How to buy bitcoin under the age of 18

How old do I have to be to buy bitcoins legally? Can I buy bitcoins underage? If so, how does someone under 18 even buy bitcoins?

This is a very common question we hear underagers ask all the time.

And it makes sense.

As technology continues to develop further and further, we see kids want to get involved at a younger and younger age.

And with bitcoin it is no different.

There are 17, 16, 15, 14, even year-olds who want to buy a piece of bitcoin.

But they don&#;t know how, or if they are even able to.

Well, we&#;re here to tell you that yes, you are able to buy bitcoins underage.

And we&#;ll show you how.

Can I Buy Bitcoin Underage?

Yes, you can buy bitcoin if you are under 18 years old.

However, they don&#;t make it easy.

Most exchanges nowadays make it so that you have to comply to their Know Your Customer (KYC) regulations in order to buy bitcoins on their platform.

They do this to comply with governmental regulations themselves.

They do not want to get into any trouble with the law, and so they make sure they have appropriate information on their customers so that they know who is buying what, and can report to the authorities if need be.

Allowing underagers to purchase bitcoin on their platform is a risk that most exchanges are not willing to take because it falls into a grey area.

That&#;s why popular exchanges like Coinbase do not allow minors on their platform.

However, with most things in life, there are ways around this.

Ways that can get bitcoin into the hands of minors, if they so choose.

How To Buy Bitcoin Underage

First off, we&#;d like to say that this is no way advice and we do not condone the purchasing of bitcoins by minors. Nor do we recommend any of the methods listed below.

However, we believe it is our duty to answer questions in this space that we find a lot of people have.

And this question so happens to be one of them.

So, in order to buy bitcoins for anyone under the age of 18, there are a few ways to go about it.

Below, we list many different ways to get this done.

Bitcoin ATMs

A bitcoin ATM is a great option to buy bitcoins for minors.

There are currently over 4, bitcoin ATMs in the world, and this number is increasing daily.

They are probably the safest way to buy bitcoins for anyone underage because it requires no in-person meetups.

You can simply find a bitcoin ATM near you, and go to it, cash in hand.

You then trade your cash for bitcoin.

Although, bitcoin ATMs typically have a higher fee than most other options.

It is because of the convenience and relative safety of this option that makes this the case.

Keep in mind that some bitcoin ATMs require verification if you go over a certain dollar amount, but usually the threshold is high enough that a minor will not cross it with the funds that they have.

These limits can also be easily avoidable if you go to different bitcoin ATMs with small amounts.

Either way, it is worth it to do your research on this option.

LocalBitcoins

LocalBitcoins is a peer-to-peer marketplace where you can buy bitcoins from other hodlers online or in cash.

The platform simply finds people looking to sell their bitcoins near you, and connects you to that person.

You can then do an exchange with this person via interac, e-transfer, Paypal, or cash deposit.

Although, this option is more risky for minors because it deals with another actual human being.

Seeing that you&#;re underage, they may try to take advantage of you.

Which is why you may want to vie for the online payment options.

Or make the cash transaction in person, assuming you are escorted by a guardian.

With this option, too, however, there are limits to how many bitcoins you can buy at once, depending who you&#;re purchasing from.

But, again, this threshold is probably much higher than the average underager will be planning to buy, anyways.

Buy Bitcoin Over The Counter (OTC)

Buying bitcoin OTC is yet another way for people under the age of 18 to get involved.

OTC simply means that you are buying bitcoin NOT on an exchange.

These trades are not registered on tallerembajador.com.mx and, thus, are not included in the total market cap shown on the site.

It is estimated that the actual market capitalization of the cryptocurrency market is much higher than what is shown on most of these crypto sites because these sites do not take into account the trades that are made off of the exchanges.

It is even estimated that MORE volume actually trades off of the exchanges rather than on.

And you can do this, too.

There are many places you can find OTC bitcoin brokers.

You can probably find smaller OTC brokers lurking around Facebook groups or online forums, too.

Although, we would not recommend to deal with any of the shady brokers, obviously.

This simply involves doing your own research and finding people willing to do a peer-to-peer trade with you off of an exchange.

A lot of these brokers won&#;t even care for the fact that you&#;re underage, they just want to make a sale.

Just keep in mind to be careful with who you deal with in this approach.

It is always best to use the buddy system when meeting up with someone you don&#;t know.

Register On An Exchange Under One Of Your Parent&#;s Or Older Sibling&#;s Name

This one is quite obvious.

Registering on an exchange under one of your relative&#;s names (with their permission, of course) is an easy way to bypass the system.

With this, you may have to use a card with their name on it to actually make the purchase, though.

Let&#;s say you wanted to buy $ worth of BTC.

You could e-transfer the $ to your sibling&#;s or parent&#;s account first.

Then, use their card to buy the BTC on an exchange of your choice (usually either Coinbase or Binance).

However, we can imagine that getting the actual permission first may be difficult.

Asking your parents or siblings who have no idea what bitcoin is &#; all they may have heard of is that it is a scam &#; for their card to buy it on an exchange they&#;ve never heard of before will be a difficult task.

But it may be worth it if you can squeeze out a &#;yes&#;.

Good luck.

Gift Cards on Paxful

You can also buy bitcoins using gift cards.

On Paxful, you can use your Amazon Gift Card, iTunes Gift Card, Google Play Gift Card, Steam Wallet Gift Card and many, many more to make your bitcoin purchase.

The beauty of this method is that you can buy the gift card with your cash, and then trade the gift card for your desired amount of BTC.

By doing this, there is never a point in the process where your age can be traced back to you.

Mine Bitcoins

Okay, this isn&#;t really buying bitcoin, but it is still an option to get bitcoin underage, nonetheless.

There are many ways to mine bitcoins as a minor.

You can sign up for a cloud mining service like Genesis Mining or Hashflare.

Or you can buy your own hardware miner to mine the bitcoin on your own.

However, mining is an extremely technical process that takes many months of research to fully understand.

It is probably better off that you actually straight up just buy the bitcoin.

But we thought we&#;d mention bitcoin mining here because it is still an option for minors to get bitcoin.

How Do I Buy Altcoins Under 18?

Now that you have your hands on some bitcoin, it is time to trade them for altcoins (if so desired).

We have already written a full, step-by-step article on how to buy altcoins.

Even more specifically, we also wrote a guide on how to buy altcoins in Canada.

But for people under the age of 18, it&#;s a bit different.

This is because you still need to get around the KYC regulations on the crypto exchanges.

Or do you?

Exchanges That Have Lenient Know Your Customer (KYC) Regulations

There are digital asset exchanges that allow you to buy and withdraw cryptocurrencies without having to submit KYC identification, up to a certain amount.

Binance

You can register to Binance with no verification and start trading immediately.

This means that once you buy your bitcoin, you can immediately sign up to their exchange and trade your BTC for altcoins.

The threshold for verification is at the 2 BTC per day withdrawal mark.

If at any point you want to withdraw more than 2 BTC in one day, you will have to be verified in order to do so.

But, again, we believe most underagers will have no need for this option.

Kucoin

Kucoin is the same as Binance.

You can sign up right away and start trading.

Kucoin has even more altcoins than Binance, though.

So if the altcoin you want isn&#;t listed on Binance, you may be able to find it on Kucoin.

You can sign up for Kucoin here.

Buying Bitcoin As A Minor &#; A Conclusion

In conclusion, yes, there are ways of buying bitcoin as a minor.

It may take a little more research and due diligence than simply signing up to an exchange and making a purchase, but it is definitely doable.

Whether you sign up under one of your parent&#;s names, buy OTC, or purchase using a gift card &#; there are always ways to get your hands on some bitcoin.

If you have any more questions or suggestions, please leave a comment down below!