Is Bitcoin a Good Investment? 11 Reasons Why You Should Invest

Interest in Bitcoin has surged over the last few years – everyone from governments to grandmothers are talking about it, however, there is still much uncertainty on how to actually invest in it and the reasons why people are doing so.

This article aims to help you understand why Bitcoin’s popularity has increased so much and how to do so using different crypto investment strategies via trusted cryptocurrency platforms in the UK. It may seem intimidating to start getting involved with Bitcoin but it has become incredibly easy to invest in cryptocurrency and you can get started very quickly.

This guide is going to discuss reasons why you should invest in Bitcoin in the UK, how to do it and what you need to watch out for to limit risk.

How to Invest in Bitcoin on our Recommended Platforms in our Step-by-Step Guide:

Investing in Bitcoin can seem like an intimidating task at first, but follow our steps to get started.

How to Invest in Bitcoin in the UK on eToro

Step 1: Sign up to eToro

Visit eToro.com to create an account and fill in your details. You will need to put in your name, username, e-mail, password and phone number. Accept the terms & conditions and click on start trading.

After signing up, you can explore the platform. There is a watchlist to add all certain cryptocurrencie and a newsfeed to see different traders’ opinions, and a section to and open and close trades.

Before you start trading you’ll be asked some questions and required to upload ID verification.

Step 2: Fund your account

Once your account is fully verified it’s time to fund your account. The minimum deposit is $10 (£8) for UK users – debit card deposits are instant and bank transfers take up to 48 hours. There is a 0.5% fee for depositing GBP.

Step 3: Buying Bitcoin

To purchase Bitcoin click ‘Trade Markets’ on the side bar, choose ‘Crypto’ from the top of the search filter then you will see Bitcoin right at the top.

Click ‘Buy’ and this box will pop up. Set the amount you want to invest and then confirm – there is a 1% fee attached.

Buy Bitcoin on eToro

Don’t invest in crypto assets unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest.

How to invest in Bitcoin on CryptoRocket (Step by Step)

Step 1: Registration

To register on CryptoRocket you will have to visit the official website and click on “sign up”, which will lead you to a registration form. You will have to type in your full name, email address and create a password to be able to register.

Step 2: Opening Trading Account

You will then be required to create a trading account. All you have to do is click on “Open Trading Account” after you sign up, which will allow you to create a demo account a try the trading platform without getting real money involved.

Step 3: Deposit funds

Once you feel ready to start trading with real money you can make your deposit. The payment methods allowed include credit/debit cards and Bitcoin. You will have to deposit a minimum of $10 to be allowed to access the trading space.

Step 4: Buying Bitcoin

You can now switch to a real account and invest in bitcoin. To do that, all you have to do is access the trading platform through WebTrader or MT4. On the left side you will see the list of assets on offer. Scroll down until you find Bitcoin, then select it and decide whether you want to “buy” or “sell” it.

Open account on Cryptorocket

Your capital is at risk

Other Crypto Exchanges to Consider

1. OKX

The cryptocurrency exchange OKX is strong and flexible, providing a large selection of trading pairs and goods. OKX offers both new and seasoned traders a user-friendly interface, cutting-edge security features, and a thorough instructional platform. Before opting to trade on OKX, you should do extensive research and take into account your unique demands, just as with any other trading platforms.

Cryptocurrencies that Are Supported

With more than 400 trading pairs available, OKX offers a large number of cryptocurrencies. Popular coinage like Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Litecoin (LTC), as well as lesser-known altcoins and tokenized assets, are all available on the platform. Traders may diversify their portfolios and look into new investment options thanks to this wide range.

Trading Products
Futures, perpetual swaps, and options are just a few of the complex trading instruments that OKX provides in addition to spot trading. Users of these derivatives products can trade using leverage, possibly boosting both their earnings and dangers. Additionally, OKX provides staking services that let customers profit from their Bitcoin investments

Visit OKX.

2. Bybit

Bybit is a reliable and user-friendly cryptocurrency derivatives exchange that caters to both experienced traders and newcomers alike. Its advanced trading tools, educational resources, and strong security features make it an attractive option for those looking to trade cryptocurrency derivatives. However, it’s essential to remember that leveraged trading carries significant risks and should only be pursued with a thorough understanding of the market and careful risk management strategies.

Up to 100x Leverage on Crypto

Bybit’s capacity to trade cryptocurrencies with up to 100x leverage is one of its most alluring features. This implies that you could be able to swap a position for $100. For experienced traders, this high leverage may result in big returns, but it’s important to keep in mind that it also multiplies the hazards involved.

Options trading: Long and Short

Users of Bybit have the choice to buy or sell 15 different cryptocurrencies. Shorting an asset implies betting on its price to decline, whereas going long means betting on its price to climb. This adaptability enables traders to benefit from market trends and maybe make money from both price increases and decreases.

Visit Bybit

Top 11 Reasons Why You Should Invest in Bitcoin?

1. Buy Low Sell High – Ability to Profit from Low Prices in a Bear Market

Bitcoin has been the most exciting asset to invest in for decades, the profitable gains that are possible trading Bitcoin are second to none. There have been huge rises in the past and when we saw the highs of December 2017 many people would have rushed to buy anything below £7377.

Now Bitcoin is trading around £26034, and the price is low compared to its all-time-high of £50,000 so it makes sense to accumulate at a low price and sell at the highs (and above). The market works in cycles, and you can see from the above chart we have had a healthy correction – the new cycle is ready to start that could spark another parabolic movement.

2. Young Market and Tech – Plenty of Ways for Demand to Increase

Bitcoin’s potential huge gains are not the only thing making it such an exciting asset. The fact that both the technology and market are so young means there is so much room for improvement and therefore price growth.

In the grand scheme of things, people investing now could still be seen as early UK investors, especially if the predictions of Bitcoin reaching $100,000 and above would come true.

Bitcoin is around 13 years old and the amount of work being done on blockchain is increasingly massively each year. Bitcoin developers are always at work and the code is being worked on non-stop to increase scalability, privacy and other impressive features.

The potential growth for Bitcoin is unimaginable. The higher the market cap grows, the higher the prices rise due to more money circulating.

3. Increasingly High Adoption Rate – Only 1% of the World own Bitcoin

The adoption rate for Bitcoin is growing at an extremely impressive rate. In 2013 there were 1,789 merchants accepting Bitcoin. In December 2018 there were 14,346 venues globally accepting BTC, which is a massive 700% rise – indicating that adoption is growing constantly and will continue to do so throughout the years.

Basically, more and more people want to use digital currencies for their everyday purchases. Looking at the above infographic, we can see that countries experiencing issues with corruption, difficult monetary policies and hyperinflation (Venezuela) are adopting Bitcoin the fastest and rightly so.

People are losing faith in their own country’s currencies and are warming up to cryptocurrencies. This would positively impact because more people using and buying Bitcoin increases demand, which will increase the price as the supply is capped.

4. The Launch of a Bitcoin ETF and Institutional Investors will Drive the Price Up

The potential of publicly trade bitcoin ETFs should not be ignored. An exchange-traded fund is an investment fund that follows the price of an underlying asset (such as gold) and is traded on exchanges.

Since regulated bitcoin futures contracts are now on the CME and CBOE, the chances of an approved ETF are improving. ETFs would legitimise BTC further and would attract all kinds of investors in the United Kingdom, especially institutional investors.

It would also remove barriers for the masses to invest. In the early 2000s, the ETF market opened for gold and the price rallied for years, the same could happen for Bitcoin. As an approved ETF would remove barriers to entry, a huge spike increase would be likely.

5. Own Your Money – Decentralisation

Start owning your money! Bitcoin is decentralised, meaning you own the coins and transactions. Banks and other third parties are not involved and you have access to deposit and withdraw money 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

A great example of where decentralised money would be extremely effective was during the Greek financial crisis, where citizens were not even able to withdraw their own cash due to a government lock down to pay off debts. Bitcoin is available to withdraw whenever you want, no matter the situation of the government.

We are in a time where people are becoming increasingly worried about their money, and decentralised forms of payment are becoming more desirable which would drive the price up.

6. Bitcoin Supply is Limited – The Price can only increase with Demand

If every millionaire in the world wanted one Bitcoin, it would not be possible! There are only 21million Bitcoins available in total, and 17.6million have already been mined. New research also claims there could be up to 4million Bitcoins already lost, decreasing the supply even further than it already is.

It is similar with gold, gold must be mined out the ground and Bitcoin must be mined via complex algorithms. Demand will increase with the years to come, and with that value increases also.

7. Sending Money Overseas Made Easy

International bank transfers are still very difficult to do, they take much longer than national transactions and the fees are much more expensive. Bitcoin removes the middle man and allows you to send payments anywhere in the world instantly for low fees.

It allows you more freedom and privacy when handling your money, which is crucial these days. Using standard bank accounts are somewhat old fashioned, so it’s worth investing in this new piece of technology, removing barriers and allowing people to send money to each other no matter where they live.

8. Metcalfe’s Law and Bitcoin – High adoption with Push the Price up Exponentially

Metcalfe’s Law is a term coined by Robert Metcalfe that states that the value of a network grows by the square of the size of the network.

The idea behind this law is that a network’s value is increased as the size of the network increases. For example, approximately 0.7% of the population use Bitcoin so (0.72 =0.49), but if we saw an increase to 2% of the population using Bitcoin, then the value of the network would quadruple (22 =4), if 4% of the population used Bitcoin then the value would of the network x16 (42 =16) and so on.

The value of the network quadrupling would also push the price exponentially – there is no limit to what price Bitcoin can hit!

9. Privacy and Anonymity 

Lack of privacy and anonymity is becoming an increasing issue in 2019. Bitcoin operates differently to your usual banking network. Opening a bank account requires lots of effort, identification and sometimes cost.

You could use Bitcoin to keep your funds anonymous, an interesting example is a domestic abuse victim could use Bitcoin to safely and securely save funds to prepare for an independent life.

Privacy and anonymity is something people are beginning to value more nowadays due to increased hacks, malware and viruses. If people are valuing privacy and anonymity more, they will with Bitcoin too.

10. Flexibility in the Market

Investing and trading Bitcoin can be done on any day at any time. Giving you flexibility to work with your investments and no barriers. Unlike stocks you do not need to wait for the market to open to handle trades and your investments. This gives UK investors and traders more freedom with their money.

Flexibility is valued and traders do not want to be told when they can and can’t trade with their own capital. Thus, this will be positive and drive the price as the flexibility is attractive to traders.

11. Increasing Regulation

There is increasing regulation when it comes to Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies but this is not necessarily a bad thing. With more regulation, the asset will gain trust and adoption will increase. As stated in one of the previous points, increased adoption is one of the quickest ways Bitcoin can rise in price.

Investing in Bitcoin will be safer and information about the asset will be much more clear, bringing in many more investors. Governments are constantly discussing Bitcoin and other cryptos, showing that it is here to stay.

The History of Bitcoin Prices – How has it Grown since 2008?

In October 2008, a paper titled ‘Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System’ was written and published by Satoshi Nakamoto. This paper explained the idea behind Bitcoin, outlining exactly how it would operate and describing the details of a completely functional cryptocurrency.

Bitcoin works in a fully decentralised system, operating in a trustless manner making it possible to send and receive financial transactions without the need for a third-party. Over 10 years later, this network has grown rapidly and evolved to connect with the needs of its ever-burgeoning user-base.

Bitcoin has had a crazy history of up and downs. In March 2010, 10,000 BTC was auctioned for $50 but no buyer was found. A couple months later, L.Haynecz completed the first real-world transaction by buying two pizzas in Florida for 10,000 BTC (an amount that would be over $50m today).

Fast forward 11 years and we experienced the parabolic Bitcoin rise in April 2021. Bitcoin hit its all-time-high of around £50,000, making many early investors a great amount of profit. Since then, this has still been the top and the price had experienced a rocky year, crashing all the way to around $35K.

How to Take Advantage of Investing in Dips in the Market

Since the beginning of 2019, buying every significant Bitcoin dip has proved to be a rewarding strategy. Dollar-Cost Averaging (DCA) is a popular trading strategy that involves buying the same dollar amount of an investment regularly. Entry points can be daunting for investors so this method decreases the importance of short-term volatility and allows investors to scale into an asset.

People have become more reluctant to invest in cryptocurrencies due to the latest crash from the 2017 highs, but the market has been correcting since and some stability has been found. There is good risk/reward ‘DCAing’ the dips on Bitcoin and could prove to be very rewarding in say a years time.

Most importantly, the last rebound in Bitcoin price following the drop in Bitcoin’s price in July 2021 to around $30k has proven that Bitcoin is ‘buying the dips market’.

How to Store your Bitcoin Investment in a Secure Wallet

When you make a Bitcoin investment in the UK, it’s necessary to get a secure place to store it. Well, actually, you don’t store your Bitcoin, but you hold a code linked to your bitcoin address, which gives you access to the part of the blockchain where your bitcoin is.

These codes, also known as private keys, are very long and complicated, so you need a place to keep them. But it’s also crucial not to show it to someone else and store it securely, as when someone gets your private keys, it can easily access your BTC.

Bitcoin wallets are designed specifically for this purpose, but they also help you safely and quickly exchange, buy, and sell Bitcoins. When it comes to selecting a particular wallet, we need to consider what kind of wallet we want, as there are three different types of cryptocurrency wallets.

These are hardware, software, and exchange wallets. Hardware wallets are usually considered the most secure, but you can also safely store your BTC on an exchange or software wallet if you choose the right one.

So, whatever wallet you select, you need to pay attention to its reputation and security features. When it comes to the exchange wallets, these are actually your exchange accounts. So, how safe it is, depends on whether the brokerage platform or the crypto exchange possesses good security systems and regulations.

Our most recommended exchange wallets is eToro. Among the best and most secure software wallets, we have also included those provided by Coinbase and Binance and are called Coinbase wallet and Trust wallet accordingly.

As for the hardware wallets, these are physical devices that keep your private keys offline; that’s why they are considered the most secure wallets. These wallets are cold storage, and they are specially designed for those who want to keep larger amounts of Bitcoin and don’t make transactions too often.

If you prefer buying a hardware wallet, we would recommend Trezor wallet and Ledger Nano S wallet. To get more detailed information and read our reviews about bitcoin wallets, visit our guide about the Best Bitcoin Wallets. 

Can You Invest in Bitcoin Mining?

There are various ways to invest in Bitcoin, and an interesting one is mining Bitcoin. Bitcoin is a decentralised system, which keeps running via its decentralised workforce. The miners are this workforce and they get paid in newly minted Bitcoins for keeping the infrastructure running. It is similar to a tax on everyone who owns Bitcoins.

In the earlier days of Bitcoin mining was extremely lucrative as you could earn a lot of BTC due to the competition being limited, however, now mining is a massive industry with huge warehouses being built solely for mining cryptocurrencies.

Today the easiest way to get into mining is usually through an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) miner, which is still a rather heavy investment that comes with electricity costs, hardware costs and takes time. There are plenty of tutorials online that can show you how to get started with your own mining rig.

Is it Too Late to Invest in Bitcoin?

The short answer – absolutely not! The current total market cap of the crypto industry is under $2.6tn. Companies such as Amazon and Apple have market caps of around 1 trillion which just goes to show exactly how young Bitcoin and the crypto market is as a whole. The technology is still in its early stages and you’d be crazy to write off blockchain and Bitcoin.

Many of today’s top companies are exploring the use of blockchain technology such as Facebook, American Express, IBM and many more! The number of companies that will use blockchain will only increase with years to come, and this will benefit the cryptocurrency industry as a whole.

The crypto market has slowly bled out since January 2018 but we experienced a positive bounce in recent years, especially in 2021. It is understandable that people are somewhat reluctant to invest in Bitcoin but that’s why you can start with however much you can afford and using the Dollar-cost-averaging method mentioned above, you can slowly scale yourself in.

Countries that are experiencing financial crises or corruption have currencies with hyperinflation (such as in Turkey, Venezuela and Zimbabwe) are adopting cryptocurrencies faster than any other countries and it’s likely this will continue because Bitcoin can offer people financial freedom and protection from corruption due to its trustless, decentralised system. Less than 1% of the population use Bitcoin so it is still early, and definitely not too late.

Invest in Bitcoin

Cryptoassets are highly volatile and past performance isn’t an indicator of future success. Invest at your own risk.

Security and Risks of Investing in Bitcoin

When investing in Bitcoin, you should not only take into account the risks of losing your money but also what platform you select for this purpose. Choosing a good crypto exchange is a crucial factor in this process as the platform that lacks safety features and is not regulated by financial institutions cannot recommend secure trading.

So, before you trust any information to a trading platform, do careful research and check if the platform has a good reputation in terms of secure trading.

There are plenty of cryptocurrency exchanges in the UK, but not all of them are safe and secure. The market is also filled with many scammers and fraud. So, trusting your wallet information or card details to a broker that seems suspicious, does not have a good reputation, and lacks strong security systems, is actually very risky.

Your profile can be easily hacked, resulting in your capital loss. Furthermore, suppose the selected brokerage platform is not regulated, and no financial authority oversees the process. In that case, they can hardly compensate for your loss.

Hence, we would recommend you to trust those platforms that possess strong regulatory systems and require you to undergo the Know-your-customer process to assure your safety and avoid account hacks.

Responsible Bitcoin Investing in the UK

Though Bitcoin is the most popular and the largest cryptocurrency by its market capitalization, we should always keep in mind that investing in Bitcoin involves risks too. One of the main reasons is its high volatility, as Bitcoin prices fluctuate too often.

Despite involving significant risks, it is also an advantage. You can speculate on these fluctuations and win high returns if you guess the buy and sell signals.

But this requires consistent research, so you must always keep an eye on the market, follow the price charts and market trends, as well as pay attention to experts’ analyses and tips. Apart from the technical analyses, you also need to do fundamental analysis and consider the risks of a bitcoin crash.

It’s also a good idea to follow the news, pay attention to its public endorsements, what companies start accepting payments through Bitcoin, etc.

You also need to consider diversifying your portfolio, which means investing in different assets or cryptocurrencies so that you can profit from the others when one fails.

Though this is a bit difficult in the case of cryptocurrencies, as Bitcoin is usually considered the driver of the market, and other cryptocurrencies follow it when it increases or decreases. So, it would be best if you researched a bit to find the best methods of your crypto portfolio diversification.

Another crucial factor to consider is what platform you choose for trading. There are several crypto exchanges that offer trading services, but they differ in some features, including trading and non-trading fees, safety systems, payment options, etc.

Hence, you need to research and find the one with competitive prices and good security systems to avoid spending your capital on trading fees or being a victim of fraud.

And what is most important, always invest with caution. Meanwhile, consider that there is always some risk of losing your money. So, don’t put more than you can afford at risk and lose the money if you need it in the near future.

Security and Risks of Investing in Bitcoin in the UK

When investing in Bitcoin, you should not only take into account the risks of losing your money but also what platform you select for this purpose. Choosing a good crypto exchange is a crucial factor in this process as the platform that lacks safety features and is not regulated by financial institutions cannot recommend secure trading.

So, before you trust any information to a trading platform, do careful research and check if the platform has a good reputation in terms of secure and safe trading.

There are plenty of cryptocurrency exchanges, but not all of them are safe and secure. The market is also filled with many scammers and fraud. So, trusting your wallet information or card details to a broker that seems suspicious, does not have a good reputation, and lacks strong security systems, is actually very risky.

Your profile can be easily hacked, resulting in your capital loss. Furthermore, suppose the selected brokerage platform is not regulated, and no financial authority oversees the process. In that case, they can hardly compensate for your loss.

Hence, we would recommend you to trust those platforms that possess strong regulatory systems and require you to undergo the Know-your-customer process to assure your safety and avoid account hacks.

Selling your Bitcoins in the UK

Whether you want to trade Bitcoin actively or purchase it as a long-term investment, it’s also essential to know how you can sell it. The process usually consists of two main components – finding a platform where you can sell it and deciding which payment method you want to use to make the transactions.

As for the trading platform, you have hundreds of options, though it does not mean that all platforms are suitable for all kinds of traders in the United Kingdom. You need to select a trading platform that meets your requirements.

These platforms can be either designed explicitly for crypto trading or to support cryptocurrency investments and many other assets.

Best Places to Invest in Bitcoin in the UK in April 2024

When looking for an excellent platform to sell your bitcoin, you need to consider some factors. First, take safety as a priority, not to lose your money as a result of hacks or scams. In addition, explore their trading fees and choose an exchange that offers competitive fees, ensuring that there are no hidden fees included in the asset price.

Other factors to consider are the minimum deposit that the platform requires to allow you to trade and the minimum amount of Bitcoin you can withdraw from your account.

Some brokerage platforms also provide educational content about trading, price charts and graphs to do market research, and many trading tools. And what is most important, you need to check out if the payment options your broker offers are available for you.

Basically, you can deposit and withdraw your bitcoin earnings through bank cards, wire transfer methods, and e-wallets. The completion time of the transaction and the withdrawal fees may differ depending on the trading platform and the payment option. Bank card transactions are usually faster but involve high transaction fees.

In contrast, wire transfer takes more time but is cheaper. You can find more information on this topic in our guide about How to Sell Bitcoin.

UK Taxes and Regulations Regarding Bitcoin

If you are trading bitcoin, you should also be aware that you must report your capital gains and losses to an appropriate body and be taxed for it. According to HMRC, the general tax principles applicable to property transactions are relevant to bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies too.

So, taxes for Bitcoin earnings are applicable to the following actions:

• When you sell cryptocurrencies for fiat currency.
• When you exchange cryptocurrencies for another cryptocurrency.
• When you sell goods or services for cryptocurrency.
• When you mine blocks and get rewards for that.
• Giving away cryptocurrencies to anoher person
• When you trade cryptocurrencies through crypto exchanges or P2P marketplaces.
• When you receive bitcoin as a salary, etc.

When it comes to calculating your capital gains, it actually depends on your income tax brackets and on how long you have held your Bitcoin before selling it. Considering these factors, your capital gains fall into two groups – short-term capital gains and long-term capital gains.

If you kept your Bitcoin less than a year before you sold it, your capital gain would be classified as short-term. If you held your Bitcoin for more than a year before you sold it or exchanged it through crypto exchanges, your capital gain would be classified as long-term.

Bitcoin trading is regulated in the UK by the Financial Conduct Authority. For more information about the taxes applicable to Bitcoin, visit the official website of the UK government.

Conclusion

To conclude, Bitcoin is a digital currency that is among the hottest tradable assets worldwide. It has existed for more than ten years already, and its value has been growing exponentially. Plus, Bitcoin has a limited supply which means that its value will keep growing if the demand for Bitcoin increases even more.

In this article, we have introduced several reasons to invest in Bitcoin in the UK, including its decentralized technology, adoption rate, flexibility, anonymity, limited supply, high public demand, easy transactions worldwide, etc.

With the guide, you will also learn how to buy your first Bitcoin using a cryptocurrency broker. At the same time, we have emphasized how risky it can be to invest your money in Bitcoin, as cryptocurrencies are highly volatile. So, you need to consider that there is always some possibility of losing your capital when you invest in Bitcoin and never put the money you cannot afford at risk.

Apart from investment risks, Bitcoin trading also involves security risks. It means that you must be very careful during the whole process – from selecting a crypto exchange through which you will buy bitcoin to choosing a bitcoin wallet where you will store it; to selling it through brokerage platforms. We have also noted that Bitcoin is a tradable asset, so you must pay the appropriate taxes for the capital gains from BTC trading, mining, etc.

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