Buying Eth with Coinbase

Coinbase provides a two-step set of excellent instructions on their website: How to buy Ethereum. They involve

1. Download the iOS or Android app

2. Create an account

3. Verify your identity

4. Select how you want to fund your account. This is the trickiest part.

5. Purchase ETH

Tips Using Coinbase

Below you will find some general tips on using the Coinbase Exchange app:

Sharing your identity with Coinbase

When you create your Coinbase Exchange account you will need to verify your identity. Many countries require crypto exchanges to follow KYC rules (Know Your Consumer). Coinbase will have your identity but it will not be public to others. Verifying your identity will require you to submit a picture of a photo ID as well as a selfie. Coinbase will then have to review the documents. That usually only takes a few minutes. In general, creating an account is easier using the smartphone app than on a computer using the website due to the app's camera integration.

Moving fiat (traditional money) into Coinbase Exchange

There are many ways to move fiat into the Coinbase Exchange so you can buy what you will find here. They vary on speed and dollar limits. The fastest options are PayPal, debit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. Those purchases will immediately be ready to move to the Coinbase Wallet to swap for Apollo. If you are brand new to Coinbase, dollar limits for the “faster” methods will be very low. For example, they may be $100-$1000 per day max that can be transferred into your Coinbase Exchange account from your payment source. Those limits usually increase over time as you make more purchases and trades. More details on how to raise your limits can be found here. The slower options are Wire Transfers or Bank Transfers but they allow significantly higher dollar limits but it may take longer for your fiat to be added to your Coinbase Exchange account, or a hold could be put on the Ethereum you buy before you can use it to trade for Apollo. In general Wire Transfers are preferred as they take about a day, but require you to contact your bank, but once it's in you can usually trade freely. Bank Transfers move the money into your Coinbase Exchange account a bit faster, but any Ethereum you buy will be put on hold usually for a few days before you can move it to the Coinbase Exchange wallet where you can trade it for Apollo. Admittedly this is one of the more frustrating things in crypto and why we usually suggest people plan ahead and get their fiat into an exchange of their choice well before they decide what to do with it.