Looking to buy Ethereum? In the crypto sector, Ethereum is second only to Bitcoin in size. And with its exciting Ethereum 2.0 upgrade now live, investors are viewing ETH as a relatively safe bet for future growth.
Is it time to buy the ETH dip? We find out below. We also review several crypto exchanges UK residents are accepted at, where you can buy Ethereum using a wide range of payment methods.
How to Buy Ethereum UK – Quick Steps
- Step 1: Open an Account – Head to a crypto exchange and sign up for an account. Supply two forms of ID to get verified.
- Step 2: Deposit – Use your preferred payment method such as bank transfer or debit card to make a deposit.
- Step 3: Search for Ethereum – You can find ETH by typing ‘ETH,’ ‘Ether’, or ‘Ethereum’ into the search bar.
- Step 4: Invest – Buy Ethereum using funds in your account – ETH can be purchased directly with GBP on most platforms.
Where to Buy Ethereum in the UK
What’s the best place to buy cryptocurrency in the UK right now? You will need to choose between buying with a broker and buying with an exchange.
We review five reputable crypto exchanges when it comes to the best crypto exchanges UK:
1. Huobi – Top-Rated Crypto Exchange with 4M Users
Huobi was founded as a crypto exchange in 2013 in China. It is now headquartered in the Seychelles with offices in Japan, Korea and Singapore. Huobi was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2018.
With its roots in Asia-Pacific, Huobi might seem an unusual choice when deciding where to buy Ethereum in the UK. But hang in there! Huobi has the third highest crypto trading activity in the world, and offers numerous useful options. Huobi offers 348 crypto with 60 payment options in all.
You can trade for Ethereum on the open exchange marketplace. Or you can use P2P (peer-to-peer) trading to trade Ethereum direct with other users. Or you can opt for an instant buy using credit card, your GBP balance, or Faster Payments. A minimum purchase of $10 applies to credit card purchase of ETH. There’s a handy widget that shows you exactly how much Ethereum you will receive, depending on what payment method you use (see below):
As with all our reviewed Ethereum vendors, Huobi allows you to stake Ethereum for rewards during the upgrade of Ethereum known as Ethereum 2.0. A minimum stake of 0.1 BETH (the equity token for ETH 2.0 staking) is required. Other crypto financing options are available too, including liquidity pools, savings and loans.
Huobi is alone amongst our reviewed ETH vendors in offering a joining incentive. Sign up and conduct some simple tasks to receive up to $300 as well as 20,000 Shiba Inu crypto (SHIB).
For security, Huobi is similar to Coinbase in keeping most of its client funds in cold storage. It also runs a HKD50,000 scheme to reward users for reporting fraudulent use of the system. This is called the Huobi Trading Protection and Guardian Project.
Overall Huobi offers a range of powerful crypto options. A downside is that the exchange is not as clear about its fee structures as its competitors. But generally, there is plenty to recommend to the more adventurous Ethereum investor.
Pros
Cons
Cryptoassets are a highly volatile unregulated investment product. No UK or EU investor protection.
2. Crypto.com – Best Exchange to Buy Ethereum for Beginners
Another highly-recommended platform if you’re looking to buy Ethereum UK is Crypto.com. Like the other platforms on this list, Crypto.com has millions of registered users worldwide and offers over 150 cryptocurrencies to trade. The Crypto.com platform is split into two distinct components – the exchange aspect and the mobile app. The former is targeted towards advanced investors, whilst the latter is more suited to casual investors.
If you buy Ethereum on the exchange, the only fee that applies is the maker/taker fee. This equates to 0.4% per position for a monthly trade volume less than $25,000. Notably, you can opt to pay trading fees in CRO and receive a 10% reduction – meaning maker/taker fees are only 0.36%! On the other hand, if you use the Crypto.com app, you can instantly buy ETH (and other cryptos) using a credit or debit card.
This feature is fee-free for the first 30 days, although it will cost 2.99% per trade after this. If you’d rather make a deposit and then make your purchase, then Crypto.com supports both FIAT and crypto deposits. Both types are free to make, with UK-based traders able to make instant GBP deposits via Faster Payments.
The app itself makes the trading process extremely easy, as users can buy digital currencies in just a few taps. Although price charts aren’t as detailed as some other platforms, there is still real-time price data and in-depth portfolio statistics. Finally, Crypto.com also has a reputation as a very secure platform, as it stores 98% of customer holdings in cold storage and has a $750 million crypto reserve fund.
Pros
Cons
Cryptoassets are a highly volatile unregulated investment product. No UK or EU investor protection.
3. Binance – Leading Exchange to Buy Ethereum with Credit Card
Like Coinbase, Binance is a giant crypto exchange. In fact, Binance is the most liquid crypto exchange in the world. In other words, it has the highest amount of trades anywhere. This means that fees are very low (0.1% commission).
If you are a beginner and deciding how to buy Ethereum UK, though, Binance can be daunting. It is set up to offer a wealth of powerful trading options that can be confusing to the newbie. Your best bet as a beginner is to sign up for Binance’s smartphone app and access the Binance Lite option, which makes trading simpler. Or choose the Classic interface option on the desktop site.
With Binance, a plus for beginners is that you can buy Ethereum and 100+ other crypto directly with credit/debit card. A fee of 3% usually applies, but currently that fee is reduced to 1%. Alternatively, you can stock your Binance account with fiat currency or crypto stablecoins (Binance USD, Coinbase USD Coin, and Tether) and use them to fund an Ethereum purchase. Or, if you are feeling adventurous, you can trade Ethereum and 500+ other crypto with other investors using the Binance P2P exchange.
When it comes to security, Binance has a unique offering in the form of the Binance SAFU (Secure Asset Fund for Users). This is a discretionary fund to compensate users in the event of fraud/theft. It is funded by 10% of all trading fees that Binance receives. In December, 2021, Binance also launched Project Shield, which aims to audit new crypto coins (ERC-20 and BEP-20 tokens) as they come to market in order to protect Binance users from fraud.
Binance offers a free crypto wallet for you to manage your digital assets (Binance Trust wallet) as well as a smartphone trading app (4.7/5 from 96k App Store reviews and 4.3/5 from 570k Google Play reviews). As with all our reviewed vendors here, Binance’s help pages are excellent, showing you clearly how to buy Ethereum stock in a number of ways.
Pros
Cons
Cryptoassets are a highly volatile unregulated investment product. No UK or EU investor protection.
4. Luno – Best Exchange For Simple Range of Crypto
Launched in Singapore in 2013, crypto exchange Luno has 10m customers spread across 40m countries. Investors looking where to buy Ethereum in the UK will be reassured that Luno has an office in London.
Unlike the crypto exchanges we review above, Luno offers a streamlined choice of only 6 cryptos. Users can buy Ethereum (ETH), Ripple (XRP), Bitcoin (BTC), Litecoin (LTC), Bitcoin Cash BCH and stablecoin (USDC). This makes things a lot less overwhelming for crypto newbies.
Like with Coinbase, Binance and Huobi, you can buy ETH instantly with GBP deposited (1.5% commission) and credit card (3.5% commission). You can also buy ETH from the exchange marketplace that Luno provides by matching buyers with sellers with a maker/taker fee scheme. As with Binance, you are looking at a low ‘taker’ commission of 0.1% for Ethereum purchases.
Users can also earn more Ethereum by staking what they have with Luno Savings. An annual interest reward of 7.6% is available. Luno also provides a crypto wallet. This is a custodial wallet, which gives users the advantage of ‘deep freeze’ protection behind multiple layers of encryption (as with fellow exchange Coinbase). The Luno wallet has strong support from online reviewers, gaining 4.4/5 from 3.5k reviewers on the App Store and 3.8/5 from 95k Google Play reviewers.
Luno is certainly beginner-friendly. But more advanced users will be pleased to see a range of orders available to buy your Ethereum, including limit order, market orders and stop-limit orders.
Pros
Cons
Cryptoassets are a highly volatile unregulated investment product. No UK or EU investor protection.
5. Coinbase – Popular Cryptocurrency Exchange with Huge Asset Portfolio
Coinbase is one of the largest crypto exchanges. It was founded in San Francisco in 2012 and has an excellent reputation for security, having never been hacked.
- Over 70m investors have used Coinbase at some point. The business currently has 30m+ customers worldwide. Coinbase is the first ever crypto exchange to come to the stock markets. It had its IPO (International Public Offering) on the NASDAQ in April 2021. You can trade Coinbase as a stock under its ticker COIN.
- Coinbase offers almost 200 crypto coins and tokens. Generally, Coinbase is known as being second only to Binance in its commitment to crypto choice.
- 98% of customer funds are stored with Coinbase offline in a ‘cold’ wallet system. This is a great security bonus against the threat of cyber-theft. Cold wallets are less vulnerable because they are only connected to the internet when conducting transactions.
How to buy Ethereum with Coinbase? Sign up for an account, providing ID. Get verified, then deposit funds. Track down Ethereum onsite (not difficult), allocate funds and execute your trade. Coinbase does not allow UK investors to deposit funds with PayPal.
When it comes to fees, Coinbase does not enjoy a great reputation. For example, a 3.99% fee applies to credit card transactions. Trading fees are calculated as a mix of flat fees and commission. It can be confusing. The good news is that Coinbase’s fee structure is changing soon.
Coinbase generally gives an easy ride to beginners. A standout offering is Coinbase’s crypto learning program. Just complete online learning modules, and Coinbase will give you free crypto. Coinbase offers a free wallet which you can link to your account, as well as a smartphone crypto app (4.7/5 rating on Google Play from 1.6m reviews, 4.3/5 rating on the App Store from 630k reviews).
Pros
Cons
Cryptoassets are a highly volatile unregulated investment product. No UK or EU investor protection.
What Is Ethereum?
Ethereum is the world’s second largest crypto behind Bitcoin. It has a market capitalization of over $191bn. It was founded in 2015 by programmer Vitalik Buterin. The key to the success of the Ethereum blockchain is that it acts as a platform for developers to build more decentralized applications. NFTs and many other crypto are based on Ethereum. The blockchain’s crypto ETH is also used as a common means of payment on the internet.
Should I Buy Ethereum Now?
The price of ETH has just bounced 75% from its late June 2022 low. Of course, the price could suddenly fall lower. But this bounce represents investors buying in. Now may be the time to join them. ETH has not been this cheap since December 2020.
Stake ETH to Earn Rewards
If you buy ETH now, you can engage with the staking opportunities special to the Ethereum upgrade. Ethereum has become so popular as a way of doing business that its network has become congested. The solution has been to upgrade, which will have massively reduced its use of electricity. Ethereum has moved from old Proof-of-Work protocols to new Proof-of-Stake protocols.
You can buy ETH and stake it to support this process – and also earn rewards.
Buy into the Backbone of the Internet
Ethereum is not some novelty token that somebody thought would be fun to create. The Ethereum blockchain is sometimes referred to as the backbone of the new internet because it supports so many dapps (decentralised applications) as well as other crypto.
The crypto sector exploded in 2021 with hundreds of novelty tokens. Crypto like Shiba Inu (SHIB) were introduced as fun, speculative items and attracted a lot of buying interest. Most of these tokens are actually ERC-20 tokens. They are priced independently to Ethereum. But, like NFTs, they are literally made out of Ethereum. Whatever the highs and lows of speculative crypto, Ethereum offers a sensible place to invest because it is well-established as the root of so much other crypto activity.
Pay for Web 3.0 Stuff with ETH
ETH is a common form of exchange for buying NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens). If you want to get involved in Metaverses and NFT gaming, you will need some ETH. Buy it now perhaps whilst it is cheaper than it has been for six months.
Ethereum vs. Bitcoin
Should I buy Bitcoin or Ethereum? Generally we recommend spreading your crypto investment around different crypto. Likewise, we recommend ensuring that your entire crypto investment forms only a small part (1%-5%) of your total investment portfolio. The crypto sector is notoriously volatile, and diversification helps to spread risk. But if you had to choose between Bitcoin and Ethereum, there is a strong argument right now to choose Ethereum. That’s because, due to its upgrade, Ethereum is forging its new future as a more environmentally-friendly crypto. This makes it far more resistant to future government regulation than Bitcoin; Bitcoin mining worldwide uses as much electricity as Holland, and that is not going to change anytime soon.
Ethereum Price
All crypto took a steep tumble during 2022, as did conventional tech stocks on NASDAQ. Reasons for this include the US Federal Reserve tapering money supply as well as raising interest rates, the worst inflation for 40 years and fears over Coronavirus. The market is currently seeing some recovery.
Cryptoassets are highly volatile and past performance isn’t an indicator of future success. Invest at your own risk.
Ethereum Price Prediction
Some analysts say Ethereum is likely to test $4,000 again this year, with this recent correction having rinsed out all likely profit-takers. Certainly Ethereum has attracted strong buying support at the bottom of its dip. And that support is likely to continue with Ethereum’s centrality as the go-to blockchain of choice for developers looking to build apps and crypto tokens. Reinforcing Ethereum’s positive prospects is, of course, the recent Ethereum 2.0 upgrade, which has made it a lot faster as well as environmentally-friendly.
When to Buy Ethereum
One way to decide when to buy Ethereum is to learn about technical charting. This is a methodology that analyses patterns in an asset’s price chart to predict what will happen next. Some say technical charting is not reliable. Certainly it did not predict the recent January 2022 crypto crash.
A more reliable (if less sophisticated) method is to buy and HODL (Hold on for Dear Life). HODL works on the principle that, with global take-up of crypto growing, it is likely that crypto prices will rise over the long-term. According to HODL, the best time to buy Ethereum is right now.
Cryptoassets are highly volatile and past performance isn’t an indicator of future success. Invest at your own risk.
How to Buy Ethereum UK – Tutorial
Below we look at the five common steps to buy ETH, with the sign up process similar for nearly all crypto exchanges.
1. Choose a Platform to Buy Ethereum
Where to buy Ethereum in the UK? ETH is a global asset and most brokers and crypto exchanges offer access to ETH from international locations, the UK included. Select your preferred crypto exchange or broker and either download the browser extension or mobile app – most are free and available on both Android and iOS.
2. Create Account
After downloading the app, create an account, filling in basic details – some platforms may also offer a questionnaire to fill in due to compliance rules.
3. Verify ID
Next, users will have to verify their email account, phone number, and identity. That means providing a passport or driving license, with some platforms also requiring proof of address. Once verified, users are free to purchase cryptocurrency.
4. Buy Ethereum UK
On most crypto platforms, Ethereum ($ETH) can be purchased directly with GBP. To do so, simply search ETH into the search bar – which should be prominent on the homepage of the app. Then click ‘Buy ETH with GBP’ (or some variation of that instruction) and follow the steps to complete the transaction.
Different platforms will charge different fees and likely a different minimum purchase amount. Most platforms accept debit card payments, bank transfers, or e-wallets such as Apple Pay or Google Pay.
Conclusion
Buying Ethereum UK is a simple task with most crypto exchanges allowing users to purchase ETH directly with GBP via a debit card, bank transfer or e-wallet. The whole process should take no longer than five or 10 minutes once an account has been created and verified.
The larger issue for customers is selecting the right crypto exchange or broker, as they all have different strengths and weaknesses, and charge different fees, while some are regarded as safer than others.