How to Buy Bitcoin in Italy?

• What is Bitcoin?
• How to Buy Bitcoin in Italy?
• Where can I Use Bitcoin in Italy?
• Bitcoin ATMs in Italy
• Conclusion

What is Bitcoin?

In the wake of the global financial crisis, Satoshi Nakatomo created Bitcoin, the world’s first virtual currency. Nakatomo’s goal was to remove the government and central bank control on currencies through decentralization, whilst also eliminating the need for the more traditional banks that handle fiat currencies.

The global financial crisis was considered to be the final nail in the coffin for fiat currencies, with governments and central banks aligned to facilitate the printing of fiat money almost at free will.

From Bitcoin’s perspective, central banks and governments have largely remained on the sidelines, though there has been an increase in chatter from regulators. From Nakatomo’s perspective, things couldn’t have worked out better, with regulators more concerned with protecting the interests of investors than bringing an end to Bitcoin and the cryptomarkets in general.

While certain countries have been slow in recognizing Bitcoin as legal tender, others have been quick to embrace the virtual currency, which has seen the acceptance of Bitcoin amongst vendors and service providers explode in recent years.

Bitcoin’s price gains and the stories of rags to riches for many of its investors may have made the headlines, but of greater significance has been the blockchain technology behind Bitcoin. The blockchain is a general ledger that is decentralized and stored on all of the computers that form the Bitcoin network. The technology that was developed to go against governments and central banks are being adopted by these institutions today. Quite ironic considering Nakatomo’s intentions to bring down central banks the world over.

Since the creation of Bitcoin, there are more than 1,300 cryptocurrencies in circulation today and, assuming that regulators don’t clamp down on the evolution of the cryptomarkets, more are on the horizon and with it come dreams of exponential returns for investors.

How to Buy Bitcoin in Italy?

There are two ways to profit from Bitcoin’s fluctuations in Italy. The first and most common method is to buy the coin via exchanges such as Coinbase (The biggest Bitcoin exchange in the world which accept Italian residents) and hold it (or as the Bitcoin community call it  – HODL). The other way to trade Bitcoin in Italy is through Contract for Differences (CFD’s) with one of the brokers that provide cryptocurrencies trading in Italy.

Note that trading CFD’s allow you to trade Bitcoin’s price fluctuation and not to hold any legal right to own the coin.

Buy and Sell Bitcoin in Italy via Coinbase

Step 1 – Open a Digital Wallet

A digital wallet is where you hold your cryptocurrencies and interacts others via the blockchain technology. There are many providers of digital wallets, however, it is important to make a deep research before you decide which one is the best for you. Currently, the most popular digital wallets provider is Blockchain.info.

Step 2 – Sign Up for Coinbase

This first step is to sign up for a Coinbase account. This will give you a secure place to store your bitcoin, and easy payment methods to convert your local currency into or out of bitcoin.

Step 3 – Connect your Payment Method

Following your registration, you must connect your preferred payment method to Coinbase. The supported payment method in Italy is wire transfer and credit/debit cards.

Step 4 – Buy and Sell Bitcoin

Following these steps, go to ‘buy page’ and now you can purchase Bitcoin. After starting your first purchase, complete your buy and the Bitcoin will be transferred to your account. Then, transfer your Bitcoin to your digital wallet, whether on Coinbase platform or another digital wallet that you can find (Sells work the same way but in reverse).

Where can I Use Bitcoin in Italy?

The use of Bitcoin in Italy is nascent relative to the more developed markets of the U.S, Japan, and South Korea, with the merchants accepting Bitcoin limited to Unixstickers and Armonie Sonore according to spendabit.

Bitcoin will likely become more widely used in Italy, but we would also expect the use of Bitcoin to trail the more established markets for some time, with Italy being a more traditional market. Volatility and regulatory uncertainty are factors to consider, with transaction times also a major issue for vendors at present.

Bitcoin ATMs in Italy

For those less interested in using a Bitcoin exchange or CFD’s, Bitcoin ATMs are also an option for buyers in particular, though some ATMs also provide the option sell.

Bitcoin ATMs provide an altogether different platform for the buying and selling of Bitcoin to the more traditional Bitcoin exchanges.

In Italy, there are a total of 17 Bitcoin ATMs are present, according to Coinatmradar, with Bolzano having 5 Bitcoin ATMs and Milan and Florence each having 2, while Rome has just 1.

The average fee for a buy order is 8.54%, calculated based on 1,126 Bitcoin ATMs worldwide, with redemption fees averaging at 7.03%, calculated based on 410 ATMs globally, the number of ATMs providing the option to sell far fewer than those that facilitate the purchase of Bitcoins.

In Italy, buying fees are on the more competitive side, ranging from between 2.9% to 8%, whilst selling fees can be in excess of 11%, with fees reaching as high as 11.5% in Florence.

For the nearest Bitcoin ATM, Coin ATM Radar is a recommended website to search for the nearest Bitcoin ATM. With such a small number of Bitcoin ATMs and only a few that offer the option to sell Bitcoins, the travel distances will be too great and use LocalBitcoin may be a more viable alternative for those looking for an alternative to Bitcoin exchanges.

Conclusion

While Italy’s membership within the Eurozone provides a reasonable degree of freedom for Bitcoin, the country has been on the slower side to accept Bitcoin as an alternative to the EUR and other fiat currencies.

The ECB has been clear that the recent gains in Bitcoin are not sufficient to raise any alarm bells for the Central Bank or European Parliament, though concerns remain over its use in the criminal world.

While a greater number of Italian venders are likely to accept Bitcoin in the future, Bitcoin has yet to take Italy by storm and Italy may remain one of the Europe’s slower nations to more widely accept Bitcoin in the future, with the Denmark, Norway, Sweden, the UK and Estonia amongst the most advanced nations in the Bitcoin world.