How to Buy Ethereum UK 2024 - Best Places to Buy ETH

How to Buy Ethereum in the UK

The easiest way to buy Ethereum in the UK is to purchase it online from a crypto exchange.

Exchanges make it easy to buy and sell Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies directly from your smartphone, tablet or computer. Check out our recommended platforms below and follow the steps to safely buy Ethereum in the UK.

1. Choose a Platform

Decide which platform you want to use to make your purchase. A regulated platform is the safest option, and you should select one with strong security, transparent fees, and all the features you need. Check out our top picks below.

2. Create and Fund an Account

Click the join button and fill in any personal information that is required. You will need to upload an image of your photo ID so your account can be verified. After that, you can go to the deposit page, choose your preferred payment method, and transfer some funds.

3. Buy Ethereum UK

Use the search box to look for the ETH/GBP trading pair and create a buy order. You can use a limit order if you want to specify a price to buy ETH at in the future. To make a purchase now, enter how much you want in a market order and click “Buy”.

How to Buy Ethereum in the UK - Step-by-Step Tutorial

This tutorial will take you through how to buy ETH on eToro in more detail.

1. Sign up with eToro

At the top of the eToro website, click on the “Join Now” button to be taken to the registration page. Once you have filled in your email address, username, and password, simply accept the terms and conditions and click on the “Create Account” button.

2. Verify your account

You can verify your email address by clicking on the link emailed to you, and then complete your profile with details such as your full name, date of birth, address, and National Insurance number.

You’ll also need to answer a few questions about your investment experience and attitude to risk. Once you’ve entered your phone number, verify it with the code you will receive by text.

3. Make a deposit

Hit the “Deposit Funds” button, choose GBP as the currency, and enter the amount you wish to deposit.

You can select credit/debit card, bank transfer, Rapid Transfer, Neteller, Skrill, or Trustly as the payment method. Then, simply follow the onscreen instructions and provide any other information requested in order to complete your payment.

4. Buy Ethereum

Find Ethereum by typing it into the search bar at the top. If you click on the “Trade” button, a window will pop up where you can fill in how much ETH you want to buy.

You can switch to Order if you want to create a limit order to purchase at a future price. Otherwise, just click “Open Trade” to complete your ETH purchase.

How to Buy Ethereum with Bitcoin in the UK?

If you have some BTC that you want to use to buy ETH, there are a few different ways of doing this.

Platforms like Binance and OKX that have a Convert feature enable you to make quick and simple swaps between different cryptocurrencies—just set BTC as the From currency and ETH as the To currency.

Both of these platforms also have ETH/BTC trading pairs, allowing you to trade your BTC for ETH with more advanced tools and a choice of order types.

If you’re using a platform like eToro that doesn’t offer direct trading between BTC and ETH, you can still buy Ethereum with Bitcoin by adding in an extra step. Just sell your BTC for fiat and then use that fiat to purchase ETH.

Ethereum vs Bitcoin

If you’re wondering whether it’s better to buy Bitcoin or Ethereum, this depends on your personal preferences and what you want to do with it. ETH has more functionality—it is needed to pay fees for using the many apps and tokens hosted on Ethereum, while it also has uses in DeFi.

Meanwhile, as Bitcoin doesn’t host apps and tokens, most people buy it as an investment. As for which coin makes the better investment, this is again a matter of taste.

Bitcoin is still the most popular cryptocurrency and is seen by many as the least risky crypto investment. It has received the most institutional investment, and its price is less affected by project development and competition than Ether’s.

ETH’s price is a bit more volatile, but this also means the potential for greater returns—ETH price surged much more than BTC price during the last bull run—in fact, some believe that Ethereum will one day overtake Bitcoin in terms of market cap in an event known as the “flippening”.

What’s more, ETH holders have the option to stake their coins in Ethereum 2.0 to generate a passive income.

What Is Ethereum & How Does It Work?

Ethereum was launched in 2014 based on a whitepaper by co-founder Vitalik Buterin. The main innovation of Ethereum was that it introduced blockchain-based smart contracts. These are computer programs stored on the blockchain that execute automatically when predetermined conditions are met.

This means Ethereum is programmable. Developers can build applications on top of Ethereum to provide all kinds of services, ranging from DeFi apps like Uniswap or Maker, to oracle networks like Chainlink, to games like Decentraland or the Sandbox.

It is also possible to create and launch new tokens on Ethereum. Many of the most popular cryptocurrencies were created with Ethereum’s ERC-20 token standard, including USDT, WBTC, and SHIB.

There are other Ethereum token standards that are used to create NFTs, such as digital art, like Bored Apes, or in-game items, like the Axies in Axie Infinity.

ETH is used to pay the network fees for creating, running, and using these applications and tokens.

The project is in the midst of a number of upgrades, known collectively as Ethereum 2.0. This will see a transition from Ethereum’s current Proof of Work system to a Proof of Stake system, and should result in the blockchain being more efficient and scalable.

What is the Purpose of Ethereum?

The purpose of Ethereum, as described by one of its founders, is to be “one computer for the entire planet”. The innovation of smart contracts means basically any application will be able to run on Ethereum as part of a decentralised global network.

Is Ethereum a Good Investment?

This is something that you will need to decide for yourself as it depends on your own aims and preferences.

Cryptocurrencies like ETH are more accessible for many retail investors as they are easier to buy and sell than other assets, and you can purchase any amount—unlike with shares, it is possible to make a very small investment as you can buy a small fraction of a coin.

Many invest in Ethereum as they believe it has good fundamental value. There’s a strong team behind the project who have also had success with other projects.

In addition to Buterin, the co-founders include Gavin Wood, who created Polkadot; Charles Hoskinson, who co-founded Cardano; and Joseph Lubin, who founded ConsenSys.

The technology also has strong fundamentals—Ethereum pioneered the concept of smart contracts on the blockchain, improving upon the model of Bitcoin to provide far more functionality.

This has enabled thousands of cryptocurrencies to be launched on Ethereum, including many of the most popular coins.

Every time one of these tokens is transferred on the blockchain, and every time someone uses an Ethereum-based app, there is a “gas fee” that must be paid in ETH. This creates demand for ETH, making it more valuable. The development of Web 3.0 will see far more services move onto the blockchain, which could further increase demand.

All of these factors have seen the price of ETH increase astronomically since its launch, and with a much smaller market cap than Bitcoin, it would appear ETH still has a lot of price potential.

What’s more, when the project transitions to Ethereum 2.0, its technological improvements could attract yet more projects, increase investor confidence, and create even more demand.

Risks of Buying Ethereum

There are some risks that are the same regardless of the cryptocurrency. These include scams, hacks, and regulatory changes that could limit the trading of crypto.

To mitigate these risks, you should only purchase ETH on a reliable and regulated platform, keep it somewhere secure such as offline storage, and never share your passwords or private keys.

When it comes to investment risks specific to Ethereum, the gas fees can become very high when the network is congested, sometimes making it uneconomical to move small amounts.

The network fees should be more predictable once Ethereum transitions to Proof of Stake, but this is a long and complicated process that has already seen delays. Further delays could harm investor confidence in ETH.

There are many other programmable blockchains that already run on a Proof of Stake model. If there are any issues with Ethereum development, projects and developers may choose to build on Ethereum’s more efficient competitors instead.

What Payment Methods Can I Use to Buy Ethereum in the UK?

There are a number of different ways you can purchase ETH. Let’s take a look at some of the most popular payment methods in the UK.

Credit/debit cards

Many find this a convenient payment method, and you can buy Ethereum with a credit card or debit card on any of the platforms reviewed on this page.

On the plus side, this is a very fast way to buy ETH, while on the minus side, some platforms charge higher fees for card purchases. Binance, for example, charges a 1.8% fee for card deposits and Coinbase a 2.49% fee.

The cheapest way to make a card deposit is on eToro, where there are no fees.

Bank Transfer

Bank transfers are a popular way of buying ETH as they are often the cheapest option. Some platforms support Faster Payments in the UK, allowing you to receive your funds very quickly. Bank deposits on Binance carry a £1 fee, while there is no fee for bank transfers on eToro or Coinbase.

PayPal

PayPal’s speed and convenience make it a popular choice for online payments, but it is harder to buy Ethereum with PayPal in the UK than in some other countries. Although UK customers can use PayPal to cash out on Coinbase, none of the platforms on this page accept PayPal deposits from UK users. You can, however, buy ETH with PayPal directly on the PayPal platform.

Skrill

Skrill is a digital wallet provider that makes it quick and easy to pay for things online. Both eToro and Bitpanda accept Skrill deposits from their UK users. Like all payment methods, Skrill deposits are free on eToro.

Ways to Invest in Ethereum UK

There are a few different ways you could invest in Ethereum, depending on how much skill, risk appetite, and free time you have.

Buy and Hold Ethereum

This is the go-to investment strategy for many new investors as it’s straightforward and anyone can do it—you just need to buy some ETH and hold onto it for a while.

Buy and hold is the strategy to choose if you believe in the long-term value of Ethereum and you don’t want to spend time doing technical analysis or constantly monitoring the market.

Trade Ethereum

Those who want to be more active to generate more regular short-term profits might prefer to trade Ethereum. This requires more skill and time than buy and hold, as traders tend to monitor price movements and conduct technical analysis in order to find the best entry and exit points.

The FCA banned the trading of crypto derivatives for retail traders, meaning you can no longer access crypto futures, options, or CFDs on regulated platforms.

Mine Ethereum

Anyone can mine Ethereum to help secure the network and earn block rewards, but not everyone can make a profit from it.

This generally requires spending a lot of money on specialised hardware, electricity to power it, and fees for joining a mining pool.

Many therefore find it preferable to purchase a cloud mining contract, so the difficult work will be done for them by a company such as CCG Mining .

Once Ethereum transitions to a Proof of Stake network, mining will be switched off and the network will be secured by validators instead.

Stake Ethereum

You can also generate a passive income on your ETH holdings by staking it in Ethereum 2.0. Although you need 32 ETH to stake directly in ETH 2.0, some platforms, like Binance, let you stake a smaller amount through them.

Choosing an Ethereum Wallet

There is a wide variety of places you could store your ETH. Below is a breakdown of the different types of options available.

Ethereum Software Wallets

• Web wallet: This is the most convenient type of wallet for those who are holding a small amount of ETH or making regular trades with it. As web wallets can be a target for hackers, it is important to choose a secure platform, such as the ones reviewed in this guide.
• Mobile wallet: You can download a mobile wallet onto your smartphone as a convenient way to store your ETH. MetaMask is the most popular Ethereum-based wallet and enables you to connect to decentralised applications (dApps), as well as store all your ERC-20 tokens and NFTs.
• Desktop wallet: Similar to a mobile wallet, a desktop wallet is downloaded onto your computer. Exodus and Atomic Wallet are two of the most popular desktop wallet providers that support Ethereum.

Physical and Hardware Wallets

• Hardware wallet: This is the most secure type of wallet, making it ideal for long-term investors with a large amount of ETH. Your ETH will be stored offline on a physical device such as a USB stick. Trezor, BitBox, and Ledger are some of the most popular hardware wallets that support Ethereum.
• Paper wallet: You can use an online key generator to create a public and private key, and then write down or print the resultant character strings or QR codes to make a paper wallet. However, this isn’t a very secure way to store your ETH.

Wallet Combinations

You may prefer to combine more than one of the above wallet types, depending on your activities. Ledger provides the Ledger Live app, which you can download to manage your ETH easily in conjunction with their hardware device.

If, for example, you are both an investor and a trader, you might want to keep some ETH in a hardware wallet for long-term storage and keep some in an exchange wallet for easy trading access.

Public Keys and Private Keys

Public and private keys are long alphanumeric strings used for encryption on blockchains. You can share your public key with anyone in order to receive transactions, but you should never share your private key, as this is what you use to access your funds.

Hardware wallets are the most secure as they keep your private keys offline, where no one will be able to hack into them. Mobile and desktop wallets store your keys on your device. If you use an exchange wallet, you can access your wallet address (a hashed version of your public key used for receiving funds), but you won’t be able to access your private keys as the exchange keeps control of them.

Should I Buy Ethereum Now? - Things to Consider Before Buying Ethereum in the UK

To make this decision, you will want to consider the points discussed in the section above on whether Ethereum is a good investment, but here are a few more things to think about.

Ethereum Fees & Regulations

When you purchase ETH or any other cryptocurrency, you will need to pay a trading fee or commission on your purchase. This fee is 1% plus spread on eToro, up to 0.1% on Binance, and 0.6% plus spread on Coinbase.

There may be other fees involved, such as deposit fees. These vary depending on your payment method and platform, but all deposits are free on eToro. Other platform fees you may run into include withdrawal, account management, and inactivity fees.

There are also gas fees on the Ethereum network that you will need to pay if you transfer ETH with a private wallet or interact with Ethereum-based dApps. The gas fees vary depending on network congestion but can be very high when the network is busy.

You won’t have any legal protection if your ETH is lost or stolen as cryptoassets are unregulated in the UK, which is why it is important to only use reputable and regulated platforms.

It is perfectly legal to buy and sell ETH at your own risk in the UK, but the FCA has banned retail trading of ETH derivatives such as futures, options, and CFDs.

UK Tax

There is no tax in the UK for buying ETH, but if your gains are above the tax-free threshold, you will need to report them to HMRC and pay Capital Gains Tax when you sell or otherwise dispose of your ETH.

You may need to pay Income Tax if you earn ETH from certain DeFi activities. You can find detailed information on which crypto activities are taxed in the UK and how to report them in our Crypto Tax UK Guide.

When to Buy Ethereum?

This is a personal choice that depends on your investment goals and strategy. The exact entry point isn’t that important for long-term investors as they believe the price of ETH will trend upwards overall in the long term.

Shorter-term investors may choose to buy and sell based on certain events, such as project developments or news about regulation or the economy.

If you employ a particular trading strategy, you will likely generate buy and sell signals from technical indicators, like the relative strength index or Fibonacci retracement. You could even buy and sell at the same time as a professional trader by using eToro’s CopyTrader feature.

Many investors aim to buy ETH during a price dip, which requires some understanding of ETH price and how to predict it, which will be discussed below.

Ethereum Price and Prediction

The price of ETH is affected by many diverse factors, from project-specific events to the behaviour of the wider crypto market to global economic conditions. For example, an important Ethereum upgrade could be good for ETH price, while a delay in development could be bad.

You can check the project roadmap to see how Ethereum updates are progressing. To find out what effect this and other factors might have on the future value of ETH, take a look at our Ethereum price prediction page.

Buying Ethereum Safely in the UK

The safest way to buy ETH in the UK is to do so through a reputable and regulated platform, especially one that has received licences from the FCA, such as eToro. Regulated platforms tend to provide the best security features, such as cold storage, two-factor authentication, address whitelisting, and crypto insurance.

If you transfer your ETH to a private wallet, you should keep your private key somewhere secure and never share it with anyone. If your wallet has a seed phrase, you should keep that safe, too, in case you ever need to recover access to your wallet after a device failure.

Always be on the lookout for scams. You may receive emails that seem like they are from your platform or wallet provider, but check their provenance to be sure. Your platform or wallet provider will never ask you to share passwords or private keys.

Buying Ethereum Anonymously in the UK

Platforms that are regulated in the UK require their users to complete the Know Your Customer process and verify their identity before making a purchase in order to comply with Anti-Money Laundering laws.

This means that to buy ETH anonymously, you would need to do so on an unregulated platform, such as a peer-to-peer (P2P) marketplace. Paxful, for example, allows users to buy ETH from certain sellers without completing KYC. This means you could set up an account with a fake email address and pay with an anonymous payment method such as Google Pay, PayPal, or a prepaid card.

Decentralised exchanges (DEXs) are another type of unregulated platform that allow users to buy ETH anonymously. All you need to use a DEX is a wallet such as MetaMask, which you can create without providing any personal information.

DEXs only enable you to swap between different cryptocurrencies, though, so you would first need to acquire another cryptocurrency to swap for ETH.

However, this is a more complicated and risky way to buy ETH as unregulated platforms may attract scammers. It is therefore safer and easier to use a regulated platform, as KYC only usually takes a few minutes and it is perfectly legal to buy ETH in the UK.

Best Ways to Buy – A Comparison Between Centralised Exchanges & Decentralised Exchanges

A centralised exchange (CEX), like the ones reviewed on this page, is run by a company that facilitates the trades and takes a fee for doing so. When you want to buy ETH, you create a buy order that goes into the exchange’s order book, where it is matched with a sell order.

Meanwhile, a decentralised exchange isn’t operated by any central authority. Instead, it runs on the blockchain through smart contracts and there is no intermediary between traders.

DEXs typically use liquidity pools—users can contribute their tokens to pools of assets and trades are then made against these pools, with the fees generated being used to pay the liquidity providers.

CEXs are attractive to beginners because they are usually much easier to use and have a more intuitive interface.

They’re popular with advanced traders as well because they often provide access to charts and technical trading tools. These things aren’t available on DEXs, which also tend to be limited in the types of orders you can create.

You may prefer a DEX if you want to trade anonymously and keep full custody of your assets at all times. However, you will still need to buy some crypto elsewhere to get started as DEXs don’t support fiat trading, and the gas fees can get pretty high when there is network congestion.

Selling Ethereum

The right time to sell ETH depends on your strategy. If you opt for the buy and hold option, you will likely wait a long time before you sell. Meanwhile, if you use a trading strategy, you may be looking for a particular signal from a technical indicator to tell you when to sell.

The selling process is very similar to the buying process. On eToro, for example, it is just as straightforward. Just head to your portfolio, click on ETH, and click the “Close” button next to it. You can tick “Close only part of the trade” if you only want to sell some of your ETH.

On other platforms, you may have the option of creating a market sell order to sell immediately at the current price, or a limit sell order that lets you specify a price to sell at in the future.

Final Thoughts

As Ethereum is one of the most popular coins, you have a wide choice of places to buy it in the UK. The options vary in many aspects, such as the features they offer, the fees they charge, and the user experience they provide, meaning there’s a platform to suit every kind of Ethereum investor or trader.

Our analysis suggests that the best place to buy ETH in the UK is eToro, as it has a transparent fee structure, tools to suit both beginners and experts, and features that you can’t get anywhere else, like copy trading. There’s a detailed tutorial on how to buy ETH on eToro earlier in this guide to help you get started.

Methodology - How We Picked the Best Platforms to Buy Ethereum UK

We have various quality control processes in place to give you a reason to trust us. We rigorously research and test the platforms we review in order to provide you with the best recommendations and help you make more informed investment decisions.

The things we test for on each platform we review include how to sign up to it, how to make a deposit, which assets are available, what types of trading are offered, fees charged, speed and interface, location and regulation, cross-platform compatibility, security, features and services available, educational resources, and customer support.