If you don’t already have a bitcoin wallet, check out Part 1 of this guide to learn how to setup a mobile wallet.
Remember that if you plan on buying and storing significant quantities of bitcoin, you should invest in a secure hardware wallet.
Part 2: Create an xsats account and buy some bitcoin!
Now that you have a wallet to hold and interact with your bitcoin, head to xsats.com to create an account.
Step 1 — Sign Up
Tap on the menu bar on the top right corner of the screen to reveal the menu, then fill in your details and tap ‘Sign Up’.
Note: You should now receive a verification email. You must verify your email address with the link provided before you can access your xsats account.
Although creating an account and submitting some addresses will take around 5 minutes, after this initial setup all you need to do to buy bitcoin is send us a payment using your unique reference code (URC). Once it reaches us (usually within seconds) we’ll automatically send your bitcoin your wallet of choice (hardware, Green or otherwise). Set up a monthly or weekly (or even daily!) standing order to lower your exposure to bitcoin’s short term volatility of bitcoin while accumulating stacks of satoshis.
Alternatively, save some extra bitcoin at a moments notice by simply submitting a transfer from within your banking app. Within seconds, your bitcoin will be on its way to your specified bitcoin address(es). Don’t lose a beat whilst saving for the future.
Step 2 — Generate a bitcoin address
To receive bitcoin, you must provide an address. This is required to indicate to the sender (in this case xsats) where the bitcoin should be sent to. You can generate an address using your bitcoin wallet.
If you followed the guide above to set up a wallet using the Blockstream Green app, tap on ‘Receive’ from the home screen to generate a new address for your wallet. Now copy the address by tapping and holding your finger on the address.
Step 3 — Provide your bitcoin address(es)
Now head back to your account on xsats navigate to the ‘Buy Bitcoin’ page, again using the menu on the top right, to submit an address.
Paste your address from the previous step into the box shown. It is extremely important to make sure that the address you’re about to submit exactly matches the address you copied from your wallet, so carefully compare the two to ensure this is the case.
When you’re happy, tap submit. A table will appear showing the address you submitted moments ago. If you notice at this point that the address is incorrect, please contact us immediately through live chat to sort this.
If you plan to buy bitcoin more than once, we recommend that you upload multiple different addresses. To make sure that you avoid address reuse, please submit at least as many addresses as payments. This way we will be able to send your bitcoin to a new address every time you use xsats.
You can now proceed to payment by tapping on the arrow below the table showing your addresses.
Alternatively, repeat steps 2 & 3 to submit up to to 10 addresses ready for future payments.
Step 4 — Submit your payment
Now that you’ve provided an address for us to send your bitcoin to, you’re almost ready to receive some bitcoin.
Tap ‘Show Payment Details’ to start the process. This will reveal a checklist which aims to help ensure your bitcoin reaches you without delay. Please carefully read each point and ensure it is true before proceeding. Once you are happy with this, read our terms and conditions, and tap ‘Confirm & Acknowledge’ to acknowledge your agreement with our terms.
Now you’ll be shown your own unique 10-digit payment reference (UPR). You’ll need your UPR, along with the rest of the payment details shown, to pay for your bitcoin. Your UPR ensures that your bitcoin is sent to the correct address, so please be certain that you include it exactly as shown without any extra message.
To avoid any delays, please also ensure that you submit the payment using the exact bank details shown. You can send anywhere from £/€15 up to £/€500 per payment but note that larger purchases will require us to ask you for additional proof of identity.
This is necessary to ensure that our platform is not misused and that both our clients and ourselves are protected from any nefarious activities. We strive to make the extra verification steps as quick and streamlined as possible, and we greatly appreciate your cooperation with this.
Important: Only send pounds to the pound details, and euros to the euro details to avoid costly exchange fees.
Once you have chosen the quantity of pounds or euros you’d like to receive in bitcoin, proceed to your bank’s online/mobile banking environment to set up your payment using the provided details.
After you send the payment, your new bitcoin will appear in your wallet within anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes as a pending transaction. If you used a Lightning wallet you should be able to spend or transact with your bitcoin immediately. Alternatively, if your wallet is an on-chain wallet the transaction xsats created to send your bitcoin will require 6 confirmations before you can transact with your newly received bitcoin. Given that each bitcoin block is mined roughly 10 minutes after the previous block, this will normally take around an hour (6 blocks at 10 minutes each).
That’s it, your bitcoin is now on it’s way!
Tap on the arrow above ‘Receive Bitcoin’ to view an infographic showing a timeline of your incoming bitcoin transaction.
You can now buy bitcoin and receive it directly in your wallet of choice by simply making a bank transfer! Remember — always include your UPR exactly as shown, as the payment reference.
To prevent address reuse, make sure that you provide us with at least as many of your own bitcoin addresses as separate bitcoin purchases that you would like to make. You can upload more addresses any time you like by visiting your ‘My Bitcoin Addresses’ page after logging in to your xsats account.
Click here to learn more about why the use of any single bitcoin address more than once is bad.
Thank you for choosing xsats! Enjoy your new bitcoin :D
Please email xsats@protonmail.com if you have any questions, feedback or feature requests. We’d love to receive advice on how we can help you stack sats!
