While it’s possible to buy Monero (XMR) directly with GBP (e.g. LocalMonero) it’s not the cheapest way of getting your hands on it (starting from 5% in fees).

For the absolute cheapest rates, you’ll want to buy it on a cryptocurrency exchange (e.g. Binance) with Bitcoin (BTC) or Ethereum (ETH).

In this post, I’ll outline the BEST places to buy Monero (XMR) if you’re from the UK.

Cheapest Route: Buy Monero with BTC

If all you care about is buying Monero (XMR) at the best possible price (i.e. mid-market rate), then you’ll want to use Binance.

Because Binance doesn’t support government-issued currencies (e.g. GBP and USD), you’ll need to exchange Bitcoin (BTC) for Monero (XMR) instead. While this is the cheapest route, it’s slower and less convenient than the alternatives that I describe later in this post.

For UK residents, this is how the process looks:

Signup to Coinbase (if you’re not already registered). When you signup to Coinbase, you’ll also be able to use Coinbase Pro. It’s a little intimidating for beginners, but it’s the cheapest place to buy bitcoin (BTC) in the UK. Send GBP funds to your GBP wallet on Coinbase. Because Coinbase supports UK Faster Payments (FPS), this should be credited in less than 2 hours (usually between 30 mins – 1 hr). Once the funds arrive in your GBP wallet on Coinbase, move it over to Coinbase Pro. This is processed instantly and completely free of charge. On Coinbase Pro, buy Bitcoin (BTC) on the BTC/GBP market. You’ll pay the same fees on limit and market orders unless you’re trading more than $10,000 per month. If you want a walkthrough of this process, then check out this post. There’s a help document which you can reference here. Signup to Binance (if you’re not already registered). Binance has great volume, low trading fees, and competitive withdraw fees. Send your Bitcoin (BTC) from Coinbase Pro to Binance. Cryptocurrency withdrawals from Coinbase Pro are free. It might take up to 1 hour for your Bitcoin (BTC) to be credited on Binance. Once your Bitcoin (BTC) is credited on Binance, buy Monero (XMR) on the BTC/XMR market. Trading fees are just 0.1%. If you enable BNB for fees, you can lower that to 0.075%. Withdraw Monero (XMR) to the wallet of your choice. Whenever possible, you shouldn’t leave your funds on an exchange. I keep my Monero (XMR) on my Ledger Nano X. If you don’t have a hardware wallet yet, check out my overview of your best options in this post.

Whilst I prefer Binance, you can follow the same procedure with Poloniex, Bittrex, Kraken, and Cryptopia. However, these alternatives do have larger trading fees.

Exchange Withdrawal Fees (XMR) Trading Fees (%) Binance 0.04 0.1 Bittrex 0.04 0.25 Poloniex 0.015 0.15 / 0.25 Kraken 0.05 0.16 / 0.26 Cryptopia 0.02 0.2

Shapeshift seems like a popular recommendation, even though they blend a fee of about 1% into their exchange rate. I have used ShapeShift in the past, but I’ve found that it’s simpler/cheaper to use Binance (which doesn’t require ID verification).

Fastest Route: Buy Monero with GBP

I couldn’t find any exchange which had XMR/GBP pairs. However, you can use brokers or a P2P service if you want to buy Monero with GBP.

Whilst going through these platforms is easier and more convenient, you’ll pay a significant premium over the mid-market rate on exchanges.

From my research, these seemed like your best options:

LocalMonero.co LiberalCoins.com CryptoMate.co.uk MoneroForCash.com Fees & Markup (Approx.) 5% 7% 9% 10% Platform P2P P2P Broker P2P

When I checked, LocalMonero.co was the cheapest option. Interestingly, you don’t need to verify your identity to access these rates.

Summary: Best Place to Buy Monero?

If you want the absolute cheapest rates, then I’d buy Monero (XMR) with Bitcoin (BTC) on a cryptocurrency exchange like Binance. In total, it’d take about 3-4 hours to complete this process and you’d pay less than 1% in fees along the way.

Although you could use something like LocalMonero.co, you’ll be charged a premium (more than 5% fees) for the convenience it offers. I don’t think that’s worth the tradeoff, but the option is there if you want to use it.

What Do You Think?

How do you normally buy Monero (XMR) in the UK?

Let us know in the comments below!