How to Buy Your First Bitcoin in the Philippines

the-wise-guy-ph-bitcoin Many are now attracted to the high earning potential of BTC but before we proceed on how to buy your first bitcoin let me give you a brief intro of what is it about and why its price has skyrocketed. This part of investing is very important, you need to know at least the basics before buying it. Don’t ever plan to skip this part because, without any knowledge about it, it may look more of a gamble than investing.

Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency invented by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009 who remained to be anonymous until this day. It is created to provide a new electronic cash system that is entirely decentralized which means there’s no central authority, institution, or let’s say, middleman, that controls this digital currency.

Why Bitcoin is Highly Valued

The increasing demand for bitcoin can explain the sudden spike in its price. The good old principle of economics says “as demand increases, supply decreases”  and thus brings the price of bitcoin to a steep level. Satoshi’s protocol dictates that there will only be 21 Million bitcoins that can ever be mined and to date more than half was already mined.

This bitcoin craze has resulted in interest in other markets, like Axie Infinity token investing and Ethereum.

Supply is limited similar to diamonds which makes them expensive.

How Does Bitcoin Works?

Bitcoin is rewarded to the first person, company, or institution who’s able to solve a complex mathematical puzzle. Mining starts from all the Bitcoin transactions done in a specific time period or block that is recorded on a gigantic digital ledger that is openly accessible to anyone. The collection of blocks is called blockchain and it is converted to sequences of codes called hash using specialized software and hardware.  Hash is now placed at the end of the blockchain and the miner who did it first will be rewarded with 12.5 Bitcoins (or roughly Php11 Million, 1BTC=Php900,000) as of  December 2017.

But before you go mining, you need to know that it is a highly competitive activity and very expensive to do. You need specialized equipment and you also need to run it all day to be rewarded by just a fraction of BTC that may not be enough to pay your electrical bills.

How to Buy Bitcoins in the Philippines

The most popular channel to buy Bitcoins is Coins.ph. This is more than just a platform for buying Bitcoins because you can also pay your billers like utility bills, sss contribution, postpaid bills, and even insurance plus you get a Php 5 rebate for every unique bill you pay. That’s amazing, right?

You can download the Coins.ph app on the play store and sign up using my referral code so both of us can get Php 50 each. After making an account, you can also invite your friends to sign-up to get Php 50 bonus. Referral code: xt66yf

I actually started buying bitcoins using the bonus I got from referrals. Bitcoin is highly volatile and I can only handle losing what I earned from referrals during that time when its price is only at Php 90,000 per BTC now it’s trading at Php 900,000.  Remember to place only the money you afford to lose because of its innate volatility. 

Load Your Account

After creating an account, you can now load it with some cash. But before that, you need to know about the two (2) Coins.ph e-wallets you have i.e. Peso Wallet and Bitcoin Wallet. Peso Wallet is used when paying or sending money in pesos but can also be used to receive Bitcoins. However, BTC sent to Peso Wallet will automatically be converted to pesos using the Coins.ph prevailing sell rate. Bitcoin Wallet, on the other hand, can only be used to pay, send, and receive Bitcoins.

Loading your wallet with cash comes along with charges that range from 1% to 3% of your total deposit. For example, loading your Coins.ph wallet with Php 2,000 in 7/11 will cost you an additional charge of Php 40 making your total payment to Php 2,040. The minimum deposit is Php 15 but I know you can deposit a bit more, right? haha.

Over-The-Counter (24 hrs)

  • 7/11*
  • M Lhuillier
  • Cebuanna Lhuillier
  • Gcash*
  • ChinaBank
  • Bayad Center

Online Bank Transfer (24 hrs)

  • BPI Express Online
  • Union Online Banking
  • Security Bank Online

Department Store (48 hrs)

  • Robinsons Business Center
  • SM Bills Payment Center

Note: Payments that are done in 7/11 and thru Gcash will instantly reflect on your Coins.ph wallet. Other channels will take 24 hrs up to 48 hrs to process your payment.

Convert Your Php to BTC!

When your deposits are already credited to your account, you can now convert your money in your Peso Wallet into Bitcoins by clicking the convert button on the left side of your screen. Conversion is done using the prevailing Coins.ph buys rate and will reflect on your Bitcoin Wallet. Isn’t it easy?

How Do You Make Money From Bitcoin?

After buying BTC, give it more time to appreciate in value. This can take months, weeks, days, or even just a few hours. When you are happy with the returns then you can convert your BTC to pesos anytime the same way you converted your peso to BTC. Remember that BTC is more volatile than stocks and your profits may turn into losses in a snap that’s why you need to invest with caution.

How to Withdraw Your Earnings?

Click the cash-out option above your screen then pick the withdrawal method. You can pick your withdrawn cash remittance centers, in banks, thru Gcash, or transfer it to your cash cards. You can even get your withdrawals via door-to-door delivery.

Just like you, I am still a newbie in Bitcoin and this article is done to encourage future BTC investors to learn the basics first. I hope you’ve learned something today! Please share your thought in the comment section below.

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2 comments… add one
  • Jocelyn villanueva Link Reply

    Hi Federico. Pwede ba ako s bitcoin at paano?

    • Hi Jocelyn. Risky ang bitcoin kaya mataas ang return. Pwede ka naman mag invest sa bitcoin pero yung pera lang na kaya mong mawala. Thanks 🙂

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