Hey guys, we’re back this weekend with some tips to buy Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies offline along with some of the precautions. We know that buying/selling digital assets offline can be risky especially for people who are new. An incident related to this topic came up a few days back where a Bengaluru-based businessman lost almost Rs 3.5 crore to a random person who offered him help in buying the digital assets.
This news came up in The Times of India and you can read it here.
If you came up across the article, you’ll see that a 37-year-old person was scammed of Rs 3.5 crore while Investing in Bitcoin to a cyber crook who misguided the person. Most of these incidents happen due to a lack of awareness among people. If you’re not one of those tech-savvy individuals then you’ll have to be extra cautious while moving ahead with your purchase. Today let’s discuss some of the precautions which might even be the most common & stupid ones but I felt should be discussed.
Why Unknown People Can be a bit Risky?
If you’re looking for someone who can help you get Bitcoin offline, first be sure to not make a transaction with any random person who comes up to you. We already have plenty of cases in our country where many people were scammed in the name of buying Bitcoin.
This is a type of classic scam where fraud-stars try to convince you of a money double scheme or some good return on investment in Bitcoin and in turn they run away with the Investment amount or they just fade off. Usually, they target high-volume buyers, people who can exchange large amounts of money for Bitcoin.
Bitcoin isn’t a money double scheme.
Let’s be clear, that Bitcoin isn’t any money double scheme. You can’t make a quick buck on Bitcoin unless you don’t understand it fundamentally. We already have written lots of articles & made plenty of videos on Bitcoin for Beginners in India. Bitcoin acts as a store of value for your money & acts as a hedge against inflation. The price of a single bitcoin solely depends on market forces that are beyond the control of any government or a single entity. If someone is guaranteeing double returns on Bitcoin then that person is trying to convince you about generating profits from Bitcoin based on his own thoughts and that is a totally childish act.
Making profits in fiat from Bitcoin is possible though but in long term. That too considering every bull cycle in 4 years, the price action of a Bitcoin will keep going down further, which means the chances of crazy 2x or 3x returns are going off with every bull cycle. To understand this one, you’ve to look at the Bitcoin logarithmic chart, this is the thing which I keep speaking off frequently on my Tweets. You can find it here.
If you look at the cycles of Bitcoin price, you’ll notice that the price action keeps getting lower & lower every four years. People believe that by the end of this decade, there won’t be this massive changes in Bitcoin prices after a specific point and the returns will be mild to moderate like Gold & Stocks.
So, if anyone tells you about guaranteed 2x or 3x returns, just be sure to check if he’s a scammer or not.
Avoid Shady Exchanges
This is one of those thing which you should keep in mind while starting out to buy/sell Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency. The platform or the exchange which you’re using must be a genuine one with solid core team and founders. This year itself in 2021, we’ve seen multiple exchanges shutting down entire business operations & founders running off with billions of dollars in crypto assets to other countries.
Turkish crypto exchange founder flees with $2 billion of investors’ assets
Keeping your crypto safe is your own responsibility. Exchanges with higher trading volumes & transparent founding team members are considered safer. We can’t comment on the safety of any exchange unless we have regulations for the same in India but till then if you have a high worth of Crypto, it’s safer to store it away in a personal wallet or hardware wallet.
Try peer-to-peer on Exchanges like Binance
Top exchanges have robust security & customer support in place to reduce fraudulent activity on the platform. If I speak of Binance p2p, each buyer & seller have a percentage success rate next to their name which shows the credibility of the individual seller/buyer. They also have verified sellers on the platform who are usually the ones with over a 99% success rate.
If you’re planning to buy some Bitcoin with your hard-earned legal money, it’s preferable to use an exchange for the same. The chances of fraud drastically come down if you use one of the exchanges and you’ll surely get the crypto asset for which you’ve paid the seller.
Lastly, it comes down to personal preference.
If you’re willing to bet on an unknown stranger for buying crypto, it’s your choice but KYC & AML compliant exchanges aren’t that bad and I genuinely feel if you’re a guy who has money obtained from legal sources, it’s safer to trade on top exchanges than buying it offline in person.
Thanks for reading ??
