DeutschBitcoin is still by far the best-known cryptocurrency with the largest market capitalization. Only a few steps are required for you to become the direct owner of the digital currency. In five easy steps, CoinPro gives you instructions on how to withdraw Bitcoin or another cryptocurrency after purchase and thus gain full control over your money.
Withdrawing Bitcoin and Crypto to your Own Wallet: why It’s Important
As the first cryptocurrency ever, Bitcoin defined the basic principles of the young crypto scene with its creation in 2009. The goal is to give the user full control over their own money. No government and no intermediary should decide how you manage your finances. To make this work, however, it is not enough to simply buy BTC and Co. For this, you have to transfer your digital coins to your own wallet. CoinPro explains how to do this in five easy steps!
Step 1 to Becoming a Bitcoin Owner: Create a Wallet
Regardless of whether you want to buy Bitcoin or another cryptocurrency: First, you need a so-called wallet. This is nothing more than a virtual wallet. It is necessary to gain full control over your cryptocurrencies.
But beware: Not every wallet works the same. Make sure it is a non-custodial wallet! Although crypto exchanges offer to hold your cryptos, this offer negates their advantages, as the responsible organization has control over your money.
Cold wallets are considered particularly secure. Find out in our wallet overview what the differences are between the individual variants of crypto wallets. A cold wallet is a physical data carrier that must first be purchased or a piece of paper that is not recommended for everyday use. Therefore, CoinPro recommends a hot wallet for beginners – a program that you can install on your computer or on your mobile device.
One of the most popular Bitcoin wallets is Electrum. The wallet Exodus supports almost 300 different cryptocurrencies at the end of 2022. It is considered beginner-friendly.
Step 2: Choose a Crypto Exchange
There are a wide variety of crypto exchanges that differ according to deposit methods. In addition, the offer between the different platforms sometimes differs extremely.
However, the largest cryptocurrencies can be found on every crypto exchange. CoinPro recommends the Dutch provider Bitvavo. The most popular international trading platform is Binance.
Users should choose a provider that offers both the desired method for depositing fiat money and the cryptocurrency of desire. You can find a selection of popular offers in our crypto exchange comparison.
Step 3: Register on a Crypto Exchange
Once you have decided on a crypto exchange, you only have to register there. To do this, you must provide an email address and a password. Since 2017, user identification through KYC has also been necessary.
Only when you have completed this process, you may deposit fiat money such as Swiss francs. For this, photos of an official document are necessary, which proves the identity of the user as well as of his face. As a rule, the crypto exchange requires further security measures such as the use of 2FA and the definition of a security code.
Step 4: Buy Bitcoin or Cryptocurrencies
In the fourth step, you must create an order to buy Bitcoin or cryptocurrencies. To do this, you have to call up the trading area, select the desired trading pair and confirm the order. A market order immediately converts the purchase at the current market price. Afterwards, the acquired digital coins are on your account.
If you only want to buy when a certain price is reached, you can set a limit order. Anyone who wants to invest larger amounts or does not get along with the traditional trading overviews can use the OTC (Over The Counter) function on various crypto exchanges, for example on Binance. It is often also called Convert.
Even more tips? The basics – how to buy and trade Bitcoin
Step 5: Withdraw Cryptocurrencies
The fifth and final step on the way to becoming a Bitcoin owner is to transfer the Bitcoin you have just acquired to a non-custodial wallet. Currently, they are only in a custodial wallet. To do this, you have to select the function “Withdraw” or “Abheben” on the crypto exchange. Now copy the wallet address that you find in your downloaded application.
Enter the alphanumeric wallet address, which is now in your clipboard, into a field provided for this purpose and confirm the withdrawal after checking its correctness. If you accidentally send your cryptos to the wrong address, they are irretrievably lost.
What Happens if You Leave Cryptocurrencies on the Crypto Exchange?
CoinPro is writing this article after the FTX crash in November 2022. At the time, FTX was the second largest crypto exchange. Since many users left their cryptocurrencies in the custody of the company, FTX used the money to do its own business. A wave of withdrawals was followed by illiquidity and then insolvency.
Users who had not withdrawn their Bitcoin and cryptos by then lost their investments completely. Since there is no legal deposit insurance for cryptocurrencies, users could be left with their losses. Anyone who leaves cryptos in third-party custody risks a total loss. Crypto exchanges should therefore only be used for trading.
