How to Gift Bitcoin (and Other Cryptocurrencies) Guide

Panic! It’s almost your sister’s birthday. Last time, she bought you a lovely pair of shoes… But there’s a catch: shopping for her maybe a genuine challenge.

Instead of buying perfume for the umpteenth time, you’d rather try something new. You’d also prefer not to give them a gift voucher to their preferred retailer.

Alternatively, how about giving a cryptocurrency as a present?

A growing number of e-commerce companies are embracing digital assets as a payment option, which might mean that Bitcoin on anniversaries and Cardano at Christmas may become more frequent in the future. It’s possible that if your dear one decides to keep their cryptocurrency, they’ll thank you in the future.

Recently, a touching tale about the potential impact of this has surfaced on Reddit. 0.0069 BTC, or roughly $5 at the time, was left for a pizza delivery boy in December 2013. According to reports, he cashed out his crypto for $400 after holding it for more than seven years, netting him a handsome return.

To give someone a crypto gift, how would you go about doing so? You have the following choices.

Unique Ways To Gift Crypto

Let’s have a look at some unique techniques of gifting bitcoins to loved ones.

Paper Wallets

Paper wallets make it simple to give bitcoins as gifts because they are printed on real paper rather than digital ones. Each and every piece of information needed to spend the coins are contained in the paper wallet. The paper wallet contains the secret keys required to conduct bitcoin transactions. To make fast transactions, a paper wallet sometimes has a QR code that can be scanned and uploaded to a digital wallet instead. Bitcoinpaperwallet.com sells festive paper wallets in a variety of designs.

Gift Cards

Another simple approach to offer bitcoins as a gift to friends and family is through the use of Bitcoin gift cards. On websites like bit4coin, buyers just choose the denomination and fill out an order form. The gift voucher or coupon will be mailed to the provided address once payment has been received and verified. The gift card may be redeemed by the receiver for bitcoins at the current exchange rate. In addition to assisting with redemption, these portals include instructions on how to create your own wallet when using them. (Learn more about Bitcoin cold storage.)

Hardware Wallet

A good approach to give bitcoins as a present is to keep your bitcoin keys on a USB drive or in a hardware bitcoin wallet. Hardware wallets are increasingly popular for safeguarding a digital wallet when it is not being used. They are tiny gadgets that are impervious to water and viruses and even enable transactions with multiple signatures. They have a tiny storage device backup, as well as a QR code scan camera, making it easy to transmit and receive virtual money. Devices like the Trezor are an example of this.

Physical Coins

These virtual currencies can also be given as gifts in the form of tangible manifestations. Denarium and Casascius tokens are among the most popular collectibles in this category, and they also make thoughtful gifts. These are available in brass, silver, and gold, and are only available as part of a limited run. They’re stunning works of art that arrive in a stunning container. Despite the fact that they’re mostly for aesthetic purposes, they nonetheless have substantial monetary worth. The tamper-proof hologram contains a bitcoin address and a secret key that may be used to retrieve the cash.

Exchanges

Also, consider helping your loved one set up their own crypto accounts, such as on Binance, Coinbase, or Square’s Cash App. Once that’s done, you may give them the money. PayPal’s crypto service may be available in your country if you’d prefer to use that instead. To make things even easier, all of these systems have an intuitive user interface.

Biterica

Biterica offers simple Bitcoin giving. Using this service, crypto owners may send crypto presents to friends and family members who wouldn’t otherwise get them. It’s an easy process that takes no more than two minutes to complete:

Enter the email address of the recipient in the website’s corresponding area.
Calculate the total and input it into the formula.
Decide on a theme from the drop-down menu.
Personalize this email by including a message in the body.
Bitcoin is being used to pay for the gift.
Coins will be sent to the receiver through email, just like any other correspondence. They may then go into their Blockchain.com account to see their Bitcoin and make purchases with it.

Biterica is a safe method to give bitcoin as a gift since it does not keep any private keys and all money is entrusted to trusted crypto industry leaders – Blockchain and Coinbase.

Bread Wallet

A well-known bitcoin wallet allows you to give cryptocurrency as a gift. Even if someone doesn’t even have a Bitcoin wallet, a regular paper wallet can be given as a present. What’s the deal with that?

Create an account with BRD.
Choose the Bitcoin as a Gift option from the Tab Filter.
Setup instructions for BRD will be printed on the paper wallet you create.
Decide on a budget (anything between $25 and $500 would do).
Enter the name of the person who will be receiving the gift.
The network cost is an additional $10, and you can accept or reject this.
Finish the process.

Step by Step Guide

Learn how to gift bitcoin as a present.

Download the Coinbase app

Install Coinbase on your iPhone or Android smartphone by going to the iTunes App Store or the Google Play Store.
Make a notice that if the recipient does not already have a Bitcoin wallet like Coinbase, they should get one before transferring money. They’ll need a place to keep their new money, after all.
People who want to buy some bitcoin should use Coinbase, which is the most popular software at the moment. My initial “how to purchase bitcoin guide” also made use of this software.
After creating an account on the login page, you may begin using the service.

Add a payment method

To select a payment method, tap the “Buy” button on the main screen.
In the future, you’ll want to add a bank account, a credit card, and a debit card.
I choose to use my debit card because the transfer occurs immediately rather than over the course of many days, but you are free to do so as well.

Buy bitcoin

Open Coinbase and click “Buy” at the bottom of the page to begin the purchase process.
To check how much bitcoin you’ll get for a given dollar amount, enter the amount here. When I wrote this, the price of bitcoin was $15,901.93 per coin, thus $20 bought me 0.00116401 coins. It was only a sliver, as I informed you!
Click “Buy” once more in the upper right corner of the screen.
Be on the lookout: your bank may issue a fraud warning that you’ll have to clean up. When this happens, you have to call your bank to confirm the charges.

Send Bitcoin

We’re finally ready to give away some Bitcoin, so let’s get started!

At the bottom of Coinbase, click Accounts.
To check your Bitcoin Wallet balance, tap the balance icon.
In the top-right corner, click the little “send” arrow.
Decide on the amount you’d want to send. We’ll go with $5 as a starting point. Much better than a piece of scratch-off, don’t you think? Maybe.
Enter an email address or a Bitcoin address of the person you want to contact. (The recipient will be able to access this information by scanning the QR code in their Coinbase BTC wallet.)
Press the send button to send the message.

Voila!

That’s all there is to it. Your friend or relative will receive an email similar to the one seen above, with instructions on how to deposit the money directly into their Coinbase wallet.

While QR codes may be used to trade money if you’re with someone who owns a Bitcoin profile and is well-versed in the process, this isn’t really “gifting” as much as it is transferring.

Things to Keep in Mind

The Very First and Most Important Step

The first important thing to consider is how to obtain the cryptocurrency to give as a present, and one easy way to do so is through P2P trading on LocalCoinSwap. No matter how tiny the quantity of bitcoin you wish to purchase is, you may do so using almost any payment option you might possibly desire to employ. It’s a straightforward procedure that only requires a few stages and may get you back to the business of getting enthusiastic about arranging the bitcoin presents you intend to offer in no time.

Simply register with LocalCoinSwap and you will be able to browse the trade options accessible to you until you discover one that matches your needs. If you are unable to locate exactly what you are looking for, you can build your own trade offers. P2P trading allows you to purchase bitcoin using a variety of methods, including cash, PayPal, debit card, and other services like local bank transfers using your bank account.

Do you want to give a fish or a fishing rod?

At the end of the day, this is a question that will elicit a wide range of responses; nonetheless, you will have to make the option that is most appropriate for your circumstances. Consider doing something more basic when you’re giving bitcoin as a present to a friend or family who you know isn’t always the most organized person in their life. Although it is not always practical, it may be a gratifying experience to educate them on how best to receive the bitcoin present you have given them personally.

Even though handing over a secret key is something that makes most cryptocurrency enthusiasts squirm, if you are gifting a modest quantity of cryptocurrency to a relative who is not technically knowledgeable (or who has a bad habit of losing stuff), it may be the best answer in certain situations.

Having access to the private key is problematic since it means that you have never “fully” handed away the gift because you also have a record of the private key. As a result, if it is possible to do so, instructing your gift receiver on how to receive and store bitcoin is the best course of action. If you have no choice but to use a more straightforward technique, you might give a bitcoin paper wallet as a present. As long as the receiver keeps the wallet in a safe place, they won’t be worried about it, and it may serve as a fantastic kind of cold storage for them.

To guarantee that only the recipient has access to their private keys when you are giving someone bitcoin and they wish to utilize a paper wallet, you may assist them in generating one yourself with your assistance. Also, make sure they understand the distinction between their public key and their private key so that they can be certain that they are providing the correct key when they submit their crypto address in the future. If you want to, you could also assist them in creating a QR code that they may use in the future to transfer more bitcoin to their bitcoin wallet without having to contend with lengthy bitcoin addresses.

Bitcoin Gift Cards Aren’t the Best Option

Whereas a bitcoin gift card may appear to be an easy method of giving bitcoin presents, there are a number of difficulties and considerations to consider before considering this choice.

First and foremost, bitcoin gift card issuers tend to offer gift cards that, when redeemed, reward the cardholder with the worth of the card at the current bitcoin exchange rate, rather than the value of the card itself. The difficulty with all this is that if you give the card as a gift and then later sell it, the value of bitcoin climbs considerably. If the cardholder believes that the card contains genuine bitcoin worth rather than fiat value, your gift may appear to be more of a squandered opportunity than a present.

Keeping gift cards for a longer period of time raises the possibility of the firm going out of business or experiencing other issues as a result of this promise of the future redemption of bitcoins. If you do decide to utilize gift cards, you may exchange them for bitcoin by selling them on LocalCoinSwap. Many prominent gift cards are accepted as payment methods in bitcoin trading; you may be able to re-gift an undesired present by using one to acquire bitcoin and so getting rid of a gift voucher you didn’t want to use in the first place.

Why not forego the bitcoin gift cards altogether? There are much better ways to surprise the bitcoin fan (or prospective bitcoin enthusiast) in your life this Christmas season, anniversary, or another special event than giving them a bitcoin.

Bitcoin ATMs are also not the best option

Bitcoin ATMs (also known as BATMS or cryptocurrency ATMs) are similar to gift cards in that they may be used to get some bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies. However, when used as presents, they have one important drawback: you must generally have a wallet in order to receive them. The fees associated with using bitcoin ATMs are also typically substantially higher than the fees associated with using most other alternative methods of purchasing bitcoin.

Due to the fact that there are more cost-effective methods of obtaining bitcoin without dragging yourself around to whichever nearest bitcoin ATM happens to be, it is typically preferable to choose this choice when offering the gift of bitcoin. Perhaps the aged ATM is just a superior option for dealing with cash and should not be included in your bitcoin transactions in the first place.

A Hardware Wallet is a Great Bitcoin Gift

Consider the following scenario: you are intending on gifting a larger quantity of bitcoin that you anticipate will be kept onto for a long period of time, or you are giving one of your kids their first introduction to bitcoin. In such a scenario, hardware wallets might make for excellent holiday gift suggestions.

There is a wide variety of wallets to select from, so you will most certainly be happy to discover one that you like and that is within your budget. Given that bitcoin is not your typical tangible present, providing a hardware wallet in addition to it might help somebody fresh to bitcoin and cryptocurrencies feel more at ease with the concept. When feasible, the greatest thing to do in this situation is to sit down with the individual and take them through the setup procedure and teach them the basic functioning if they are not someone who is comfortable with the procedure on their own. Giving a hardware wallet as a present with cryptocurrency already preloaded conflicts with the “not your keys, not your crypto” concept that many of us subscribe to, and is thus best avoided unless there is no other practical alternative.

There is a wide variety of hardware wallets available in the marketplace, each with its own set of features and models. Trezor, Ledger, and KeepKey are just a few of the firms that manufacture hardware wallets. This sort of bitcoin wallet may be a wonderful present to receive, regardless of whether the receiver uses bitcoin on a daily basis or if they want to store bitcoin for a lengthy period of time.

Finding Convenience is Key

Especially when dealing with lesser sums (and especially when dealing with a large number of recipients), it might be difficult to find a straightforward solution that does not need purchasing a hardware wallet for everyone or running your printer dry while generating paper wallets. Mobile wallets are one possibility to consider in this situation. In this case, you could simply direct the receiver to a wallet app that you suggest, and they would be fully operational in a couple of minutes, ready to accept your bitcoin gift. If you are donating crypto other than bitcoin, and it is more difficult to discover suitable wallets for that cryptocurrency, you may find mobile wallets to be an appealing solution to that problem.

While it is simple to argue against holding any large quantity of bitcoin, or any other crypto for that matter, in a mobile wallet, if your main aim is to introduce someone to bitcoin, then it may be a useful introduction. Make sure to recommend that any of your receivers who respond to it and become more active do so in the future by upgrading from this form of storage. Try to spend at least a few minutes telling them how to use the most important wallet features, such as how to discover their receiving address or back up their private keys or seed words, if you choose to go this way.

Private Keys Should Not be Sent or Emailed

However, although sending a few bucks in a card in the mail might be easy, sending private keys through email, and especially via snail mail, is never a good idea. The issue with doing this is that you are putting your confidence in the fact that no one has seen or documented the keys along the route, and putting your trust in something you can’t verify is never a smart idea when it comes to bitcoin. If you are giving bitcoin as a present, it is important to exercise caution in order to get the most out of it while also doing it as safely as possible.

In the case of people who are less tech-savvy or who have the tendency of reusing passwords across many websites, sending these sensitive documents over email increases the likelihood of someone discovering them if they get access to the account. The trust issue remains, however, when sending bitcoin to an email address. Additionally, because the data is stored in a location over which you have no authority, caution should be used while emailing or mailing bitcoin!

Is it Possible to Give Physical Bitcoin as a Gift?

If you haven’t come across these previously, this question may appear to be a bit weird to you. Numerous companies have developed what you might call “physical bitcoin” over the years since the outset of bitcoin. While it is not truly physical bitcoin, it takes the shape of a coin that contains the private key but has the public address printed on it so that you can see it, protected by a tamper-evident decal or similar.

The challenge with a wallet like this, and the most likely reason they aren’t as widely available as they once were, is a basic one: you have no way of knowing whether or not that key is still genuinely secret. It’s always difficult to say whether or not someone has been collecting them at some time throughout production with the intention of using them at a later date, and when you can’t check anything yourself, you shouldn’t put your faith in it. Though these can be a convenient method to give bitcoin as a gift, there are some drawbacks to using them.

If you are searching for a bitcoin Holiday gift for someone in your life but are limited on funds, you may discover that a hardware wallet is an excellent alternative for the bitcoin enthusiast in your family. It is probable that even if they have a hardware bitcoin wallet, they will be grateful to have a spare lying around.

Final Thoughts

Cryptocurrency is intrinsically valuable in that the receiver can use it to shop, pay bills, or retain it in order to sell it at a better price in the future. The worth of a bitcoin gift is very obvious, similar to the value of gold and cash, therefore there is no need to eliminate price tags from them. You might give it to someone who has expressed an interest in learning more about bitcoins, or you could give it to someone who you would want to introduce to cryptocurrencies.