Bitcoin is the most widely adopted cryptocurrency and is held by individuals, institutions, and sovereign wealth funds. It’s the most popular cryptocurrency for many reasons. Firstly, it was the first cryptocurrency created and has had the most time to grow its network. Secondly, it's considered the most secure digital asset thanks to all of the bitcoin miners. Thirdly, it has generated outsized returns and many [bitcoin success stories](https://www.cointree.com/learn/bitcoin-success-stories/) for investors. Finally, it’s seen as both digital gold and a growing payment network.

The best place to purchase bitcoin is on a crypto exchange like [Cointree](https://www.cointree.com/). We make it easy to buy bitcoin for the first time. All you need to do is sign up to our exchange website, go through the ID verification steps to confirm your personal details, deposit funds and you'll be ready to make your first purchase. Our exchange offers an expert customer service team to help you start trading, low trading fees from fiat currencies, and multiple payment options so that you can buy and sell bitcoin with ease. You can deposit AUD and make your first purchase in minutes.

You can select from a variety of payment options, including PayID, bank transfer with mobile or online banking, or even a cash deposit. All you need is a few bank details and you'll be ready to make a deposit. The fastest of these methods is PayID. Most banks in Australia support PayID, so you can easily transfer the money from your bank account to our crypto exchange. Then we will credit your trading account instantly and you'll be able to buy bitcoin.

Yes, there is no minimum deposit to buy bitcoin. You can buy $10 worth of bitcoin, $10,000 worth of bitcoin, or even $1 million worth of bitcoin. Our crypto exchange can handle all sizes of purchases. While you cannot buy an entire bitcoin for $10, you will be able to buy fractions of a bitcoin — known as satoshis.

Yes, you can buy a fraction of a bitcoin and don’t have to purchase an entire coin. You can buy as little as 0.00000001 BTC, which is known as 1 satoshi (named after bitcoin’s pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto). In fact, buying small amounts of bitcoin every week is one of the most popular bitcoin investment methods, known as dollar-cost averaging.

Gold has been used as money for thousands of years because it is incredibly scarce, easily divisible and lasts for thousands of years. Firstly, bitcoin offers all of these features. Bitcoin is more scarce than gold with a fixed supply of 21 million bitcoins, every bitcoin is divisible into 100 million satoshis, and it can last forever. Secondly, bitcoin has the advantage of being digital. It can be sent anywhere in the world at the click of a button and doesn't require massive vaults to store it. As Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of bitcoin, wrote, “Imagine there was a base metal as scarce as gold but with... one special, magical property: it can be transported over a communications channel.” Whether we have a bitcoin currency that dominates global trade or a digital gold asset that’s considered pristine capital to hold, many are certain that it will become an important part of everyone's financial future.

Bitcoin’s fixed supply of 21 million bitcoins means that it will ultimately be the adoption that drives the price of bitcoin. If the overall adoption of bitcoin continues to rise over the long term, so will its price. There are already over 100 million people using [cryptocurrencies](https://www.cointree.com/trade/cryptocurrencies/), including 3.3 million Australians.

The price of bitcoin is the equilibrium between its supply and demand. Supply comes from people selling bitcoin and demand comes from people buying bitcoin. Entities buying and selling bitcoin include individual investors and traders, public and private companies, bitcoin ETFs, hedge funds, and even sovereign wealth funds. When demand outpaces supply, the price rises and it falls when supply outpaces demand. On our crypto exchange, we always calculate bitcoin's price in Australian dollars (AUD) so you can work out exactly how much AUD you want to invest. You can use PayID to get your funds processed instantly and sent to your account on our crypto exchange, although that's not your only payment method available. You can also deposit cash or use a wire transfer to get your funds on our crypto exchange. Why does the price go up and down? Bitcoin is considered a highly volatile asset by some, as the price can rise and fall quickly. In part, this is due to bitcoin's fixed supply of only 21 million bitcoins. As bitcoin mining only produces a relatively small amount of bitcoin compared to the existing stock, known as the [stock-to-flow](https://www.cointree.com/learn/bitcoins-stock-to-flow-model/), the price can rapidly rise over the short term when demand increases. Its price has also dramatically risen over the long term, being one of the best performing asset classes to date. Its market cap is calculated by multiplying the current price by the current circulating supply. It shows the total value of the bitcoin network. It's useful to compare it to the market depth of other digital assets, so you're making an informed decision when you buy BTC.

Bitcoin has made cryptocurrency the best performing asset class of the past decade with impressive market depth. With a compound annual growth rate of over 200% between 2011 and 2021, it has outperformed gold by a factor of more than 200. It even outperformed the second-best performing asset class, the NASDAQ 100, by 1,000%. Even small investments in bitcoin have led to outsized returns for investors portfolios overall. There’s no maximum limit on its price and it could continue to climb in the coming years, especially if fiat currency continues to be devalued. As always, past results do not guarantee future performance.

At Cointree, we prioritise the security of your account to make sure your digital assets are always protected. Still, it's always important to follow the best security practices, which is why we always recommend using two-factor authentication on your account. While the price can sometimes fluctuate rapidly, bitcoin has been the best performing asset over the past decade. It can also bring diversification benefits to your portfolio and many consider it to provide protection against inflation. We look to protect our users in every way we can. Even though the overwhelming amount of terrorism financing and money laundering is done through traditional big banks using fiat currency, we still ensure stringent standards to ensure that digital currency is protected here in Australia. As a service provider, we're here to remain compliant and protect our users.

We prioritise security to make sure your bitcoin is safe and secure. When you trade with Cointree, you are given a free wallet to store your bitcoin. We recommend that you strengthen the security of your wallet by enabling Two Factor Authentication (2FA). This gives you a time-sensitive code every time you log in. You can also store bitcoin in an external wallet. All you need to do is send your bitcoin from your Cointree wallet to a hardware wallet such as a Ledger or Trezor. As cryptocurrency security and safekeeping is the user's responsibility, make you use the [best bitcoin wallet Australia](https://www.cointree.com/learn/best-bitcoin-wallet-australia/).