This has proven to be the most challenging for me personally – because I live in rural Missouri and still have a RR (rural route) home address. Most online purchasing options flatly refuse to accept that my address is in fact “physical” and all options to use credit or debit cards fail and throw the “post office box addresses are not permitted” error. For this reason, I have to use bank wire transfer method to purchase bitcoin, and it takes 5 business days to receive the bitcoin.
I selected Coinbase.com as my preferred wallet for purchasing and transferring bitcoin, because it seems to be the most reliable and it is easy to use. However, I also setup a Blockchain.info account to use for holding bitcoin for a variety of reasons.
- Sign up for an online service – such as Coinbase to create a secure place to store your bitcoin, as well as easy payment methods to convert your local currency into or out of bitcoin.
- Connect your funding source – after signing up, connected either your bank account, PayPal account, or credit card to use as a funding source for buying bitcoin.
- Buy and sell bitcoin – Create a purchase of the amount of Bitcoin desired, and Coinbase will complete your buy and deliver your bitcoin. Sale of Bitcoin works the same, but in reverse. The price of bitcoin changes over time, so you’ll be shown the current exchange rate before you buy.