Cryptocurrencies are essential in various situations aside from “banking the unbanked”. Examples include a speculative tool (buying low and selling at a profit), a hedge against excess inflation (when prices of essential goods and services go up, while salaries and wages remain the same) and a means against Government or foreign state coercion, domination and control.

More often than not, the words “fast” and “cheap” don’t describe most products and services on the market. However, the method below is one of the few exceptions. You can buy your desired cryptocurrencies in a matter of minutes.

The method described below only works with Revolut and Coinbase. We’ve tested Revolut with Kraken and Crypto.com; however, they didn’t work.

The process is simple. All you need to do is two transfers – one from your bank to Revolut, and from Revolut to Coinbase.

Index

Part 1 – Setting up your accounts for the first time and making your first purchase

• Step 1 – Create an account on Revolut and Coinbase
• Step 2 – Link your debit or credit card to Revolut
• Step 3 – Transfer money from Revolut to Coinbase
• Step 4 – How to buy Bitcoin or any other crypto on Coinbase

Part 2 – Recurring crypto purchases

• Step 1 – Top-up your Revolut
• Step 2 – Transfer money from Revolut to Coinbase
• Step 3 – How to buy Bitcoin or any other crypto on Coinbase

After following the above steps transfer your cryptocurrencies outside the cryptocurrency exchange for security purposes. Recommended off-exchange devices include the Ledger Nano – https://bit.ly/ZeroLedger

Part 1 – Setting up your accounts for the first time and making your first purchase

This section will describe what you’ll need to do to link your debit or credit card to Revolut and your Revolut account to Coinbase. You’ll only need to do this once.

Step 1 – Create an account on Revolut and Coinbase

If you don’t already have accounts with the following:

1. Click here to create a Revolut account – https://bit.ly/ZeroRevolut
2. Click here to create a Coinbase account – https://bit.ly/ZeroCoinbase

Sign up to Coinbase with the above link and get €8 of free Bitcoin when you buy or sell at least €85 of digital currency.

Even though you may not want to buy any cryptocurrencies, for the time being, no one knows how their situation may change in the future. It’s better to have options and choose than having a choice forced onto you, or no choice at all.

I recommend creating these accounts and going through the KYC (Know Your Customer) process – as it may take a few hours or a couple of days to get verified. The verification process is the longest step in this guide.

The KYC process may be monotonous for some. However, going through the whole process is highly recommended as exchanges may make it quite challenging to process future transactions and transfers (such as transferring cryptocurrencies to hardware wallets like Ledger and other hardware wallets).

If you already have a Revolut and a Coinbase account, or you’ve just created them and have been verified, move to step 2.

Step 2 – Link your debit or credit card to Revolut

You’ll only need to link your debit or credit card once, and you can top up your Revolut account as many times as you want.

1) Open your Revolut app on your phone.

2) Click Add money beneath the monetary figure. For this example, the current balance is €47.77.

3) Select Debit or Credit Card.

4) Select Debit or Credit Card again. Don’t select any other method such as ‘Regular bank transfer’ as it will defeat the purpose.

5) Enter your debit or card details and select Continue and then Add money securely.

6) Enter the desired amount (arrow 1). Revolut requires a minimum deposit of €15. If you’re doing this for the first time, we recommend depositing the recommended minimum amount. Select Add money securely (arrow 2).

Your account should show an updated balance if you followed the steps correctly. The previous balance for this example was €47.77 and it now reads €62.77.

Step 3 – Transfer money from Revolut to Coinbase

1) Open your Coinbase app on your phone.

2) Select the menu button (three parallel horizontal lines)

3) Select Profile & Settings.

4) Scroll down and select the Add a payment method button.

5) Select Euro Bank Account.

6) You should get the following screen. The details with the arrows next to them are going to be used in step 3 points 10 and point 11.

7) Open your Revolut app and select the Transfer button.

8) Select the New button.

9) Select Add a bank recipient.

10) In the Account details screen select Business and fill in the following details.

• Change the Country of recipient’s bank to Estonia (since the IBAN starts with EE)
• Currency change it to Euro.
• IBAN = EE227777000030936517
  • Copy it from step 3 point 6 (Recipient’s IBAN – arrow 1) and paste it in the IBAN field.
  • Be cautious as Coinbase changes its IBANs once in a while. You’ll still receive the money; however, the money will take longer to arrive.
• Company name = Coinbase Ireland Ltd
  • Copy it from step 3 point 6 (Recipient name – arrow 2) and paste it in the Company name field.

11) On the Review transfer.

Press the Add beneficiary button.

• Arrow 1 – Double-check the IBAN number with step 3 point 6 (Recipient’s IBAN – arrow 1).
• Arrow 2 – Reference = e.g. CBAEURQXJOKHON (this code will vary from user to user)
  • Copy it from step 3 point 6 (Reference number – arrow 3) and paste it in the IBAN field.
  • Make sure that you copy the correct code. This code is unique to everyone. An incorrect code may result in someone else receiving your money.
• Arrow 3 – Enter the desired amount you’d like to transfer (e.g. €15). The recommendation is to transfer a small amount to try it out.

Press the Send button.

You should get the following screen.

and the following if you press the Review button.

12) If you’ve followed the steps correctly, you should get a notification a few minutes later from Coinbase notifying you that your funds have arrived.

Step 4 – How to buy Bitcoin or any other crypto on Coinbase

Buying Bitcoin directly from Coinbase may be expensive. However, Coinbase has the option to buy Bitcoin with lower commission fees by using a trading user interface called Coinbase Pro.

Coinbase Pro comes in two flavours – the app and the website (https://pro.coinbase.com). In the latter case, open the website on a device with a big screen like a laptop.

If you’re still green and this is your first time, I recommend sticking to the Coinbase app you’re currently using.

1) Open your Coinbase app on your phone.

2) Select the Trade button at the bottom of the screen.

3) Select the cryptocurrency that you’d like to purchase. You may buy any cryptocurrency supported by Coinbase like Ethereum, Cardano, Solana, etc. In this example, we will buy €15 worth of Bitcoin.

4) Select the Trade button.

5) Select Buy BTC.

6) Confirm your trade and select Buy now. Once you hit the buy button, the trade is confirmed.

7) Once confirmed you should get something similar.

Part 2 – Recurring crypto purchases

Once you’ve followed the instructions in Part 1 and linked your debit or credit card to Revolut and your Revolut account to Coinbase, you may now purchase cryptocurrencies faster.

Step 1 – Top-up your Revolut

1) Open your Revolut app.

2) Click Add money beneath the monetary figure. For this example, the current balance is €47.77.

3) Enter the desired amount (arrow 1). Revolut requires a minimum deposit of €15. If you’re doing this for the first time, we recommend depositing the recommended minimum amount. Select Add money securely (arrow 2).

Your account should show an updated balance if you followed the steps correctly. The previous balance for this example was €47.77 and it now reads €62.77.

Step 2 – Transfer money from Revolut to Coinbase

1) Open your Revolut app and select the Transfer button.

2) In the search bar type Coinbase.

3) Select Coinbase Ireland Ltd.

4) Scroll down and select the previous transaction. We’re selecting the previous transaction not to go into the trouble of looking for the reference number from Coinbase again. In the case of the example, the reference is CBAEURQXJOKHON. Please note that the reference is unique for every Coinbase user.

If you’re unsure where to get your reference go to part 1, step 3 of this guide.

5) Make sure that the reference is correct (Arrow 1) and select the Send again button.

6) Enter the desired amount you’d like to transfer (e.g. €15) and press Continue.

Step 3 – How to buy Bitcoin or any other crypto on Coinbase

Repeat part 1 step 4 of this guide or click here.