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How to Buy Polkadot Online in 2023

Staff Writer
Staff Writer
March 14th, 2024
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Polkadot (DOT) is a relatively new cryptocurrency that aims to provide interoperability between blockchains and solve scalability with security issues. Although the coin is young, many developers have already started creating new applications leveraging the interoperability technology of Polkadot.

This guide will explore the best cryptocurrency exchanges and brokers for buying DOT along with their corresponding trading fee. You’ll also learn about the top providers in each country and where to store your Polkadot after investing.

Best Exchanges to Buy Polkadot

Sort by
eToro8.7Visitetoro.com

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

Plus500 CFD Broker9.8Visitplus500.com

82% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Pepperstone9.0Visitpepperstone.com

Between 74-89 % of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Eightcap8.8Visiteightcap.com
Webull8.3Visitwebull.com
Coinbase8.4Visitcoinbase.com
Changelly7.4VisitChangelly.com
Trading 2128.4Visittrading212.com

CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 83% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Best Platforms to Buy and Trade Polkadot

Here we’ll highlight the best exchanges and brokers for investing in Polkadot.

Buy Polkadot Using Cryptocurrency Brokers - The Easiest Way

Cryptocurrency brokers are the ideal way to buy DOT due to their simple interfaces and easy processes for investing. eToro, Coinbase, and Binance provide the best overall service for their clients. You can learn more about them in the sections underneath.

Provider

Fee (USD 1000)

Get Started

🥇 eToro

1% fee for buying or selling crypto.

Start with eToro now

🥈 Coinbase

$0 to $6; varies based on trading volume.

Start with Coinbase now

🥉 Binance

$0 to $6; varies based on trading volume.

Start with Binance now

eToro Disclaimer : This ad promotes virtual cryptocurrency investing within the EU (by eToro Europe Ltd. and eToro UK Ltd.) & USA (by eToro USA LLC); which is highly volatile, unregulated in most EU countries, no EU protections & not supervised by the EU regulatory framework. Investments are subject to market risk, including the loss of principal.

eToro

Beginners will find eToro the top option because it has the smallest learning curve for investing. The platform features many courses and educational content to help teach newbies the basics of crypto trading. Also, you can withdraw your coins to the eToro money app for better protection.

Coinbase

Coinbase is excellent for beginners as it doesn’t feature complex trading interfaces. Furthermore, the platform has an instant buy section where you can purchase DOT immediately with your debit card.

Binance

Binance is the largest cryptocurrency exchange offering services like staking, lending, and spot trading for DOT. Moreover, you can access many informational sources like analytics and reports, which can help determine your investment strategy.

Buy Polkadot on eToro: Step-By-Step Guide

Step 1: Open eToro
Step 2: Verify Your Identity
Step 3: Deposit
Step 4: Buy DOT
Step 5: Send Polkadot to a Wallet

Best Wallet to Buy and Store Polkadot - DOT Wallet Comparison

Once you invest in DOT, you’ll want to store it in your cryptocurrency wallet for enhanced protection. Exchanges can be targets for hackers, making your funds vulnerable if they are not insured. Therefore, using a wallet, especially a hardware wallet is ideal as only you have the access to the keys for accessing your crypto funds. Remember, not your keys, not your crypto. Here are the overall best options for storing Polkadot.

Provider

Wallet Type

Get Started

🥇 Ledger Nano X

Hardware

Start with Ledger now

🥈 Trezor Model T

Hardware

Start with Trezor now

🥉 Guarda Wallet

Software

Start with Guarda Wallet now

Buy Polkadot Using CFDs - Best for Trading

Investing in Polkadot via CFDs is often easier for beginners as brokers provide straightforward interfaces for trading. However, In the United States, CFD trading is considered to be an illegal activity. This can be attributed to CFD's status as an over-the-counter (OTC) product. As a result, CFD trading systems are not available in the United States. The opening of a CFD account on local and international platforms is prohibited by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

Best Apps to Buy Polkadot - Most Convenient

Here, you’ll find some popular platforms having a convenient smartphone app for iOS and Android. The apps listed in the table below offer the same features that you would expect to find on a desktop, like spot trading, instant buy sections, staking, and more.

Provider

Fee (USD 1000)

Get Started

🥇 Coinbase

$0 to $6; varies based on the price structure.

Download now

🥈 Crypto.com

$0 to $0.75; varies based on trading volume.

Download now

🥉 Binance

$0 to $6; varies based on trading volume.

Download now

Buy Polkadot on eToro App: Step-By-Step Guide

Step 1: Create an Account
Step 2: Verification
Step 3: Deposit Money
Step 4: Buy DOT

Buy Polkadot With Exchanges - The Cheapest Way

The best way to save money on fees is to use a low-cost cryptocurrency exchange. Binance, Bitstamp, and Kraken have low starting fees and use a bracket system where you’ll pay less if you have a high 30-day trading volume.

Provider

Fee (USD 1000)

Get Started

🥇 Binance

$0 to $6; varies based on trading volume.

Start with Binance now

🥈 Bitstamp

$0 to $4; varies based on trading volume.

Start with Bitstamp now

🥉 Kraken

$0 to $2.6; varies based on trading volume.

Start with Kraken now

Buy Polkadot on Binance: Step-by-Step Guide

Step 1: Open Binance and Register
Step 2: Deposit
Step 3: Open the Trading Interface
Step 4: Complete the Trade
Step 5: Confirm the Transaction Using the Blockchain Explorer

Buy Polkadot Using Decentralized Exchanges (DEX) - The New Way

Decentralized exchanges (DEXs) allow investors to purchase Polkadot without signing up or completing ID verification. They are preferred if you have crypto in your wallet and want to remain anonymous. Due to Polkadot not being a smart-contract-focused cryptocurrency, there aren’t many DEXs built on its blockchain. Currently, the best DEXs are Zenlink and PolkaStarter.

Provider

Fee (USD 1000)

🥇 Zenlink

Varies

🥈 PolkaStarter

Varies

Buy Polkadot on PancakeSwap: Step-By-Step Guide

Pancakeswap is a decentralized exchange built on top of the BNB Smart Chain, hence, it is not technically possible for this DEX to communicate with Polkadot network for executing the DOT related transactions.

Can You Buy Polkadot Using P2P Services?

Unfortunately, there are no P2P platforms where you can purchase Polkadot in a secure and trustworthy way.

Can You Buy Polkadot Using Other Trading Platforms?

Here you can explore which platforms sell Polkadot and what fees you can expect.

Cryptocurrency Platform

Can You Buy DOT?

Fee (USD 1000)

Review

Binance

Yes

$0 to $6; varies based on trading volume.

Binance review

TD Ameritrade

No

N/A

N/A

Bitstamp

Yes

$0 to $4; varies based on trading volume.

Bitstamp review

Bittrex

Yes

$0 to $3.5; varies based on trading volume.

Bittrex review

Coinbase

Yes

$0 to $6; varies based on trading volume.

Coinbase review

BitMart

Yes

$0.6 to $2.5; varies based on trading volume.

N/A

Crypto.com

Yes

$0 to $0.75; varies based on trading volume.

N/A

EtherDelta

No

N/A

N/A

E*TRADE

No

N/A

N/A

Fidelity

No

N/A

N/A

Kraken

Yes

$0 to $2.6; varies based on trading volume.

Kraken review

Robinhood

No

N/A

N/A

Uphold

Yes

Market Spread

N/A

Venmo

No

N/A

N/A

What Is the Difference Between Buying Polkadot and CFDs?

When buying CFDs, you are acquiring a derivative product. This means you are investing in DOT while not owning the underlying asset. Therefore, you cannot spend or stake your DOTs. However, when buying real DOT from an exchange, you have full ownership and can withdraw, spend, stake, or lend your coins.

  • Brokers have an easier learning curve than exchanges.
  • Liquidity is not an issue, and you can buy as many Polkadot CFDs as you want.
  • Brokers are regulated and can be trusted with your investments.
  • Brokers provide the option to long or short DOT CFDs.

However, CFD trading is treated as an illegal event in the United States. This can be traced back to the fact that CFD is an over-the-counter (OTC) product. Hence, you cannot find platforms in the United States offering CFD trading. SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) prohibit the citizens and residents of the United States to open a CFD account on domestic and foreign applications.

Best Ways to Buy Polkadot

This part of the guide will inform you of the best payment methods on specific platforms.

Buy Polkadot Instantly With Online Banking - The Fastest Way

Online banking is convenient with Coinbase Pro because it's fast and secure. In addition, your account is assigned a reference code that will not change, so you may set up recurring payments for convenience.

Buy Polkadot With PayPal - The Safest Way

PayPal itself does not offer Polkadot in its cryptocurrency section. However, you can use it to deposit on eToro, Coinbase, and other platforms.

Buy Polkadot Using a Debit Card - The Cheapest Way

You can use Binance to complete the deposit via a debit card. Funding through a debit card is one of the cheapest options to buy cryptocurrencies like DOT.

Buy Polkadot Using a Credit Card

Investors can purchase Polkadot with a credit card through platforms like CEX.io and Crypto.com’s instant buy section.

Best Platforms to Buy Polkadot in Other Countries

This table shows the best providers in each country. The main reason we see differences between nations is due to regulations and exchange accessibility.

Country to Buy DOT in

Best Provider

Provider Type

Fee

Australia

Coinbase

Exchange

0% to 0.6%, varies based on price structure

UK

Coinbase

Exchange

0% to 0.6%, varies based on price structure

Canada

NDAX

Exchange

0.2% for buying and selling crypto

Hawaii

CEX.io

Exchange

0% to 0.25%; varies based on trading volume.

India

WazirX

Exchange

Starting from 0.2%; varies based on trading volume.

Japan

BitFlyer

Exchange

No trading fee

Nepal

Kraken

Exchange

0% to 0.0500%; varies based on the trading volume.

New Zealand

Binance

Exchange

0.02% to 0.10%; varies based on trading volume.

Pakistan

KuCoin

Exchange

0.03% to 0.10%; varies based on trading volume.

Philippines

Binance

Exchange

0.02% to 0.10%; varies based on trading volume

Singapore

Crypto.com

Exchange

0% to 0.0750%; varies based on trading volume.

UAE

Coinbase

Exchange

0% to 0.6%, varies based on price structure

What Are the Fees When Buying Polkadot?

eToro, Bitstamp, and Binance have different fee structures, resulting in varied costs that can impact your decision to sign up. To save you time, we’ve calculated the cost of buying $1,000 worth of Polkadot and holding it for 30-days.

Platform

eToro

Bitstamp

Binance US

Deposit Fees

$0

$0

$0

Purchase Fees

$10

$0 to $4

$0 to $6

Holding Fees

$0

$0

$0

Selling Fees

$10

$0 to $4

$0 to $6

Payout Fees

$5

2 DOT

0.1 DOT

Total Fees

$25

Up to $8 + 2 DOT

Up to $12 + 0.1 DOT

Cheapest Way to Buy DOT

You can purchase DOT cheaply with a cryptocurrency exchange since they have favourable fee structures. The top options below have been selected for their ease of use:

Provider

Fee (USD 1000)

Get Started

🥇 Binance

$0 to $6; varies based on trading volume.

Download now

🥈 Bitstamp

$0 to $4; varies based on trading volume.

Download now

🥉 Kraken

$0 to $2.6; varies based on trading volume.

Download now

Fastest Way to Buy DOT

Investors can purchase DOT fast using the instant buy section on cryptocurrency platforms. However, this will result in much higher fees compared to spot trading.

Provider

Fee (USD 1000)

Get Started

🥇 eToro

1% fee for buying or selling crypto.

Get started now

🥈 Coinbase

$0 to $6; varies based on the pricing structure.

Get started now

🥉 Binance

$0 to $6; varies based on trading volume.

Get started now

eToro Disclaimer : This ad promotes virtual cryptocurrency investing within the EU (by eToro Europe Ltd. and eToro UK Ltd.) & USA (by eToro USA LLC); which is highly volatile, unregulated in most EU countries, no EU protections & not supervised by the EU regulatory framework. Investments are subject to market risk, including the loss of principal.

How to Buy Polkadot Anonymously?

The following section will highlight the best exchanges to buy Polkadot anonymously.

How to Buy Polkadot Without Registration or KYC?

Zenlink is a decentralized exchange that lets you swap any cryptocurrency asset across the different chains of parachains without creating an account or completing the registration process. Currently, this DEX is compatible with three wallets including Polkadot{.js}, Talisman, and SubWallet.

How to Buy Polkadot Without Verification?

Centralized exchanges like KuCoin allows users to deposit crypto and trade without completing the verification process. However, this platform is not licensed to operate in the United States. You can navigate to the decentralized exchanges designed for the Polkadot ecosystem.

Can You Buy Polkadot Offline?

No, you cannot buy Polkadot offline like with Bitcoin since there are no trustworthy DOT paper wallet generators.

Should You Buy or Sell Polkadot?

Polkadot is a fantastic project that has gained huge value by providing interoperability between blockchains. Although DOT seems like an excellent investment, buying or selling any cryptocurrency, including Polkadot, should be based on your research and analytics. Below are some pros and cons of DOT to help you decide if it’s worth buying.

Why should you buy Polkadot?

Why should you sell Polkadot?

Polkadot addresses one of the core problems in the blockchain industry- lack of collaboration and interoperability.

Polkadot’s DeFi Acala network has been compromised and hacked in the past by a group of malicious actors.

DOT holders control the network's direction.

Volatility in the price of DOT

Fast transaction speed.

Polkadot is still in its early development stages, and its future is uncertain.

Can stake DOT for passive income.

Polkadot is new to the market

DOT is an established cryptocurrency founded by one of the creators of Ethereum.

Do You Need to Pay Tax on Polkadot in the US?

Yes, US investors must pay short or long-term capital gain tax on crypto profits. The amount you’ll pay depends on your tax bracket, state, and how long you hold Polkadot. For the best information, open your state’s official websites regarding the matter.

Polkadot Price Prediction: What Is the Future of DOT?

DOT is predicted to have a great future because of its use cases and interoperability between blockchains. This section is a rundown of what the potential future of Polkadot could be.

What Impacts Polkadot Price?

Many things can swing Polkadot’s value short and long-term. These are the main factors that impact the market cap of DOT:

  • Use-cases: Polkadot’s main purpose is to provide interoperability between blockchains. However, the cryptocurrency has smart contract functionality, allowing developers to build various apps. This can increase DOT’s use cases and increase its popularity.

  • Regulations: Laws and regulations can positively or negatively impact DOT. For example, China's banning of cryptocurrencies led to a brief market crash.

  • Marketing: Advertisements and exposure will lead to more people learning about the project and potentially investing.

  • Adoption: Cryptocurrency adoption will boost Polkadot’s value as more money flows into the crypto market.

  • Demand: Perhaps the main factor is Polkadot’s demand because investors must be willing to spend more money for each coin. Increased demand will lead to scarcity and drive prices upward.

Historical Polkadot Course: Major Milestones in the History of Polkadot

Here, you can learn about a few of Polkadot’s milestones since its launch in August 2020.

Current Price Prediction News

Underneath are some expert price prediction blogs that you may find helpful to read.

Other Ways to Make Money With Polkadot in 2023

This part of the guide is a rundown of different methods you can use to earn money with Polkadot.

Stake Polkadot Using DeFi or CeFi

Polkadot uses a PoS (Proof-of-Stake) consensus algorithm, allowing it to make more transactions per second with lower power consumption. Staking is the process of allocating your DOT tokens to support the network and verify transactions. For staking your DOTs into the network, you are rewarded with a specific amount of DOT for your contributions.

The top platform for staking is Binance since it offers three different DOT products. However, note that from September 22nd, 2022, staking and flexible savings will be pooled under the same name, “Simple Earn”.

Buy Polkadot Using ETPs (ETFs & ETNs)

Exchange-traded product (ETP) is a security traded on the national stock exchange. 21shares offers the best service for acquiring Polkadot ETPs.

Buy and Sell NFTs Using DOT

NFTs (Non-fungible tokens) are digital assets built on top of a blockchain network with each NFT having unique characteristics and metadata. While popular NFT marketplaces like OpenSea allow purchases with Ethereum, the best NFT marketplace built for the Polkadot ecosystem is Moonbeam. This marketplace empowers the interoperability objective by allowing the users to design, buy, sell, and exchange NFTs across different blockchain networks.

Buy Stocks and Shares in Companies Owning Polkadot

Companies like J.P. Morgan, Goldman Sachs, and UBS have invested in ETPs associated with Polkadot. You can buy the stocks of these companies from eToro.

Polkadot Mining

Polkadot cannot be mined because it does not use a Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus mechanism.

Use Polkadot Faucets

Crypto faucets are small rewards for completing tasks on cryptocurrency exchanges. The most beginner-friendly option for faucets is Coinbase because it offers a wide range of cryptocurrencies to earn.

What Cryptocurrencies Are Similar to Polkadot?

Below you’ll discover similar coins to Polkadot, which you may want to learn more about.

Coin

Symbol

Learn how to buy

Ethereum

ETH

Buy Ethereum

Cardano

ADA

Buy Cardano

Cosmos

ATOM

Buy Cosmos

Quant

QNT

Buy Quant

Algorand

ALGO

Buy Algorand

Is It Still Worth Investing in Polkadot or Not?

Polkadot is definitely worth investing in because it has huge potential in the future by providing interoperability between different blockchain networks. Also, the project is backed by a lot of investors and an expert team led by Gavin James Wood (Co-founder of Ethereum). Most importantly, DOT has significantly fallen from its all-time high of $53.88 to below $7, which has created a great opportunity to buy DOT at a cheaper price. Note: Not a Financial Advice (NFA).

FAQs

What Is the Best Provider to Buy Polkadot in the US?
What Is the Cheapest Provider to Buy Polkadot in the US?
Is It Worth Investing in Polkadot Right Now?
Is There a Limit to How Many DOT I Can Buy?
Can You Buy Polkadot on the Blockchain?
What Can You Buy With Polkadot?

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