How to Buy Cryptocurrency in Austria
Buying cryptocurrency in Austria
The situation around cryptocurrencies in Austria is quite two-fold. Although the country's law does not prohibit cryptocurrencies, no one is encouraging people to adopt this financial alternative in their daily lives. In fact, the FMA or the Austrian Financial Markets Authority, has warned investors that cryptocurrencies are a risky path to go down and that such currencies are not regulated by them. There are no official cryptocurrency-related laws in Austria yet, which makes the whole situation quite stagnant. In general, cryptocurrencies are not considered equal to domestic or foreign fiat currencies in Austria. If you were to look for places where you could spend your Bitcoins in this country, chances are it would take a while to find one. Overall, cryptocurrencies are not treated as a financial instrument in this country. It is merely considered a commodity whose use is very limited. Besides, involving cryptocurrencies in a business requires certain licenses under the Austrian Banking Act, which makes the process seem off putting to business owners in the country.
As of 20/03/2021
Exchanges Info
These exchanges all accept customers from Austria. While they broadly offer the same services and you can buy cryptocurrency at all of them, there can be differences in transaction fees, security, verification requirements, deposit methods and features, as shown below
Binance
Binance is one of the largest crypto exchanges with low fees, 100s of coins, and high trading leverage. It is one of the easiest & cheapest exchanges for crypto trading.
Hundreds of coins and pairs
- Very low fees
- High liquidity
No US residents
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Bybit
Based in Singapore and registered in the British Virgin Islands, Bybit is a P2P cryptocurrency exchange offering perpetual futures products with 100:1 leverage. Bybit can process 100k transaction per second which is a great feature for leveraged trading.
- Advanced and secure technology
- Anonymous accounts
- Attractive trading bonuses
- Very low fees
- Limited asset coverage
- No option instruments
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Kraken
Kraken has a good reputation for security and protection of your funds and operates across the USA (except NY), Canada, the EU and Japan
- It can be used to trade against fiat options
- Robust security measures
- Free SEPA deposits in Europe
- Not a very beginner-friendly interface.
- No card deposit options
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Uphold Disclaimer: Asset availability on the Uphold platform is subject to region. All investments and trading are risky, and may result in the loss of capital. Cryptoassets are largely unregulated and are not subject to protection
Uphold
Based in Charleston, South Carolina. Serves over 184 countries and has done over $4 billion in transactions. Offers convenient options to swap between crypto, fiat, equities, and precious metals.
- Open to US residents
- Integrated with Brave Browser
- Over 50 different coins
- Also offers precious metals and equities
- Convenient and cheap deposit/withdrawal methods
- High trading fees
- Smaller coin selection compared to some
- No Paypal withdrawal option
- No instant debit card withdrawals
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