When Bitcoin graced the financial markets twelve years ago, only a handful of people knew about it. Fast forward a decade later, and people from various parts of the world know about cryptocurrencies and want to invest in them. New investors and traders in Peru, like in other parts of the world, sometimes find it daunting to buy cryptocurrencies.
If you are in this category and you wish to learn the various ways and the places to buy cryptocurrencies, then we are here to guide you. We will explain what it takes to buy cryptocurrency in Peru.
If you wish to buy cryptocurrencies, then crypto exchanges and brokers are the platforms for you. Using an exchange or a broker depends on your investment intentions. When you use a cryptocurrency exchange, you get the privilege of buying and holding the actual coins. As such, you can either store the coins in an external wallet, use them to pay for goods or services, send them as payment or gift to other people, trade them against other cryptocurrencies or hold them in your exchange wallet.
However, with cryptocurrency brokers, you are only investing in CFDs (contract for differences). Crypto CFDs allow you to gain exposure to cryptocurrencies without holding the underlying assets. You will benefit from the price change of the coins, but you won’t get to hold the actual coins or tokens.
With hundreds of exchanges and brokers offering cryptocurrency services, it becomes tough for investors to determine the best ones. To make it easy for you, we have chosen the top exchanges and brokers that sell cryptos in Peru.
There are numerous exchanges and brokerage platforms available to traders and investors in Peru. This makes it confusing for most of them, especially the newbie traders, to find or choose the best platforms. Keep in mind that these platforms differ since they offer varying services and features to the traders.
As a long-term investor in a crypto project, you should consider buying the coins from a crypto exchange. Brokers, on the other hand, are designed to allow you to enjoy a quick, hassle-free trade.
We always advise our readers to register with and use regulated cryptocurrency exchanges and brokers. The unregulated platforms might tempt you with features like low fees or higher leverages. However, it is not worth the risk as you could lose your investment in the event of a hack or a scam since the unregulated platforms are not covered by insurance.
After finding the broker or exchange you like, proceed to open a trading account with them. Only register via their official website. You can register on most platforms by providing an email address or a phone number.
With the account opening process completed, tackle the Know Your Customer (KYC) process before you start buying cryptos. The KYC process involves you submitting your documents to confirm your ID and other important information. Some of the required documents include a copy of your photo ID (like a passport, driver’s license or national ID) and also proof of address (documents like a bank statement, utility bills and more), and a selfie.
The AML and KYC processes have been designed to help protect customer funds and data. Verifying user ID makes it tough for fraudsters to impersonate other people and carry out crimes such as money laundering. Since the KYC and AML processes are popular in other financial markets, their popularity in the crypto market is also important to show that it is a mature and responsible financial market.
With a verified trading account, you are set to buy cryptocurrencies. However, you have to fund the exchange or brokerage account before you can buy the cryptos. Traders in Peru have a wide range of payment options available to them. They can fund their exchange or brokerage account using payment options like bank transfer, credit and debit cards, and even cash payments sometimes (such as P2P). Using PayPal would be complicated because it doesn’t support withdrawals without a US bank account. Hence, we don’t recommend using PayPal for traders and investors in Peru.
We recommend researching the platforms to see the payment options they offer before you open an account with them.
After funding your exchange or broker trading account, you can start buying or trading the cryptocurrencies available on your chosen platform. With a broker, you will invest in the assets via derivatives like CFDs or futures. These investment vehicles allow you to bet on the price performance of the cryptocurrencies without actually holding the underlying assets.
However, when you use an exchange, you are buying and holding the actual tokens and coins. Some exchanges support buying the coins using local fiat currency, the Peruvian sol (SOL). Lookout for platforms with trading pairs such as BTC/SOL or ETH/SOL to know if you can buy directly with your fiat currency.
Some exchanges such as Binance allow you to access the cryptos via contract futures. Also, some brokers like eToro allow you to buy and hold real cryptocurrencies.
After buying your preferred cryptocurrency, you can choose to use it for any other activity supported by the platform or the crypto network. Some of them include;
Store in an external wallet: For maximum security, you can move your coins to an external wallet. Hardware wallets are the most secure but are expensive.
If the cryptocurrency uses a Proof of Stake protocol, you can stake the coins via any supported wallet or exchange. This allows you to earn profits while holding your investment.
Derivatives are available to hedge your cryptocurrency investment.
For networks that allow users to vote, you can use your coins or tokens to vote. This way, you will participate in the governance of the blockchain.
For traders and investors in Peru, you can use the various payment options available to buy cryptocurrencies. Each payment method has its pros and cons, and the ones you choose depend on your needs. Some of the payment options available on crypto exchanges and brokerage platforms in Peru include;
Buy Cryptocurrency with Cash: You can use the Peruvian sol on peer-to-peer exchanges to buy cryptocurrencies.
Buy Cryptocurrencies with Credit Card: Credit cards are the most popular payment methods because they are fast and secure. However, the transaction fees are higher than the other options.
Buy Cryptocurrency with Bank Transfer: It is a secure and low-fee option. But the transaction usually takes days before the funds arrive in your trading account.
Buy Cryptocurrency with Bitcoin: You can also use Bitcoin to buy other cryptocurrencies.
The cryptocurrency market has become home to millions of investors globally. There are several reasons why retail and institutional investors enter the cryptocurrency market. For starters, the results delivered by cryptocurrencies are unmatched by any other financial asset class in the last decade.
Bitcoin, Ether, Binance Coin, Dogecoin, XRP and several other cryptocurrencies have delivered massive profits to investors over the past few years. Historically, the price of Bitcoin, Ether and other major cryptocurrencies have appreciated. Bitcoin surged by over 100% at a point earlier this year, while Ether experienced a 500% rise in value earlier this year. The increase in value convinced even institutional investors to consider cryptocurrencies as a hedge against inflation.
Another reason people buy cryptocurrencies is to use them to pay for goods and services. Over the past few years, an increasing number of companies and retail outlets have started accepting cryptocurrencies as payment options. This means you can pay for goods and services with ease in many parts of the world without any hassle. You can send money to relatives or clients in any part of the world within seconds or minutes and with very low fees as compared to fiat currencies.
The technologies behind most cryptocurrencies have also gained real-world application. Hence, from any angle you look at it, the cryptocurrency market is becoming increasingly popular and more people are using cryptocurrencies and investing in them.
Buying cryptocurrencies is legal in Peru. There are no laws or restrictions against cryptocurrency trading and investment in Peru. For the security of your investment and personal funds, we recommend buying or trading cryptocurrencies on regulated brokerage platforms and exchanges.