The best way to learn is by doing. First, you’ll buy a small amount of bitcoin through an exchange service. Then you’ll withdraw that bitcoin to a wallet on your mobile device.
A reminder of the basics (5 minutes)
Get a wallet (15 minutes)
You’ll start with the Casa Wallet — a bitcoin-only software wallet that you can download on your mobile device. It’s a good option for first-time Bitcoiners and for securing smaller balances.
- Download the Casa App. iOS and Android links at the bottom of this support article.
- Sign up for a Casa account. (Consider signing up pseudonymously. These sections of the post are relevant for this guide: “Use a pseudonym or alias,” “Use an email that isn’t tied to your identity,” and “Use a VPN.”)
- Set up your wallet. Follow the instructions in this support article.
Buy some bitcoin and withdraw it to your wallet (30 minutes)
In this section, you’ll sign up for an exchange service, buy some bitcoin on the exchange, then send that bitcoin from the exchange to your wallet.
- Sign up for an exchange service. bitcoin-only.com has good recommendations.* (If your country is not listed there, try buybitcoinworldwide.com.) Fund your account with a small amount of money to start.
- Buy bitcoin on the exchange service. Again, a small amount.
- Withdraw the bitcoin to your Casa Wallet. Find and click the exchange service’s Withdraw Bitcoin button. Open your Casa App. Click Receive. Copy the address shown and paste it into the address field the exchange provided. Click to request a withdrawal. The exchange will send bitcoin to your Casa Wallet, which usually takes ten minutes to an hour depending on the exchange service and the activity on the Bitcoin network.
Congratulations! You now officially self-custody some bitcoin.
*If you’re in Canada, I recommend using Shakepay. (Note: that’s a referral link where we’ll both receive $30 if you buy $100 worth of BTC.) Their onboarding flow is streamlined and their feature set (user experience, fees, limited altcoin support, login security, etc.) make it the best option for beginners in Canada, in my experience onboarding my friends.
