How to convert USD to XRP

[jimbob]

I'm new here and maybe this question has been in other posts deep inside all the topics, but is there a simple way for a novice like me to take $40k USD from my bank checking acct. and buy XRP out there on the exchanges?  Can I simply mail a check somewhere instead of all the other back and forth?   Every place (Coinbase, Kraken, Poloniex, etc) I have checked into has alot of tech hassle for a low-tech guy like me and some exchanges don't allow for buying XRP.  I am old school.  So why do I want to invest in tech anyway?  I am a speculator with old money and like what Ripple is doing, but I don't know where to start so that I can hold XRP safely for the next several years before hopefully, cashing out....Thanks for any advice or simple step-by-step process and places to go to make it happen.  

[Global]

Hi jimbob,

 

I suggest to open an account on Gatehub, you will be asked to do a KYC, which means uploading some scanned documents (passport/ID). Once your account is verified, you will be able to wire-transfer the money to their account in Slovenia. Depending on your bank's location, it may be international (3-5 days) or SEPA - within EU (1-2 days). Once your USD show up on the account, you can trade them for XRP, using trading paid XRP/Gatehub.USD. I hope it helps.

https://www.gatehub.net/

https://ripple.com/xrp-portal/how-to-buy-xrp/  (scroll down to Gatehub)

 

[Guest]

Conventional internet banking is easier than setting up (and backing up) a cold address for safe storage of XRPs. Given your self-declared aversion to the former, you're going to have to be extra extra careful to accomplish the latter correctly! You're talking (wisely) about “several years”, so cold storage is the way to go. Several years gives you plenty of time to read up on how to mobilize funds from your cold address when the time comes that you want to do that.

I do have some empathy — just a few days ago I registered an internet domain name and I paid by means of cheque sent in the post!

(By “cold address”, I mean you generate the ripple address + secret on an internet-disconnected commuter and never expose the ripple secret to the internet.)

[Duke67]

@jimbob, mailing a check to an exchange/gateway in Europe could also take between 2-6 weeks until your money is credited to your account. You will definitely need to wire the money. Since check processing is so time consuming and also very costly (up to 2%) they even do not offer this option for deposit.

Edited April 27, 2017 by Duke67

[clarkd32]

open account at coinbase and buy btc

open account at bitstamp

transfer btc to bitstamp

buy xrp

i'm not sure if this is the most efficient method with fee's.... but i already had btc in coinbase and this is how i purchased my xrp.

[jimbob]

14 minutes ago, clarkd32 said:

open account at coinbase and buy btc

open account at bitstamp

transfer btc to bitstamp

buy xrp

i'm not sure if this is the most efficient method with fee's.... but i already had btc in coinbase and this is how i purchased my xrp.

That sounds like an easier alternative to the other methods I've checked into, but I might get nailed on transfer fees.  Oh well.  Would Poloniex be better to use than Bitstamp since Poloniex is in the US where I am a resident and Bitstamp is in Europe?  I found a good video of transferring BTC from Coinbase to Poloniex and I think I can buy XRP on Poloniex, right?  Once I bought the XRP on Poloniex, how do I safely store them or have them ready at a moment's notice to cash out (back to BTC or fiat currency or buy physical gold from a vendor that excepts BTC?)  if the price skyrocketed?  I guess I feel some urgency to buy now before a spike in price like there has been on other cryptos and then I can figure out the other stuff later.  Thanks to everyone who has posted and had patience with my inexperience.

[Guest]

If you're going via bitcoin, it's not a big deal (apart from liquidity considerations) where you trade your BTC for XRP, since you can move your BTC around easily. As for Poloniex, I don't know whether or not they accept USD deposits — their dollar markets are actually USDT (i.e. US dollar IOUs issued by a company called tether.to who seem to be in the news currently for reasons that I don't properly understand, perhaps something to do with changes in Taiwanese banking regulations).

[Professor Hantzen]

41 minutes ago, jimbob said:

That sounds like an easier alternative to the other methods I've checked into, but I might get nailed on transfer fees.  Oh well.  Would Poloniex be better to use than Bitstamp since Poloniex is in the US where I am a resident and Bitstamp is in Europe?  I found a good video of transferring BTC from Coinbase to Poloniex and I think I can buy XRP on Poloniex, right?  Once I bought the XRP on Poloniex, how do I safely store them or have them ready at a moment's notice to cash out (back to BTC or fiat currency or buy physical gold from a vendor that excepts BTC?)  if the price skyrocketed?  I guess I feel some urgency to buy now before a spike in price like there has been on other cryptos and then I can figure out the other stuff later.  Thanks to everyone who has posted and had patience with my inexperience.

You can just do the coinbase thing someone else suggested, but instead of bitstamp go coinbase BTC --> poloniex --> BTC/XRP.  

As for storage, download one of the ripple wallet programs listed in the "Links & Resources" on this site.  The XRP Chat Wallet should be fine.  Or you can go for a cold wallet via the appropriate links (but then you can't sell so easily if you need to in a hurry).  You can send your purchased XRP to the wallet you set up, either a cold wallet, or in one of the programs - always test with a small amount at every step in this process.

Because it's a large amount of money, I would additionally suggest splitting the funds up into packets.  Buy and send a few BTC at a time (5-10BTC), and when you trade them for XRP, put that resultant XRP into different wallets that you've set up with the downloaded wallet software.

The absolutely most important thing is to store your ripple "secret" securely, this is the string of numbers and letters beginning with "s", looking something like "sUdHekd2d8eeHdnss45kS".  The cold wallet or wallet software will show you this and typically warn you to store it safely.  This "secret" literally IS your money.  No matter what happens to any software you use (say, it stops being supported/developed and a year later when you want to sell it won't run anymore on your latest computer OS), or if you forget the password to your wallet, or whatever else happens, this string of characters is what will give you access to your XRP regardless of the future situation.  There will always be another wallet that can import your secret.  Or you can do it on an exchange.  Essentially, if secrets stop working, *everyone* has lost their XRP.  So keeping it safe is as safe as you can get.  I can't stress this enough.  Many people ignored the warnings in times past and failed to store their secrets instead only storing the password to their wallet - BIG MISTAKE.

I would suggest printing out your secrets and keeping them in a few locations.  Perhaps also store them on a USB stick with printouts and put it in a bank vault.  I recommend the secondary step of not describing what they are accurately.  Even disguise them as something else "serial number for Pentium upgrade" or something equally useless-sounding, that maybe you know, and maybe is recorded in your will registered with your lawyer, but no one else knows.

Make sure you test all of your secrets to be sure you have them recorded correctly.  The easiest way is to paste them each one into top field of the jatchili minimalist ripple client (in the Links section again), then click the "set identity" button and it should come up with the correct ripple address (that you sent your XRP to from polo).  This can all be done offline in the case of protecting the sanctity of a cold wallet.  (You can download the jatchili client for this purpose - just go to the webpage and Save it from your browser).

ABSOLUTELY DON'T STORE YOUR XRP ON AN EXCHANGE.  Exchanges can be hacked, go out of business and run off with your money, both things have and may happen to your funds on exchanges.  The risk is not worth the convenience of being able to sell in a moments notice.  That said, Bitstamp is probably about the most trustworthy in that regard.  They've been hacked before (by an employee I believe) and stolen from - and they still protected/covered all their user funds which is about as much as you can ask for.

[9090]

Just to add usdt on poloniex is not usd, it's a token that has no guarentee owned by bitfinex. So when u cash out send it back to bitstamp and go through them. The xrp price may vary from stamp and polo so keep that in mind.