are licensed in regions that allow them to offer their services globally still do, and these services are accessible to Qatari users.

The top of our list of these platforms is eToro, the social investment platform with copy-trading features and tight regulations. The platform allows users to invest in Bitcoin through deposit methods like bank transfers, credit/debit cards, and electronic wallets like Neteller. Although Qatar users may have to stick with credit cards.

Deposit limits are favourable at a minimum of 10 USD while withdrawal fees remain flat at 5 USD 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 USD (36.41 QAR).

More Cryptocurrency Guides in Qatar

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

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

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

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