You must’ve come across Ethereum if you’re familiar with the crypto world. It is the second best and most accepted cryptocurrency in the market according to CoinMarketCap.

You can buy, sell, trade, exchange or stake Ethereum on various crypto exchange platforms. But it is not just any other cryptocurrency, it is a crypto which has real-world applications and is hence more preferable and traded than any other crypto.

Ethereum has it’s scope outside the exchange platform and trading. 

Buying and selling Ethereum in India has been made so easy with these new crypto platforms that directly trade with the coin. Earlier, in order to buy Ethereum one had to buy Bitcoin and then get it Converted to Ethereum which was a tedious task. But the evolution of Ethereum to the next best thing has changed a lot in the market.

So let’s dive in to see what Ethereum is and how you can buy it in India. 

WHAT IS ETHEREUM ?  

Ethereum is the second most popular digital asset after Bitcoin. It functions on a Blockchain technology and is an open source platform. Ethereum is a crypto asset used to build smart contracts and dapp.

It has its own cryptocurrency called Ether or Ethereum (ETH). The crypto asset is a Decentralised digital ledger that records public transactions. Ethereum claims to be “The world’s programmable Blockchain”. 

The digital asset was launched in 2015 by Vitalik Buterin and Joe Lubin. The original idea behind the launch of a crypto asset was to serve as an alternative to finance and now ether is an acceptable payment for various goods and services.

The market is highly volatile, as of now the market cap of Ethereum is $220,492,500,172.56 and the price of Ethereum is $1,875.92. 

THINGS TO KNOW BEFORE BUYING ETHEREUM

You must be familiar with certain things before buying Ethereum. It is a global dominating crypto asset but like other crypto,

Ethereum has also seen its share of pump and dump in the market. 

• Highly volatile market: Ethereum is a very unstable Cryptocurrency whose market price keeps fluctuating with great margins every second hour. This is why you should be prepared to gain or lose every minute while investing in Ethereum. But it is always better to HODL your crypto which can rise and bounce back immediately. 
• Real-world use: Ethereum is not just a crypto which can be bought and sold for exchange purposes. Ethereum has a real world utility for DeFi coins and NFTs. Due to its various advantages over its other competitors, Ethereum is mostly preferred when it comes to buying crypto. 
• Peer-to-peer transactions: With Ethereum, you can also facilitate peer-to-peer transactions but only if you have enough ETH. In this one person can trade Ethereum with another person without paying Trading fees. 

PROS OF BUYING ETHEREUM

1. Smart contracts : These smart contracts can give you ownership of assets like homes, cars, etc. No need for long queues or overdue judgements for the ownership of a property, one can simply own it through the smart contracts and pay in ETH as well. 
2. Real-world uses : Ethereum is more than just a cryptocurrency or a store of value. It is used in smart contracts, for developing dapps, DeFi coins run on Ethereum’s Blockchain and NFTs are Ethereum based crypto assets. 
3. The Decentralised coin : ETH is decentralised and serves as an alternative to the traditional financial currency. Most shops, merchants or States have accepted ETH as a currency already. 

CONS OF BUYING ETHEREUM

1. Scaling issues : The various functions carried on the Ethereum platform leads to bugs, crashes, breakdowns, and such events invite security threats like hacking and theft. Ethereum has to fix its scaling issues to get more users.
2. The programming language : Ethereum uses its own programming language called Solidity which is not easy to learn. There are not many beginner friendly explanations for such a complex programming language.
3. Risky investment : Ethereum is a highly volatile market. One can turn their $100 to $1000 instantly or lose $90 for the same. The market can be highly unpredictable and involves high risk.

Three Websites to Buy Ethereum in India

There are many websites that let you buy, sell and trade ETH in India against INR. 

1. CoinDCX: I mostly use CoinDCX to buy Ethereum in India. CoinDCX is very user friendly. And you can even lend or stake ETH to earn yearly interest on Ethereum. The interest rate is one of the highest paid by any platform.
2. Wazirx: Apart from CoinDCX, Wazirx is another popular crypto exchange in India. Wazirx has very good liquidity. If you would like to bulk purchase ETH, head over to Wazirx. 
3. BitBNS: BitBNS is one of the oldest cryptocurrency exchanges in India. You can either use Bitbns website or download their app to buy Ethereum in India.