Best Places to Buy Cardano for 2023

If you're looking for the best place to buy Cardano, there are a number of options. It all depends on what type of cryptocurrency investor you are. Someone who wants to add a small amount of Cardano to their portfolio will have different needs than someone who wants to trade regularly. Here are our picks for the best places to buy Cardano, and what to keep an eye out for.

The first thing to look for when buying Cardano is a top cryptocurrency app, exchange, or brokerage that trades the ADA coin. Most exchanges and apps offer Cardano, as the token is well established and has been in the top 10 cryptos by market cap for some time.

When hunting for the best place to buy Cardano, it's also good to consider the following.

Security

There have been several high-profile crypto exchange hacks over the years, so it's important to find an exchange that prioritizes security. Look for exchanges that keep the majority of their assets offline in cold storage. Some have external security audits and others have third-party insurance against hacking, which gives an additional layer of protection.

Fees

You may pay a fee to deposit money, trade, and/or make withdrawals. Fees can eat into your profits, and cryptocurrency platforms are not always transparent about how fees are calculated. This can make it difficult to compare apples to apples.

Before you deposit any money on a cryptocurrency exchange, it's important to understand each of these costs. It's also a good idea to test out what exchange rate you're offered on various platforms to make sure you're getting the best deal.

Ease of use

Some people want a site where it's simple to convert fiat (traditional) currency into Cardano. Others look for more complex crypto trading functionality. When searching for the best place to buy Cardano, explore individual platforms as much as you can before you deposit money. Don't be afraid to set up more than one account and experiment.

If you want to manage your crypto on the go, make sure there's a good mobile app. And look at the educational resources to see how accessible the platforms are -- you'll find some have a host of useful information. And if you want to be able to move your Cardano cryptocurrency to an external crypto wallet, make sure this functionality is available.

Crypto selection

If you're only interested in buying Cardano, you won't need a wide selection of tokens. However, if you plan to also explore Bitcoin (BTC) or other cryptocurrencies, look at what coins are available. One way to be sure the platform has a good mix is to check that the top 20 coins by market cap are on the list. You can also look at how often the brokerage, exchange, or app lists new coins and what criteria it uses.

Bonuses, local availability, staking, and more

Only a few cryptocurrency platforms are available in every U.S. state, so it's a good idea to check the coverage before you go too far. If you're an American, the best place to buy Cardano is through an exchange that's licensed to operate in the U.S.

Several crypto exchanges and brokers offer sign-up bonuses for new customers. This may give your initial Cardano investment a nice boost. Don't let it overly sway your decision-making though -- if an exchange has a good bonus but charges high fees, it may cost more in the long run.

Cardano uses a proof-of-stake model to keep itself secure. For investors, this means they can tie up their tokens for a set period of time to contribute to the network security and earn interest. If this might interest you, take the time to understand the ins and outs of staking and look for a platform that offers Cardano staking.

Check out our cryptocurrency reviews for more crypto apps, exchanges, and brokerages.

Cardano (ADA) is a popular cryptocurrency that was launched in 2015 by Charles Hoskinson, who also co-founded Ethereum (ETH). The ADA token is the backbone of the Cardano network.

Cardano is a programmable blockchain ecosystem that developers can use to build decentralized applications. This third-generation cryptocurrency set out to solve some of the issues faced by Ethereum, by, for example, improving processing speeds and reducing transaction costs.

It has taken a slow-and-steady approach to development. Each step is peer-reviewed before implementation. Cardano is one of a number of cryptocurrencies that can run smart contracts. As we touched on above, it uses a proof-of-stake validation model. This means that only people who own the Cardano ADA token can validate blocks.

You can buy Cardano from almost anywhere in the world using a broker or cryptocurrency exchange. You can either trade another cryptocurrency for Cardano or deposit fiat money and convert it into ADA. Broadly speaking, you can buy Cardano through a crypto broker, exchange, or app.

Several stock brokers offer customers a limited range of cryptocurrencies. If you already have an account with a broker that trades Cardano, this might be a good option. This is especially true if you're only interested in adding a small amount of Cardano to your portfolio but don't want to actively trade crypto or worry about managing a different investment account.

It's relatively easy to set up an account with a cryptocurrency exchange. You'll likely need to submit a photo ID and proof of address to verify your account. Cryptocurrency exchanges usually offer a wider range of coins and have more functionality than brokers. However, unlike brokerages, exchanges are unlikely to be registered with the SEC, so they may offer less investor protection.

Most top crypto brokers and exchanges also have trading apps, making it easy to buy Cardano from your phone. However, Cardano is not available from popular payment apps like PayPal, Venmo, and CashApp.

The fees to buy Cardano depend on the platform you use. Unfortunately, crypto fees come in many shapes and sizes, and there's not a lot of consistency across the various platforms. When choosing a cryptocurrency platform, pay particular attention to the following.

• Deposit fees: Depending on the payment method, there's often a charge to deposit fiat currency. Almost all exchanges will charge for credit card deposits, but a bank transfer is often free. Think about how you plan to deposit your money or crypto and make sure you understand how much it will cost.
• Trading fees: These often take the form of a maker/taker percentage, but you may also be charged a fixed fee. Sometimes there's also a hidden fee built into the trading rate -- or a mixture of all three.
• Withdrawal fees: These usually vary from crypto to crypto, but some exchanges offer free withdrawals. Others make it cheap to deposit money but hit customers with a steep fee when they want to withdraw their assets.

The best places to buy Cardano will be transparent about their fee structures. That way investors can plan for the costs of trading.

It's safe to buy Cardano from reputable cryptocurrency platforms with good security processes. Look for safety measures like:

• Storing assets offline in cold storage
• Third-party insurance
• Bug bounty programs

As with the fees, transparency is important -- be suspicious if a platform doesn't give details of its security measures.

At a user level, make sure you enable two-factor authentication (2FA). With 2FA, you'll need to input extra info each time you log on, such as an emailed security code. Some exchanges let you whitelist withdrawals -- meaning you can restrict withdrawals to pre-approved addresses.

All cryptocurrency investment carries risk, and Cardano is no exception. The price is likely to be extremely volatile, and the safest way to buy Cardano is to only spend money you can afford to lose. That way if the price does fall dramatically, you won't lose your life savings.

Once you've bought Cardano, also think about where you want to store it. Cryptocurrencies have a private key that's a bit like a bank PIN. If you don't control the key, you don't fully control your crypto. So if the crypto platform you used to buy Cardano gets hacked and you lose your ADA tokens, it would be very difficult to get it back. That's why some people prefer to move their coins to a wallet they control.

However, this can bring its own complications, especially for new investors. For example, if you lose the password to your hardware wallet, there's no handy "forgot password" feature. Billions of dollars' worth of crypto are stuck in wallets that can no longer be accessed because people forgot their keys or lost their wallets. This is just one reason some people prefer to leave their crypto on the platform where they bought it.

In terms of the best place to buy Cardano, several crypto exchanges may fit the bill. Hopefully you now have a good understanding of what to look out for on your Cardano journey.