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How to Buy Monero – A Beginner’s Guide

By: Ofir Beigel | Last updated: 3/12/24

Monero has gained a lot of attention due to its role as a Bitcoin alternative on the dark web. Following its success, many people are now attempting to speculate on its price. In this post, I will give you a short overview of Monero and the different ways you can buy it online.

How to Buy Monero Summary

In order to buy Monero (XMR) follow these steps:

  1. Get a Monero wallet (Ledger Nano X, MyMonero)
  2. Locate your Monero address
  3. Go to Kraken and sign up
  4. Deposit money and buy XMR
  5. Withdraw your coins to your wallet

If Kraken doesn’t work out for you, here are some additional buying options:

Binance
Fiat support:
Credit/debit card, crypto, Apple Pay, Google Pay
Overall rating:
LocalMonero
Fiat support:
Yes
Overall rating:
To be reviewed
Kraken
Fiat support:
Wire, crypto, SEPA, debit/credit card, Apple Pay, Google Pay
Overall rating:

That’s how you buy Monero in a nutshell. If you want a detailed explanation of the process and Monero itself, keep on reading. Here’s what I’ll cover:

  1. What is Monero?
  2. How to buy Monero in 3 Steps
  3. Frequently Asked Questions
  4. Conclusion

1. What is Monero?

Monero falls under the category of anonymous coins – meaning a cryptocurrency that, unlike Bitcoin, can’t be publicly tracked. Within this category, you will also find two other main competitors – Dash and Zcash.

If you want a short overview of Monero, watch our Bitcoin Whiteboard Tuesday episode below:

Monero achieves pretty good anonymity through the use of several methods.

Unlinkable Stealth Addresses

Address re-usage is one of the common privacy issues of Bitcoin. Receiving multiple payments to a single address allows anyone who knows your address to track its balance and all related incoming and outgoing transactions.

What’s worse is that even separate addresses in your wallet may become linked due to the way Bitcoin handles change. For this reason, Bitcoin core developer Luke Dash Jr. said that “only a fool would use Bitcoin as it is today for darknet.”

No such privacy issues exist in Monero. All destination addresses are obscured within its blockchain so that only the sender and receiver can identify them. Analysis of the Monero blockchain will never reveal the destination address at which one receives XMR.

Instead, only a cryptographic hash of the destination, unique to each and every transaction, is visible. Only the sender or receiver can decode this to reveal the actual address. These obscured addresses are known as “stealth addresses.”

Beyond the obvious privacy benefits, stealth addresses have a number of ramifications, such as making it impossible to determine the current XMR distribution among addresses.

RingCT

The amount being sent in any Monero transaction is obfuscated by ring confidential transaction or ringCT for short. (very) Simply put, instead of broadcasting the actual amount being sent, the user transmits only a small random-looking piece of information.

This information is enough to verify that the amount being sent is legit while keeping the actual amount private.

Untraceable Ring Signature Payments

Ring Signatures are a way to obfuscate the sender’s identity in Monero. Whenever I sign an XMR transaction, additional signatures are added to my own signature so its practically impossible to distinguish who sent the transaction.

The combination of the above 3 elements makes Monero a maze of mirrors for any potential tracker. No definite linkage can be determined, only the fuzzy possibility of linkage.


2. How to Buy Monero (XMR) in 3 Steps

Step 1: Get a Monero Wallet

Ledger
Wallet type:
Hardware wallet
Supported platforms:
Desktop & mobile
MyMonero
Wallet type:
Software wallet
Supported platforms:
Web wallet
To be reviewed
Monero Core
Wallet type:
Software wallet
Supported platforms:
Desktop only
To be reviewed

The most secure way to store Monero would be on a hardware wallet. Today, only Ledger wallets support Monero.

Using a hardware wallet will give you the security of storing your private key (i.e., your “password” offline) while easily being able to send XMR through a desktop interface when needed. The downside is, of course, that hardware wallets cost money.

If you don’t want to use a hardware wallet, you can always use a free software wallet. I recommend using the official desktop wallet from the Monero devs.

If a lower level of privacy doesn’t concern you, the MyMonero web wallet is convenient to use and doesn’t require you to download the full Monero desktop wallet.

MyMonero is a service providing free hosted Monero accounts for those who would prefer not to run a full Monero client themselves or for those using devices with limited resources. It was developed with the assistance of the Monero Core team.

You can access your account on any device as long as you have access to your private login key. MyMonero never knows your private login key and, therefore, is unable to spend your funds without your authorization. All of the private cryptography is done locally on your device.

Finally, you can also use Exodus – a popular software wallet that supports XMR and over 100 different crypto assets. The wallet also features a built-in exchange to swap XMR for other cryptocurrencies and vice versa.

Locating your Monero address

Once you have your Monero wallet, you will need to obtain your XMR address. The address is a very long string of letters (case sensitive) and numbers that start with a “4”. Here’s an example:

46awGHmrCxk7iei4pGPxXRUmL3Xy6K7KBeY4DFTyX86d8su49r5JzC2YsPZohoF5sqCxqhGUAYV5SQ8jUp2SyvsaKmTwPE2

Step 2: Find an XMR exchange

Local Monero is a marketplace that brings together buyers and sellers where you can find a wide variety of payment options to buy Monero.

Kraken allows fiat deposits which then allow you to purchase Monero directly. This, however, requires you to go through the exchange verification process.

Another way to buy Monero is to first buy Bitcoin or Ethereum with fiat (i.e., USD, EUR, GBP) and then exchange your Bitcoin for Monero through Binance. You can buy Bitcoin with a credit card through Coinmama.

For users who wish to remain anonymous, StealthEX is a cryptocurrency exchange that lets you swap your crypto for Monero or buy Monero using your credit card. The exchange supports a wide variety of cryptocurrencies which enables you to swap cryptocurrencies without going through a verification process. However, using a credit card to buy Monero with Stealthex would require you to get verified.

Additional options for trading Bitcoin or Ethereum for Monero include the following exchanges: Bitfinex (no longer accepts US customers), HitBTC, Poloniex, Bithumb, and Bittrex.

Step 3: Withdraw your coins

Once you’ve bought your Monero from the selected exchange, make sure to move it into your own wallet. Never leave your coins on an exchange, as it puts them out of your control.

Once the coins hit your wallet, you’ve successfully finished the process of buying Monero.


3. Frequently Asked Questions

How Much is Monero Worth?

1 XMR is equal to 136 USD

How to Buy Monero on Kraken?

  1. Sign up to Kraken
  2. Verify your Identity
  3. Deposit funds (USD or EUR)
  4. Trade XMR for USD or EUR
  5. Withdraw the coins to your wallet

Can you Buy Monero with a credit card?

There is no way to buy Monero with a credit card directly. The only option is to buy Bitcoin or Ethereum with a credit card and then trade it for Monero.


4. Conclusion

The majority of cryptocurrencies are only good for speculation. Monero is one of the few I feel comfortable holding over the long term. Monero has proven itself to be both useful and (despite some of its uses) legitimate.

Out of all 3 leading anonymous coins, Monero seems to have the upper hand when it comes to technology and adoption.

Have you had any experience with buying Monero? If so, I’d love to hear about it in the comment section below.

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14 comments on “Buy Monero (XMR)”

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  1. Several times I bought XMR using my VISA. It was a ChangeNow, where I bought coins without registering. It seemed to me the easiest way to buy Monero

      1. How long did it take? My order has been sitting there waiting to be accepted for a few days but it hasn’t gone through yet, and I’m in the US if that helps.

  2. This article is written by someone who isn’t qualified. The easiest way is certainly not through BTC. Not to mention it’s not even the most secure way or the most private way. And with today’s fees on Bitcoin transactions? And with all the fees associated with transferring from one exchange to the other or changelly? Forget about it.

    The easiest way (and the best way for privacy and for helping to decouple XMR from BTC) is by buying XMR directly with fiat. There are two ways to do that:

    1. Kraken.com, you’ll get market price but may need to wait for verification.
    2. LocalMonero.co or MoneroForCash.com – faster and more anonymous, but may have to pay a markup over market price depending on region.

    1. thanks for your input. I’ll definitely add Kraken, however LocalMonero isn’t established enough as a site IMO.

      1. It’s listed on getmonero.org, monero.how, the xmrtrader subreddit, moneroinfo.org and, heck, it’s even linked to on the main Monero block explorer xmrchain.net. Fluffypony has confirmed it’s legit, so has Howard Chu and other core team members. It’s regularly recommended on the Monero subreddit and IRC and XMR telegram groups.

        If that’s not established I don’t know what is.

  3. I’ve been doing research and interested in buying some monero and a few other bitcoins here in the U.S. I’ll be using a secure wallet to store, and will likely wire money to an exchange instead of a credit card. Who offers the lowest rate for or is it about the same as using a cc?

    1. Wire is much cheaper than a cc usually. If you’re in the states Coinbase is probably the cheapest option. You can but Bitcoins / ETH / LTC through them and then exchange some of those for Monero or other coins using Shapeshift or Changelly

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