How to Buy Cryptocurrency in Latvia
Buying cryptocurrency in Latvia
The Bank of Latvia and the State Revenue Service agree that cryptocurrencies aren’t a statutory, but a contractual means of payment which can be used in exchange transactions. They can’t be considered official currency or as legal tender since their use is unregulated and they don’t seem linked to any national currency. Latvia later introduced monitoring requirements for virtual currency service providers, along with providers of digital currency exchange services. Considered a startup friendly capital worldwide, it’s no surprise that Bitcoin has found a strong base in Latvia. Many investors saw the appeal of the digital currency and its popularity seems to be growing. However, with rising popularity comes a high possibility of cybercrime. What’s more, the Latvian state police declared that they had dismantled a very organized cybercrime ring in 2020. Over 110,000 euros ($126,926) worth of Bitcoin (BTC), Ether(ETH), XRP and Tether (USDT) were seized during this operation
As of 20/03/2021
Exchanges Info
These exchanges all accept customers from Latvia. 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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