Purchasing bitcoin is not something unusual anymore and because cryptocurrency is finally starting to be recognized as an industry, there are plenty of options for buying it. There are a lot of people who are interested in purchasing bitcoin but feel intimidated by exchanges and their verification processes.
If someone would want to simply purchase and own bitcoin one of the easiest way would be through a popular payment system such as PayPal. You might be wondering how to buy bitcoin with PayPal, in which case you should know it is possible. While there is no out-of-the-box option for doing this you can use a clever workaround.
How to buy Bitcoin with PayPal
As I already mentioned, PayPal doesn’t have an option that would allow us to buy Bitcoin with PayPal directly. This might be frustrating since PayPal is one of the most popular online payment systems and it would have been convenient to have such an option.
You also might be wondering why this PayPal doesn’t allow us to purchase BTC directly. Firstly, bitcoins are one of PayPal’s main competitors plus the cryptocurrency is frequently targeted by scammers and hackers which could lead to an increased number of fraudulent charges. Another important reason why PayPal doesn’t provide such an option is their payments are reversible while Bitcoin payments are not.
It’s also worth mentioning PayPal doesn’t like its users purchasing bitcoin through their service and they also penalize them occasionally.
Even so, there are ways to do it without any danger of having your PayPal account penalized or shut down.
VirWox
PayPal’s terms of service allows making bitcoin purchases using Second Life Lindens, or SLLs. SLLs are the “money” players use in the popular game Second Life.
Because of this “loophole”, there are already quite a few exchanges offering SLLs services and VirWox is one of the most reliable ones.
VirWox is a platform that allows you to purchase Second Life in-game collectables. This game has been around for quite some time and has over half a million active users so PayPal has fully accepted it.
This gives us the opportunity to purchase bitcoin from PayPal via SLLs.
Before anything else, you should do some reading regarding cryptocurrency exchanges and platforms as well as create a bitcoin wallet.
After that, create a new account on VirWox and make sure you confirm it via email. Then, you can deposit money into your VirWox account through PayPal.
With that out of the way, you can convert the money in your VirWox account into SLL. Then, you will have the option of exchanging your SLLs into bitcoins.
For safekeeping, we recommend you transfer your bitcoins to your personal wallet. Keep in mind the transfer usually requires up to two days to complete.
LocalBitcoins
LocalBitcoins is a well-known bitcoin exchange platform that allows buyers to connect with sellers and perform their exchanges using various payment services, PayPal included.
As a result, you can use LocalBitcoins to find a seller that would accept PayPal payments for bitcoins. This is a reputable platform and PayPal has rigid buyer protection although you should still carefully vet the seller before going through with the exchange.
Paxful
Paxful is a platform that allows you to purchase Bitcoins using more than 300 different ways, PayPal included. You can use the platform to find a seller and perform the transaction via PayPal. On top of that, it employs an escrow service as an additional layer of security for buyers.
Conclusion
While many people have PayPal account you should also know that if you want to use yours to purchase bitcoins it needs to be fully verified. In other words, you will need to link your bank account and debit cards. A few more identity verification controls are also required.
As you can see it is possible to buy Bitcoin with PayPal and there’s more than one way to do it. Nevertheless, once you own some bitcoin keep your wallet safe. Regardless if it’s a physical wallet, an online wallet or you’re using a different type of cold storage never share your private key with anyone.
