New Service Bitcoin Insanity Lets You Buy Bitcoin with Credit Card

A new service called Bitcoin Insanity has started, which allows people to purchase a limited quantity of Bitcoin with their credit cards or PayPal. This is a great service for people who are curious about Bitcoin and don’t know where to begin. Today, acquiring your first Bitcoins can still be a challenge for those who are not used the ways and means of the Bitcoin world. Services like Bitcoin Insanity make this easy, since most people are comfortable checking out with credit cards or PayPal.

The service charges a premium of close to 15-20% over the market rate at Bitstamp. Part of it goes towards paying the payment processor fees for credit cards or PayPal and part of it goes towards any chargebacks. One of the prime reasons people don’t usually trade Bitcoins for money through credit cards or PayPal is due to the fear of chargebacks. However, a company like Bitcoin Insanity can reduce this risk by selling a limited quantity only to many different people, thereby diversifying their risk. The premium helps too.

For the cryptocurrency enthusiasts who live and breathe Bitcoin and altcoins, this service is probably something they’ll never use, since they can get a much better rate at exchanges. However, it can still be a challenge for the uninitiated to purchase their first Bitcoins, as the system of going through exchanges and giving out your personal information might intimidate people.

For people who live in major cities, like New York, there are probably many person-to-person trading that can be done through Meetup groups or other organizations, such as the New York Bitcoin Center that holds in-person trading twice a week. In-person trading still remains the most anonymous way to buy or sell Bitcoin, as exchanges require some form of identification. With in-person trading, the people behind the transaction are essentially anonymous and the exchange happens in cash, which is another completely anonymous medium of exchange.

Services like Bitcoin Insanity are helping push Bitcoin into the mainstream. It shouldn’t be surprising if we see more such services for other altcoins too, and it can be a unique selling point for that altcoin community. Ease of purchasing a cryptocurrency you believe in, even if it’s at a premium, is a great service to reach people who are not very well versed in the cryptocurrency space. This is going to become more and more important as cryptocurrencies go mainstream and attract people beyond the traditional spaces.