Bit4coin Experiences 2021 - The crypto exchange test
10 Stars
The big test of the crypto exchange Bit4coin: Buy Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies directly on the crypto exchange. In our review, we present our Bit4coin experience.
Even faster, even easier, and without registration: that's what the crypto exchange Bit4coin promises us. But what is the truth of the promise? Is it really possible without logging in? And can the Bit4coin Bitcoin Exchange convince us with its offer?
We only give a good rating to those who come up trumps in all important categories. We test the customer service and check the offer, the user-friendliness and the security standards of Bit4coin. What does the exchange do to protect you from fraud? In which languages is the customer support available? And what fees are charged on Bit4coin? Our test provides the answers.
Our recommendation: Buy cryptos with eToro
Incl. wallet
Buy and sell cryptocurrencies directly in the wallet
Paypal, credit card and instant bank transfer
Regulated provider
Real cryptos or CFD trades
Advantages and disadvantages of Bit4coin at a glance
On the Bit4coin Exchange you can buy cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin with the help of vouchers. You do not need to register with Bit4coin to do this. With this provider, you also need your own wallet before buying in order to redeem the vouchers you have purchased and have your coins transferred to it. The site is fully available in six different languages, including German. There is also a blog where the entrepreneurs discuss, for example, the advantages of buying Bitcoin with a voucher. Unfortunately, the blog is only available in English.
Bit4coin is not a broker and does not offer any financial instruments. If you wanted to trade CFDs at Bit4coin, you will not get anywhere at this point. In any case, if you are resident in Germany, you cannot use Bit4coin at the moment. We hope that this will change soon, but we'll take a look at this very special offer anyway.
Bit4coin Experience - The Offer
On Bit4coin you can buy vouchers for cryptocurrencies. Unfortunately, only five different coins are available for this purpose. Since Bit4coin is not a cryptocurrency broker, financial instruments such as CFDs, Forex or stock options are not available here. (By the way: this is possible with our test winner eToro).
Bit4coin cryptocurrencies
Step by step guide to trading with Bit4coin
Here you will learn how exactly you can buy Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency vouchers with Bit4coin. Bit4coin currently does not serve customers from Germany. However, if you live in Austria, Switzerland or another European country, the service is available to you. A Bit4coin login or registration is not required on the site.
Step 1: Select a voucher
On the Bit4coin Exchange, you do not need to register to buy cryptocurrencies. Instead, you simply choose which voucher about which cryptocurrency you want to buy. For example, Bit4coin offers vouchers worth €50, €100, €250 and €500 for Bitcoin. Alternatively, you can decide for yourself how much you want the voucher to be worth. A maximum of 10,000€ is possible via the purchase mask. If you want to spend more, you have to contact Bit4coin support to find a solution. Bit4coin states that this is possible. You can find the Bit4coin selling form here.
Step 2: Personal data
Afterwards you have to enter your first and last name as well as your email address, your place of residence, the country you are registered in and a mobile phone number. As already mentioned, customers from Germany cannot buy cryptocurrencies with Bit4coin. All your details must be correct in order for the purchase to take place.
Step 3: Choose your payment method
Now you have to choose your payment method. Three payment options are available to you here: SEPA bank transfer, instant bank transfer and credit card payment. Credit card payments incur an additional charge of 2.5 percent of the value of your voucher. The SEPA transfer takes longer than the other payment options. With the Sofotransfer it is quick and without additional costs. Select your preferred payment method and click on "Submit order".
Then you have to process the payment. If you want to make a credit card payment, you must first be verified by Bit4coin. For this, personal identification documents are required as well as a selfie in which you are clearly recognisable with the identification document. Bit4coin guides you through the process in an uncomplicated way.
Step 4: Choose a payment method
After you have received your voucher by SMS or letter, you can redeem it on the Bit4coin page under this link. Enter your Bitcoin wallet address and the voucher code. You will then receive the currency you purchased transferred to your personal wallet.
Our recommendation: Buy cryptos with eToro
Incl. wallet
Buy and sell cryptocurrencies directly in the wallet
Paypal, credit card and instant bank transfer
Regulated provider
Real cryptos or CFD trades
Bit4coin offers only two payment options
There is an additional fee of 2.5 per cent on credit card payments. For a year, it was also possible to pay with Paypal on Bit4coin. A blog entry shows that this service has not been available since 2017.
Payment method | yes/no |
|---|---|
Credit cards | yes |
Paypal | no |
Instant bank transfer | no |
Skrill | no |
Neteller | no |
Paysafecard | no |
Bank Transfer | yes |
Other | yes |
Of course, one has to take into account that the Bison app is a relatively young app. In time, more cryptocurrencies will most likely be offered. However, if you want to trade other cryptocurrencies, we recommend our crypto test winner eToro. Here you can trade with over 16 different cryptocurrencies.
Bit4coin experience: The payment methods
Bit4coin currently offers only three payment methods: Classic SEPA transfers via your bank account, credit card payment with Visa and Mastercard, and Online Bank Transfer (OBT). Online Bank Transfer works similar to Sofortüberweisung. With OBT you can pay quickly, securely and without additional costs. Due to the irreversibility of Bitcoin transfers, Bit4coin does not offer payment methods that allow chargebacks. In this way, the company says it prevents fraud schemes. Bit4coin writes that it regularly looks at different payment systems and will announce when it adds new payment options to its offer.
Our recommendation: Buy cryptos with eToro
Incl. wallet
Buy and sell cryptocurrencies directly in the wallet
Paypal, credit card and instant bank transfer
Regulated provider
Real cryptos or CFD trades
Bit4coin experience: Security and licence
When you buy cryptocurrencies, you are responsible for their safekeeping yourself. This is because the principle of digital currencies is to bypass intermediaries such as banks. Thus, the consumer is empowered to exercise precise control over what happens to his funds, but on the other hand has to do without the comfort of an externally managed bank account. You are responsible for the security of your Bitcoin or Altcoin.
In the first step, you must therefore decide on a wallet that suits your usage behaviour. If you want to keep your cryptocurrency safe for years, for example, a paper wallet is the right choice. If you want to trade with it regularly, you are better off with a digital wallet. In this case, a hard wallet can also be a sensible purchase.
When choosing a wallet, you should not fall back on dubious providers. The same applies to the selection of the exchange or platform through which you finance your cryptocurrencies. Even if some unknown exchanges seem tempting because of their outstanding promises of bonuses, you are well advised to stick to established providers and not to take any risks here. Fraud is not uncommon in the crypto world - even on the part of the exchanges.
Bit4coin regulation
But even if you choose an established exchange, you should remain cautious. Always make sure you are on the right site by checking the address bar. So-called phishing sites often look like the real thing and aim to steal your login details. If available, you should always use any means a platform offers to make your account more secure. This could be two-factor authentication (2FA), for example. Since Bit4coin, as a seller of vouchers, is more of a shop than an exchange, and you don't need your own account here, this is not applicable in this case. We have written down how you can effectively protect yourself from fraud damage here.
Unfortunately, the Bit4coin FAQ does not give us any more information about why exactly the provider cannot currently serve German customers - only that there seems to have been trouble with the authorities is apparently clear from the note on the page.
The Bit4coin App
When it comes to trading, little helpers are irreplaceable: mobile apps that allow you to react to market events at any time, no matter when, no matter where you are - provided you have internet access. Read more about good apps in our comparison.
Since Bit4coin specialises in the sale of Bitcoin & Co. via vouchers, there is no app for the provider. Presumably it will stay that way, because an app would not bring any particular advantages compared to using the exchange via the browser (and optionally also on the smartphone). The lack of a Bit4coin app has no influence on our rating here.
Our recommendation: Buy cryptos with eToro
Incl. wallet
Buy and sell cryptocurrencies directly in the wallet
Paypal, credit card and instant bank transfer
Regulated provider
Real cryptos or CFD trades
Bit4coin Experience: Customer service, contact & support
Especially if you want to invest larger sums in a cryptocurrency like Bitcoin, it is important that your provider offers good support. As the person responsible for the security of your cryptocurrency, it is your duty to find out about this in good time. Bit4coin is neither a broker nor an exchange in the strict sense, but merely a shop where you can buy cryptocurrency vouchers. In this respect, support plays a lesser role here than with exchange and broking platforms. Nevertheless, the Bit4coin support is included in our evaluation.
The Bit4coin site is almost completely available in German. This includes a quite extensive FAQ, in which the most frequently asked questions of customers are easily answered. Excluded from this, however, is the blog, where Bit4coin presents news. The blog is only available in English. However, there is something else that bothers us: the fact that Bit4coin is currently unable to serve customers from Germany is apparently not worth a blog entry for the company.
No live chat option
You can reach Bit4coin support via email or the contact form on the site. A live chat or a phone number unfortunately do not exist. This is a clear shortcoming. For the fact that you can't contact the support directly, we deduct a few points from our Bit4coin rating. Almost all of the other providers we looked at in our test offer these options.
Contact way | yes/no |
|---|---|
phone | no |
Live chat | no |
contact form | yes |
FAQs | yes |
Bit4coin Experience: The fees & charges
Bit4coin charges two types of fees, one for packaging and shipping and an exchange rate surcharge. Digital voucher codes are cheaper because there are no costs for packaging and postage. For example, customers pay 3 euros in postage for postal orders, while a digital voucher in the form of an SMS costs only 1 euro. The shipping fee does not include sales tax.
In addition, Bit4coin charges a relatively high exchange rate fee. This is a steep 8 per cent for postal orders. For digital vouchers, the exchange rate fee is still comparatively high at 4.9 per cent.
The convenience obviously has its price. On the fee side, Bit4coin is clearly in the higher-priced segment; other crypto exchanges charge you a registration fee, but usually do not add more than 3 per cent to your purchases.
Fee type | costs |
|---|---|
Shipping fee | Postal: 3 euros, digital (SMS): 1 euro |
Exchange rate fee | Postal: 8 percent, digital (SMS): 4.9 percent |
Credit card payment | + 2.5 percent |
The Bit4coin fees can add up, especially if you pay by credit card. Because then the fees add up to a total of up to 10.5 percent plus the shipping fee of 3 euros if you want to receive your voucher by post.
Other fees such as account or deposit fees or an inactivity fee do not apply at Bit4coin at any time. Only during the payment process can further costs arise in the form of transfer fees, especially if the payer is not in Europe. Transfers within the Eurozone are usually free of charge.
Our recommendation: Buy cryptos with eToro
Incl. wallet
Buy and sell cryptocurrencies directly in the wallet
Paypal, credit card and instant bank transfer
Regulated provider
Real cryptos or CFD trades
Bit4coin experience: The conclusion
There was one obstacle in the way of our Bit4coin review: customers from Germany cannot make any experiences with Bit4coin, at least not at the moment. Unfortunately, the provider of cryptocurrency vouchers leaves us in the dark about why, why, why. Without clarity about what exactly the German regulatory authorities have to criticise about Bit4coin, we cannot give the voucher shop a recommendation.
Bit4coin did not necessarily convince us in other respects either. Above all, the fees are particularly high here. Although Bit4coin saves you a registration and allows you to purchase Bitcoin without logging in, in view of the high fees, we would rather refer you to the competition. Other platforms are much cheaper.
The Bit4coin support could not quite convince us either. In particular, we were missing an option to talk to the support directly. Neither a telephone number nor a live chat are available for this purpose. On the other hand, we liked the very clearly designed website. The Dutch platform is completely available in German. The providers address many frequently asked questions in the FAQ. Bit4coin helps you prevent fraud by teaching you how to take care of your own security in a guide. CryptoImprovementFund also offers such a guide.
Our evaluation of the crypto exchange for Bitcoin vouchers Bit4coin
The order limit for cryptocurrency vouchers at Bit4coin is generous: You can invest up to 10,000 euros here. If you need more, you can contact the support via email to find an individual solution.
Again, we are less happy about the limited offer. Only five different coins can be purchased in voucher form at Bit4coin. That's all well and good if you're content to invest in the biggest cryptocurrencies or if you want to give someone an original gift. If you want to invest in another cryptocurrency like IOTA instead, you'll have to turn to an alternative exchange for that. Our Bit4coin rating: Poor, especially given the lack of information about the problems with Germany.
Our recommendation: Buy cryptos with eToro
Incl. wallet
Buy and sell cryptocurrencies directly in the wallet
Paypal, credit card and instant bank transfer
Regulated provider
Real cryptos or CFD trades
FAQ
The provider is a crypto exchange where cryptocurrencies can be bought and sold.
In our test, Bit4coin was not convincing. Neither are there many trading options nor is there sufficient customer support. In addition, the lack of transparency is a problem
The amount you invest should depend on your own liquidity, the cryptocurrency you choose and your own risk tolerance. In general, you should never invest money that you actually need elsewhere, as profits can never be guaranteed.
Here, too, the platform is hardly convincing. Payouts sometimes take a very long time.
You should always know what you are investing in. Cryptocurrencies are highly volatile, so you should first get to know the chosen coin in detail. If you have the necessary know-how, as well as the occasional bit of luck, then nothing stands in the way of early profits.
