As of 2021, there are a reported 13.8 billion devices connected to the internet, this number is expected to grow dramatically by 2030 as the prevalence of the internet increases in developing countries. All interconnected, internet-based devices are part of the “Internet of Things (IoT), a buzzword describing devices that can speak to each other. IOTA aims to be the de-facto way for transactions to take place between machines and devices that are part of the Internet of Things ecosystem.
IOTA is currently making waves in the tech industry due to its innovative “Tangle” technology. Since its release in 2017, the price of IOTA has more than tripled, leaving a lot of investors wondering ‘how to buy IOTA” before the price continues to rise. In this guide, we’ll explain exactly that, as well as providing an overview of IOTA and the technology behind it.
#1 Exchange to Buy IOTA – eToro
How to Buy IOTA – The Quick Four-Step Strategy
It’s quite hard to find a reputable broker offering IOTA in the US, luckily we’ve compiled a list of the 5 best exchanges to buy IOTA and broken down the pros and cons of each. This quick guide will allow you to start investing in IOTA in just a few minutes.
Step 1: Sign up with eToro: The first step is to register with a reputable broker, for this, we recommend eToro because they’re regulated and have a great track record. Just go to “etoro.com”, hit the “Join Now” button, and fill in some basic information.
Step 2: Verify your details: After you’ve made your account, you’ll need to verify it by providing a photo ID (passport, driving licence) and proof of address (utility bill, bank statement).
Step 3: Fund your eToro account: Now that your account is verified, you need to deposit some funds. You can do this by using either a credit/debit card, wire transfer, or e-wallet (PayPal, Skrill).
Step 4: Buy your IOTA: Once you’ve deposited some funds to your eToro account you’re ready to invest! Just type “IOTA” into the search bar, press “trade”, enter how much you want, and hit “buy”.
What is IOTA?
IOTA works very differently from most cryptocurrencies, it’s a distributed ledger, but not a blockchain technology like Bitcoin or any other cryptos. Instead, IOTA has focused on achieving interoperability by creating a new technology called “Tangle”, which IOTA claims is quicker and more efficient than traditional blockchains.
The main difference between Tangle and a standard blockchain is the way they validate transactions, rather than a group of miners or stakers validating transactions by trading computing power for rewards in the form of cryptocurrency, IOTA validates transactions between IoT devices by making each new transaction validate two previous transactions. This results in quick and efficient confirmations, but more importantly does away with the need for the expensive, energy-hungry hardware, validators would previously require. In the midst of widespread outcry concerning the environmental impact caused by miners, this is a very interesting technology.
Before we continue with the guide, it’s important to make note of the different terms associated with IOTA. IOTA is the non-profit company behind the token, MIOTA is the cryptocurrency and equivalent to 1 million iota, iota (recognizable by its capitalization) similar to a satoshi, and is worth 1 millionth of a MIOTA.
Where to Buy IOTA
Currently, not many exchanges support IOTA due to the way the wallet addresses work, although this is set to change with the rollout of chrysalis. If you want to know where to buy IOTA, you can find our picks for the top 5 platforms you can buy MIOTA on right now!
1. eToro – All Round Best Way to Buy IOTA in the US
Launched in 2006, eToro is, in our opinion, without a doubt the best IOTA exchange in the US. The onboarding process is simple, it’s designed to make sure even those new to crypto are ready to start investing the shortest amount of time possible. As a regulated platform you gain several benefits, most importantly, you know they’re not going to run off with your hard-earned money.
eToro takes pride in keeping their customers safe, they follow strict data protection rules to keep access to sensitive information to a minimum. Any of the information you provide eToro is even protected by SSL encryption, this ensures that even if someone were to gain access to the servers all your data remains safe. Over 95% of client funds are kept offline, in cold storage, which is crucial for any exchange that manages your keys. Regardless of how secure an exchange is meant to be, we recommend using 2FA to add an additional layer of security to your account.
Excellent for both new and experienced traders, eToro offers users a range of features to start investing as quickly as possible. They have a relatively unique feature called copy trading, which lets you earn a passive income by mirroring experienced traders, this allows you to start earning profit quickly, and gives you a better understanding of the strategies used by professionals. Additionally, eToro allows users to invest in managed portfolios, a managed portfolio being a variety of similar assets grouped together, allowing you to diversify your account, reducing any potential risk. For those with previous trading experience, you can invest in markets outside of crypto, as eToro allows users to trade ETFs, commodities, and indices. If you already invest outside of the crypto space this can be very useful, as it allows you to manage all your investments in just one place.
eToro Fees
| Coin Name | Spread Amount |
| IOTA (MIOTA) | 4.5% |
| Bitcoin (BTC) | 0.75% |
| Ethereum (ETH) | 1.90% |
| Cardano (ADA) | 2.90% |
| Binance Coin (BNB) | 2.45% |
| Ripple (XRP) | 2.45% |
Pros
- Low fees
- SSL encryption
- Easy onboarding process
- Copy Trading
- Managed portfolios
- Reputable
Cons
- No MetaTrader Support
- Lack of trading view integration
Cryptoassets are highly volatile unregulated investment products. No EU investor protection. 67% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.
2. MetaMask – Non-Custodial Way to Buy IOTA in the US
If you’ve spent any time exploring dApps you might’ve heard of MetaMask, a wallet allowing users to interact with the Ethereum blockchain. Available through both a browser extension and a mobile app, allowing the majority of people to have a way to access it. Although their primary focus is on Ethereum-based tokens and interacting with decentralized applications, MetaMask also provides users an easy way to invest in lesser-known altcoins.
A key feature of MetaMask is the fact it’s non-custodial, meaning that you have control over all the keys associated with your wallet. This is important because if you were to lose access to your device or something happened to MetaMask, you would still be able to recover your coins from a separate wallet.
MetaMask can be used as a way to store the majority of your altcoins, they have a “swap” feature that makes it easy to exchange your coins with any other that you’d like to hold, while only paying a minimal fee. If a coin isn’t available on MetaMask then you can manually add it using the contract address found on BscScan, making the range of coins available far greater than you’d initially expect. Another interesting aspect of MetaMask is the built-in browser allowing you to interact with web3.0 applications, something that’s slowly becoming more and more mainstream. The only downside with MetaMask is their lack of native exchange, meaning you’ll have to fund it with another source of crypto and then swap that to your desired asset.
MetaMask Fees
| Fee Type | Amount (%) |
| Service Fee | 0.3% to 0.875% |
Pros
- Non-custodial
- Huge variety of assets
- Built-in dAPP browser
- Swap between ETH & BSC coins
Cons
- No proprietary exchange
- Doesn’t support every network
Cryptoassets are highly volatile unregulated investment products. No EU investor protection. 67% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.
3. Binance.US – Best Way to Buy IOTA for Technical Traders in the US
The world’s largest exchange by volume, it’s no surprise that Binance has made its way onto this list. Despite the regulatory issues they faced in 2019, Binance has cemented its place in the US market by releasing Binance.us. Binance.us still has all the great features users came to expect from the platform but removed certain leveraged financial instruments to ensure they comply with laws in the US.
Although not particularly transparent about its security, Binance has revealed it uses industry-standard security techniques to make sure its customers are safe. The 2FA system they use is one of the better ones, every time you log in, you’ll need to enter a code sent to your mobile, the same applies with withdrawals, however, you’ll also be sent a code to the email you used to register with Binance.
Although the US platform has a reduced number of cryptocurrencies, IOTA has a USD pair, meaning you won’t run into any issues when trying to invest from inside the US. If you’re a technical trader then Binance is a great option for you, it has a huge range of indicators and has TradingView integration, meaning you won’t be short on charting tools. Outside of the usual, Binance allows users to earn interest on their investments by staking the coins for rewards, there are currently 7 PoS coins available.
Binance.us Fees
| Fee Type | Fee Amount (%) |
| Instant Buy/Sell Fee | 0.5% |
| Spot Trading Fee | 0.1% |
Pros
- Great range of indicators
- TradingView integration
- Lots of crypto pairs
- Staking
Cons
- Fewer features on the US platform
- Not available in all states
Cryptoassets are highly volatile unregulated investment products. No EU investor protection. 67% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.
4. Firefly/Trinity Wallet – Buy IOTA Natively in the US
Released in 2019, Trinity Wallet was the go-to option when considering how to buy IOTA. It can be hard to find a reputable place to store your coins, but you can rest easy knowing this wallet was released by the official IOTA company. Outside of mobile, Trinity Wallet is also available as a desktop application, allowing for far greater accessibility. It’s important to note, Firefly is the new version of the native IOTA wallet, after the Chrysalis migration started, a new wallet had to be created, this is Firefly.
Although technically outdated by a couple of months, we thought it was important to mention Trinity wallet because around 35% of users and tokens are still on the platform, meaning that a high number of IOTA users have yet to upgrade. The official release for Firefly was April 2021, which makes it clear why so many users are yet to make the switch despite the plethora of security improvements. If you want to upgrade to the Firefly wallet, luckily enough it’s an easy process, all you’ll have to do is download the most recent Firefly wallet, and import the seed from your Trinity Wallet, IOTA will take care of the rest. Recently, Firefly wallet has rolled out support for hardware wallets, however, it currently only supports Ledger, so if you own a Trezor you’re out of luck.
Firefly/Trinity Wallet Fees
| Fee Type | Amount |
| Transaction fee | 4.5% + $4.99 |
| Credit/Debit fee | $4.99 + 3.99% or 7% above $142 |
Pros
- Great security
- Backed by the IOTA company
- Consistent updates
Cons
- Creating replacement wallets rather than upgrading creates a confusing ecosystem
- Limited hardware wallet support
Cryptoassets are highly volatile unregulated investment products. No EU investor protection. 67% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.
How to Buy IOTA – Detailed and Explained in Full
It can be difficult to navigate through all the outdated and incorrect information related to purchasing IOTA. We believe cryptocurrency should be accessible for all, which is why we’ve created this handy guide on where to buy IOTA.
CFDs are complex instruments and carry a high risk of losing money quickly through leverage. 75% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs from this provider.
CFDs are complex instruments that have a high risk of losing money quickly due to leverage. 72.6% of retail investor accounts lose money trading CFDs with this provider.
CFDs are complex instruments and carry a high risk of possible rapid loss of capital due to their leverage. 71% of retail investor accounts lose capital when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take high risk in losing your capital.
Mobile App
Wallet
Number of Coins
Trading Fees
Deposit Fees
Withdrawal Fees
Bitcoin
| $41597.48 | $41634.92 | $41738.90 |
Ethereum
XRP
Tether
Litecoin
Bitcoin Cash
Chainlink
Cardano
IOTA
Binance Coin
Stellar
EOS
Credit Card
Paypal
Sepa Transfer
Skrill
Sofort
Giropay
Neteller
Step 1: Open an Account with a Broker
You’ll need to register with a broker, in the US it’s crucial to use a regulated broker that’s allowed to operate there, otherwise, you risk losing funds. eToro is one such broker, and the best IOTA exchange, to sign up just type “eToro.com” into your browser, press “Join Now’ and provide some basic information.
Cryptoassets are highly volatile unregulated investment products. No EU investor protection. 67% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.
Step 2: Verify your Account
Because eToro is a regulated platform, you’ll need to complete the KYC process, this is standard practice and only takes a couple of minutes. You’ll need to provide a photo ID (passport, driving licence) and proof of address (utility bill, bank statement).
Step 3: Fund your eToro Account
Once you’ve signed up and verified your account, you’ll need to deposit funds. eToro accepts credit/debit cards, bank transfers, and also e-wallets. So whatever your preference there will be something for you.
Step 4: Search for IOTA
Now that you’ve funded your eToro account, just type “IOTA” into the search bar at the top of the screen and press “trade”.
Step 5: Buy IOTA
All that’s left is to buy some IOTA. Simply enter the amount you want to purchase and hit the “buy” button. The IOTA will be automatically credited to your account where you can monitor its performance.
Purchasing MIOTA – Is it a Good Investment?
The amount of IoT devices is drastically rising, with some predicting the number will reach over 30.9 billion as early as 2025. The average household reportedly contains around 50 connected devices, including phones, wearables, and even washing machines. While there’s nothing wrong with smart devices, if you consider the environmental issues caused by 300,000-500,000 users completing daily transactions through the Bitcoin blockchain, it’s scary to think about how much power would be needed if 30 billion devices were sending transactions.
This is the issue IOTA aims to solve, rather than using a traditional blockchain, IOTA makes everyone sending a transaction act as a validator, having to confirm two previous transactions. By doing things this way instead of using a consensus algorithm similar to that of Bitcoin, you can remove miners from the equation, eliminating the greatest strain on the environment; power-hungry hardware. It was reported that as of 2021, Bitcoin was using more electricity than the entirety of Finland, a country with a population of over 5 million, presenting an issue with scalability.
A technology like IOTA could seriously reduce the strain on traditional blockchains, especially with the increased amount of M2M (machine-to-machine) transactions taking place. As of late 2020, MIOTA began gaining strength following a long period of horizontal price movement, this is likely in part due to the negative publicity Bitcoin has faced as a result of high energy consumption. In 2021 MIOTA has been trading between $1-$2 which is a huge gain compared to $0.10-$0.30 in 2020, this could mark the beginnings of a climb back to previous highs of around $5.
The Advantages of Investing in IOTA
The problem IOTA aims to solve continues to grow by the day, this puts it in a unique position to capitalize on the need for low-cost, energy-efficient transactions. Currently, they don’t have any competitors, at least none that come close in terms of cost and efficiency, meaning that over the next few years we could certainly see great performance out of the MIOTA token. IOTA is a new-world technology that aims to solve a new-world problem, as such it’s hard to predict just how big it could become, but as our reliance on technology and smart devices increases, the need for cost and energy-efficient M2M transactions only grows.
- Environmentally friendly: Without the need for miners solving complex cryptographic puzzles, the hardware requirements to validate an IOTA transaction are far lower than that of Bitcoin. This leads to a greatly reduced energy consumption, something the environment is in dire need of.
- No transaction Fees: Once again stemming from IOTA not needing to reward any miners for validating transactions, IOTA has completely done away with transaction fees. Anyone that’s sent a BTC or ETH transaction knows just how much you can lose to fees.
- Alternative Consensus: Bitcoin uses a proof of work consensus, which while impossible to tamper with it isn’t very fast. There is a lot of focus on trying to create a more efficient way to validate transactions, a great example being TRON.
The Disadvantages of Investing in IOTA
It seems no project is without problems, and IOTA is unfortunately not an exception to this rule. Although IOTA supposedly resolved a lot of issues it was facing in the early days, it wouldn’t be right not to mention them, especially considering some are still ongoing.
- Phishing Attacks: As with every new technology, IOTA’s network had some issues, mainly due to a lack of testing. This resulted in a phishing attack taking place, with stolen funds amounting to $3.94 million worth of MIOTA.
- Encryption Vulnerability: Many cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin included, use a SHA-256 hash encryption. IOTA, on the other hand, chose to create their own encryption method called Curl. When a team at MIT was testing this hash function, it found 2 separate inputs created the same output, a big issue when creating seeds. Although IOTA has fixed this problem, if it wasn’t found by MIT it could’ve potentially been used to steal funds from Tangle.
- Decentralization Issues: IOTA’s network using a central server called a Coordinator to make sure transactions are secure. This means that the IOTA network is far less decentralized than they claim, however, there is a plan in place referred to as “The Cooridicide” which aims to remove the Coordinator.
How Much Does it Cost to Buy MIOTA?
If you make sure to use a regulated, reputable exchange then you won’t be charged more than anyone from another country for buying MIOTA. Currently, the price of MIOTA is $1.38, meaning if you invested $100 you would have around 74 MIOTA. If you invested $250 at the start of 2021 you would currently have more than $1,100.
Purchasing MIOTA – How to Pay for It
You’re not limited in ways to pay when buying MIOTA, especially when using our top-rated broker eToro. You’re able to use whichever payment method is right for you, with eToro supporting credit or debit card, bank transfer, and e-wallet (PayPal, Skrill). Below we’ve summarized the pros and cons of the two most popular methods; bank card and PayPal.
Buy MIOTA Using PayPal
If you choose to use an e-wallet to buy IOTA then you’ve likely already registered with one. The largest e-wallet is PayPal, trusted by millions to provide safe transactions. When using PayPal you benefit from the convenience of card payment, but also have an extra layer of security between your information and the exchange. For anyone wanting to have a greater deal of privacy, this is perfect.
Buy IOTA with Paypal via Etoro Now >
Buy MIOTA using a Credit/Debit Card
Using a card to make any online purchase tends to be the easiest way, it’s no different in the crypto world, however, it does come with heavy costs. While you can normally use a bank card free of charge, you’ll be facing fees of around 2-5% for every transaction when buying crypto. On top of this, you don’t have the extra layer of privacy an e-wallet offers.
Buy IOTA with Credit/Debit Card via Etoro Now >
Conclusion
All in all, IOTA is an incredibly interesting technology that has the potential to solve some major issues in the crypto space. If they’re able to work out the issues with centralization and provide users with an easier onboarding process, there’s no reason why IOTA can’t see the same highs it enjoyed in 2017. After reading this guide you should know how to buy IOTA using the best IOTA exchange. We recommend eToro to anyone looking for a regulated, easy-to-use, fully-featured exchange. As with any exchange, it’s crucial you set up 2FA when using eToro as it ensures your funds are completely safe.
FAQs
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