It can be frustrating trying to buy Bitcoin, especially for the first time. You might be surprised to find transaction wait times taking days, even up to a week. Using a cryptocurrency exchange it can take time for the exchange to confirm deposits and withdrawals, especially if they’re manual – the safest way for transactions to be reviewed.
The first time you buy Bitcoin, you will have to go through the KYC (Know Your Client) process to confirm your identity with the crypto exchange. That will mean scanning your identification and potentially taking a photo of yourself holding your ID. It helps cryptocurrency exchanges ensure the identity of users so that they aren’t used for money laundering purposes.
Back in 2018, Bitcoin transaction times reached record levels of processing times and fees. This was because of the huge surge in interest about Bitcoin due to skyrocketing prices. The system largely wasn’t ready to handle the influx of interest from investors that came with Bitcoin prices of nearly $20,000, and other cryptocurrencies suffered similar knock-off effects. At their peak, the 3-block fee for Bitcoin transactions had gone as high as $37 at the very end of 2017, causing a crisis that caused some vendors to stop accepting Bitcoin.
The surge in Bitcoin fees caused serious damage to its real-life usability, and in many ways, other cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin have entered the marketplace to replace Bitcoin as every day, spending cryptocurrencies.
But the people behind the cryptocurrency have made some great strides in reducing both fees and wait times by tinkering with the way transaction blocks are processed.
These days it should only take about 10 minutes for transaction blocks to be processed and confirmed, while the miner fees should be fairly stable at around 2 to 8 cents, depending on which block you’re transaction is processed in. You can pay a higher fee to be processed in the next block, or lower fees for the next 3 or 6 blocks (though your wait times may rise to 30 minutes to an hour).
Today the costs and delays are usually with the cryptocurrency exchange, as you can wind up paying a variety of fees and waiting for your fiat currency transactions to clear.
The good news is, there are some great ways to save both time and money when you buy Bitcoin in 2019. There are now cryptocurrency exchanges where you can cut out fees for withdrawing and depositing cryptocurrency altogether. That means there are no fees for moving around Bitcoin from the exchange to your wallet. Combine that with low fees on withdrawing and depositing fiat currency, and low fees on transactions themselves, and you can enjoy considerable savings. Check out cryptocurrency exchanges like Bitbuy that offer these.
Then there are express transactions. If you’re sick of waiting days for a cryptocurrency to clear your fiat currency deposit, you need Bitbuy’s express transactions. For a slightly higher fee (3.5%) you can get your Interac e-transfer cleared in as little as 2 hours.
Start buying Bitcoin smarter this year. Save time and money using the right cryptocurrency exchange.
