Some important things to know

Before you buy, you should keep in mind that only certain cryptocurrencies can be bought with fiat. Some of the top coins by market volume available for fiat-to-crypto exchange include Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Ripple (XRP), and more. If you want to purchase a cryptocurrency that is only available for purchase with other cryptocurrency, and not with fiat, you will have to start with a fiat-to-crypto purchase, which we will walk you through in a moment.

The most common place to buy cryptocurrency is within an exchange. A cryptocurrency exchange is a platform that makes it possible to buy and sell cryptocurrency. Some exchanges only allow you to buy cryptocurrency with another cryptocurrency, and others allow you to purchase with fiat.

The most important question to ask yourself before purchasing is: Is it safe? You have probably heard about the large number of exchange hacks that have taken place over the last couple of years. As we will explain below, using your Trezor device and the available in-wallet exchanges makes the process much safer than going through an online exchange without your Trezor hardware wallet.

How to use the Trezor Buy tab: Step by step

Step 1: Connect your Trezor device and open Trezor Wallet. If you have passphrase enabled, you will be prompted to enter your passphrase multiple times throughout the following process.

Step 2: Click on the Buy tab in the menu bar.

Step 3: Choose an exchange from those listed. There are ten exchanges listed within Trezor Wallet. Nine of them accept credit and debit cards as a method of payment, and the tenth also lets you use SEPA bank transfers. If you don’t know which exchange to choose, take a look at these three factors to help you find the right one:

Currency conversion rates: Some exchanges will offer different conversion rates for currency. You can always compare the offered rate to what you can find online, although some exchanges will display the current global conversion rates.

Exchange fees: every exchange will charge some percentage of your overall transaction as a fee for using their service. The percentage will vary.

Currencies available for purchase: Most exchanges will offer at least five of the top ten cryptocurrencies by market volume. Make sure the exchange offers the cryptocurrency you want before you continue. Some of the cryptocurrencies are not available for purchase with fiat at all.

Step 4: When you have selected an exchange, follow the directions given. They can vary slightly from exchange to exchange, but there are some things they will have in common, like registering (for first time users) or signing in (for returning users). You will also always be asked to enter your wallet address. Here’s how to find it:

Back in Trezor Wallet, choose the currency that you are purchasing (This is very important: you do not want to send the wrong currency to the wrong address. You cannot send Litecoin to a Bitcoin address, for example.). If you are purchasing Bitcoin, select Bitcoin.

Go to the Receive tab and choose “Create new address,” then select “Show full address.”

You will have to confirm the address directly on your Trezor device. Verify that the address displayed in Trezor Wallet matches the one displayed on your device, and manually choose “Continue.”

You will have to input that address back in the exchange. We recommend that you copy and paste the address instead of typing it in, to avoid making any mistakes. If you don’t input the correct address, you will not receive your coins.

After you enter the receiving address, you will be prompted to input your preferred payment method. This will look fairly similar across all exchange sites. Payment can be done by bank transfer, wire transfer, credit or debit card, bank drafts, or money orders.

Step 5: Success! You can find your newly bought cryptocurrency in your Trezor Wallet. It won’t show up instantly; it usually takes about an hour before your transaction is confirmed, although this period could be longer based on the volume of traffic on the blockchain and the exchange. The length of the delay depends on things like which exchange you’re using, how busy the network is, or what kind of currency you bought.

For any errors that occur, you can always contact the exchange directly, by email. As always, be careful about handing over your private information. Make sure that you are, in fact, contacting the exchange, and not a malicious third party by mistake.

Trezor In-Wallet Exchanges

You might be wondering how Trezor in-wallet exchanges are any different from using an online exchange by itself. As we mentioned earlier, online exchanges are constantly targeted by hackers, who are stealing from people who stored their coins in the exchange. Our in-wallet exchange is safer in three ways:

You have to physically confirm any transactions on your Trezor device before your coins will move anywhere.

When you make a purchase or a trade, your new coins can go directly to your Trezor wallet, meaning they cannot be stolen, because your device is offline and inaccessible to any hacker.

Finally, when you choose an exchange from within Trezor Wallet, it will go straight to the legitimate website. If you search for an exchange site using a search engine, there is always a chance that you could mistakenly open a phishing site that has mimicked the real exchange in order to steal your private data.

No more searching for a reliable and trusted exchange, we’ve got you covered!

Finally…

This article is meant to be a guide for anyone unsure about how to proceed with their fiat-to-crypto purchase. We are not offering any financial or investment advice; we simply wish to keep our community informed about security and privacy best practices.

SatoshiLabs bears no responsibility for any part of the exchange process, including but not limited to functionality, rates, and KYC/AML. If your transaction triggers KYC/AML verification, please contact the respective exchange service. If you refuse to complete KYC, the transaction should be reverted. For additional information, please contact the exchanges.