This tutorial is a quick start guide to buying MIOTA, the native cryptocurrency on the IOTA ecosystem. It delves into what IOTA is, why an investor would want to invest in the digital asset, and how to buy the tokens through a regulated cryptocurrency exchange, one of the more common ways to do it.
Introduction
MIOTA is a prominent digital currency asset currently among the fifty most valuable cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. Interested investors can easily purchase, store and trade it on some of the leading crypto exchanges.
However, there are risks to using trading platforms to buy MIOTA. As an investor, you need to make certain considerations to ensure that you protect your investments, avoid risks and possibly make some handsome returns.
In the sections that follow, this guide delves into how to buy MIOTA. The process entails choosing a reliable and trustworthy crypto exchange, funding your account then making the purchase.
You will discover what to look for when choosing a trading platform – the risks inherent in choosing amongst the various exchanges and how to avoid them.
Finally, the guide will outline a simple step-by-step process for buying MIOTA through a centralized crypto exchange. The tutorial features Uphold, which is a highly regulated multi-asset brokerage platform.
What is IOTA (MIOTA)?
MIOTA is a digital currency that utilizes ‘Tangle,’ a Decentralized Acyclic Graph (DAG) technology on top of which the IOTA project is based. Unlike other cryptocurrencies which are created on a blockchain, IOTA’s Tangle is not a blockchain. Instead, it is a type of distributed ledger technology (DLT) created to circumvent the drawbacks of the more conventional blockchains such as Bitcoin.
Created in 2015 to help bring the ‘Internet of Things’ into reality, IOTA was designed with scalability in mind. With typical blockchains, transactions are added to multiple data sets, which are then linked to precious data sets to form a string of blocks, thus referred to as a blockchain.
Tangle gets rid of the sequential nature of blockchains opting to use parallel processing whereby each transaction is validated by referencing two previously verified transactions. Multiple transactions can be verified simultaneously, leading to an infinitely scalable structure. The higher the
IOTA has several advantages over blockchains such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, which include:
- It’s much more scalable;
- The proprietary Tangle technology is more energy-efficient and, therefore, eco-friendlier;
- Transaction fees on IOTA are currently zero.
Why Invest in IOTA
Even though transactions on the IOTA network are free, investors can find value in the native MIOTA tokens in a few other ways. These include:
- Make payments – the ‘Internet of Things’ digital economy or what is sometimes referred to as the ‘machine economy’ that IOTA seeks to enable with its protocol will involve autonomous service and product exchanges amongst various devices. MIOTA, being the native IOTA digital asset, will be instrumental in facilitating payments for these kinds of transactions;
- Staking – part of IOTA’s core developers are working on releasing Assembly, which is a new protocol that is poised to introduce smart contract capability on the IOTA DLT. With this launch, staking has been enabled on Assembly allowing MIOTA holders to stake their tokens and receive ASMB tokens as a reward. ASMB tokens are designed to be used as native digital assets on the Assembly platform once it launches;
- Speculation – cryptocurrencies, MIOTA tokens included, are highly volatile assets, and their volatility offers investors an opportunity to benefit.
Where to Buy IOTA (MIOTA) Tokens
There are two types of platforms on which you can purchase MIOTA tokens:
- Centralized exchanges (CEX);
- Decentralized exchanges (DEX).
Centralized exchanges are platforms that are controlled by a particular company, and the decisions on the governance of the exchange are made by a single person, group, or entity. Decentralized exchanges distribute the decision-making activity amongst a broader set of individuals or entities, thus ensuring that no single party is responsible for the platform’s governance.
CEX platforms have perceived advantages over their DEX counterparts, including:
- They adhere to regulatory provisions such as KYC (know your customer) and AML (anti-money laundering) laws;
- They typically offer better customer service;
- Users generally get access to better and more intuitive user interfaces with CEX platforms over their DEX counterparts;
- CEXes tend to process transactions faster than DEXes.
For this tutorial, we will outline how to buy IOTA (MIOTA) through Uphold, a fully regulated, highly secure, and simple-to-use multi-asset brokerage platform. It enables users to buy, sell, and trade US-based stocks, precious metals including gold and silver, several national currencies, environmental assets, and more than 80 various cryptocurrencies. MIOTA is one of the digital currencies you can access via Uphold.
How to Buy IOTA on Uphold (step-by-step)
Create an Uphold account.
The following section wil require a fully verified Uphold account. Therefore, you need to sign up if this is your first time using the platform.
To do that, visit Uphold.com, click on the Signup button on the top right-hand side of the home page.
Being a full-regulated exchange, Uphold will require you to provide identifying information as part of the KYC (know your customer) and AML (anti-money laundering) provisions. For a complete guide on how to sign up to Uphold, check out our guide here.
Log in to your account.
After creating your Uphold account, log in using the provided email and password.
Explore the interface.
Once you’re logged in, you will notice three columns that make up the Uphold user interface. The first column provides a list of your transaction history and a quick rundown of the performance of assets on your watch list.
The middle column represents the assets in your portfolio. This is where you will check to see whether the IOTA purchase transaction has been successful. The column provides an overview of all the assets in your account and their market performance over the last day, week, month, or year.
Finally, there is the transaction column. It is labeled ‘Anything to Anything,’ signifying that users can trade between any of the available assets. For example, you can trade your gold for Bitcoin or silver for some Tesla stock.
It is the last column that will be of particular focus in this tutorial. There are three tabs on this column that enable the user to specify the kind of trade they wish to execute.
- Transact – this tab offers essential tools to execute a regular buy, sell, or trade order;
- Repeat – here, you will be able to set up a recurring sell, purchase, or trade of IOTA or any other asset;
- Limit – the last tab enables the user to set up a limit order type where they specify the price at which they want to execute a trade.
Here’s how to buy IOTA (MIOTA) on Uphold using all three tabs.
1. How to buy IOTA (MIOTA) on the spot using Uphold
Step 1 – Select the [Transact] tab.
Click on the first tab of the transaction form.
Step 2 – Add a payment method.
Tap/click on the [From] field, revealing a list of options available. Scroll down and locate the banks and debit card section.
Adding either of the two payment methods is straightforward. Click on the adjacent plus symbols corresponding to each option as shown below.
To add a debit card, provide the card details in the follow-up screen after clicking through the plus symbol.
Click the [Add card] button to return home page.
If you want to make a bank transfer instead, you will first need to specify the default currency of your bank account.
Then choose a deposit method between a bank deposit and making a wire transfer. The former is instant while the latter takes a few (business) days to settle.
Wire transfers are, however, appropriate for large deposits, typically larger than $5K. Once you select a deposit method, Uphold will provide its bank account details to which you will make a transfer.
Click [Done] to close the bank details screen and revert back to the initial transaction page.
Step 3 – Select the asset to buy.
Next, click on the [To] field to reveal the list of supported assets you can buy. Use the search box at the top to locate IOTA or scroll down, click on the [Cryptocurrencies] tab to filter out the various asset types, then scroll further to locate IOTA.
Once you locate it, select it to revert back to the home screen.
Now that you have your payment method and purchase asset set up, next provide the amount you wish to buy. There are three options here – you can opt to specify how much to deduct from your bank or debit card by using the first form field. Alternatively, you can use the middle field, which holds the same value as the first one as they represent the same currency.
The final option is to specify how many IOTA coins you want to buy. If you do, the system will autofill in the other fields with appropriate figures according to exchange rate and taking into consideration transaction fees.
Step 4 – Confirm the transaction.
Next, click on the [Preview] button at the bottom of the transaction form to load up the confirmation screen. Here, check to ensure that all the details are correct, including the payment method, transaction amount, and the receiving asset.
If everything seems correct, confirm the transaction. It is worth noting that if you opted to use wire transfer as your payment method, the transaction might take a few days to settle and have your IOTA tokens credited to your account.
2. How to Buy IOTA (MIOTA) Using the Repeat feature on Uphold
Step 1 – Activate the Repeat feature.
Select the [Repeat] button.
You’ll notice the extra panel that is available within the repeat transaction form. To activate the feature, tap on the [Repeats] tab or the [Never >] link.
From the pop-up dialog box, select the repetition frequency you prefer, which could be daily, weekly, or monthly.
Step 2 – Select start and end dates
By default, the day that you set up the transaction will be the starting date, but you can change it by clicking on the [Starts] tab and selecting a preferable date.
For the end date, you have two options: either choose a definitive date or choose the number of occurrences.
Choose the [Occurrences] tab to specify how many times you want the repeat transaction to occur.
Finally, click on [Set] to close the dialog box and revert back to the transaction form.
Also, fill in the payment method, transaction amount, and receiving asset as we described in the previous section.
Step 3 – Confirm the transaction.
Hit [Preview] to proceed to the confirmation page, where you will check to ensure that the details are correct, from the payment method, transaction amount, and receiving address to the repeat settings.
Confirm and authorize the transaction.
Note: You can only use the repeat feature in conjunction with the debit card payment method. Ensure that your card is funded for every subsequent transaction to avoid canceled orders.
3. How to Set Up a Limit Order to Buy IOTA (MIOTA) on Uphold
The last option to buy IOTA on Uphold is to use a limit order whereby the buyer has control over the price at which they execute their transaction.
Step 1 – Select the [Limit] tab.
With the Limit tab selected, you get access to a slightly different transaction form, unlike the other two previous tabs.
Here you have the same three form fields: one for specifying a payment method, another for the asset being bought. The middle one, as opposed to previous functions where it served as a convenience feature to show the fiat equivalent, here, it actually serves an irreplaceable purpose.
Notice that the middle form field now has a green chain symbol which shows that it is linked to either the top or bottom fields. The up and downward pointing arrows help to show which way the middle is connected.
The connection is significant because it enables the user to lock in the price of the asset they are buying by specifying how much they want to spend in fiat currency and providing the number of tokens to buy with that amount in the [To] field.
To proceed, provide a payment method and select IOTA as the buying asset as we have done previously, then fill in the exact amounts on the appropriate form fields.
Step 2 – Specify order validity.
While the limit order enables one to buy an asset at a favorable price, there is a chance that the market price does not fall or rise to that prescribed level. The validity setting will ensure that the order is canceled either automatically or manually in the event that the market price does not match the execution price.
To change this setting for our order, tap on the [Duration] tab to reveal three options:
- ‘Good ‘til canceled’ is the manual option where you specify that you will log into your account to cancel the pending order;
- ‘Good ‘til end of day’ setting automatically cancels the order at midnight;
- ‘Good ‘til date’ allows the user to specify a given date beyond which the order will be canceled. If you choose this option, click on the [Set a date] link to pick a date from the calendar view provided.
Once you set up your limit order trade, click the [Preview] tab and confirm the transaction. The order will be listed as pending until the execution price is achieved.
Final thoughts
IOTA is a highly innovative project, and its popularity has made it simple for its investors and community members to acquire it. It is now easy to buy IOTA from among the leading crypto exchanges and to store it within some of the most popular crypto wallets.
As we have demonstrated in this tutorial, the process is straightforward. Whenever you choose a trading platform or brokerage to buy IOTA, ensure you consider the multiple factors that we provided here to safeguard your investment.
Tip: Anyone new to the cryptocurrency space may look up all of the supported crypto exchanges to buy IOTA and other asset-related metrics on the largest cryptocurrency market aggregator CoinMarketCap.
Disclaimer: The content on this site should not be considered investment advice. Investing is speculative and digital assets are highly volatile. Your capital is at risk when investing, so only invest what you are willing to lose.
Frequently Asked Questions on Buying IOTA (MIOTA)
What is IOTA (MIOTA)?
IOTA is a decentralized network whose infrastructure is based on the Decentralized Acyclic Graph (DAG) technology called ‘Tangle.’ The network is designed to facilitate communication and value transfer between the Internet of Things (IoT) devices. MIOTA is IOTA’s native platform token.
What is MIOTA used for?
MIOTA coins can be used to serve three main purposes:
- Value transfer as a payment method;
- Staking for passive income;
- Speculation from digital asset traders.
Why invest in IOTA?
IOTA is a highly innovative project with several advantages, including:
- Being highly scalable;
- Its tangle technology is energy-efficient;
- Transactions on the IOTA network are currently zero.
Where can I buy IOTA (MIOTA)?
IOTA can be bought from most of the leading cryptocurrency exchanges including Uphold, a fully-regulated and high secure platform that we used for our demonstration in this tutorial.
