Buy, Sell and Trade Ethereum Cryptocurrency in Australia

So you’re thinking of buying Ethereum? You’ve come to the right place.

You can buy Ethereum on most, if not all, of Australia’s cryptocurrency exchanges.

What is Ethereum?

Ethereum is a blockchain technology, which uses peer-to-peer networking technology (like BitTorrent) to create a network of nodes which synchronise every transaction on the network. Transactions between “accounts” are recorded on the blockchain, which keeps record of every single transaction on the network, on every single node – this means that transactions are highly secure, and cannot be reversed. This high security is provided by a process called “mining”, which requires the transactions to be “hashed”, a process of computing large amounts of random jibberish to a certain specification (let’s call if difficulty) such that when the specification is met, transactions which are used to compute that jibberish, are committed to the network and through a process of synchronising and voting, are rendered permanent.

What makes Ethereum miles different to BitCoin, is the addition of distributed application technology; allowing developers to write “contracts” which can be used to represent simple things like voting in an election, or creating a shareholder registry backed by Ethereum currency (which in itself has spawned a number of “ICO”‘s; initial coin offerings; the equivelant of an IPO).

How do I Buy Ethereum in Australia?

In a nut shell…

Register with a cryptocurrency exchange

Check out our comprehensive review of Australia’s best cryptocurrency exchanges to choose where you can start.

Deposit money into your exchange account

You will usually deposit money into a cryptocurrency exchange via a bank deposit/transfer, credit card payment or other money transfer

Use the exchange to buy Ethereum

Find Ethereum, the exchange will specify the current price, often with a buy/sell price, or a flat price to order at market rates. Generally you can specify the amount of Ethereum you want to buy, by specifying an amount in ETH or AUD.

Transfer Ethereum into a “wallet”

Now that you have bought cryptocurrency, you need to make sure it is kept secure. If you are going to simply trade cryptocurrencies, you can generally leave your funds safely on the exchange. If you are looking to hold your cryptocurrency for a longer term, or to use for purchasing goods and services on the internet, we recommend the use of a hardware wallet, such as a Trezor or Ledger Wallet. You can also transfer your cryptocurrency to other exchanges such as Binance, where you can trade cryptocurrencies in higher volumes and with lower transaction fees.

Sell Ethereum  for fiat (dollars)

While your cryptocurrency lives on an Australian cryptocurrency exchange, you can sell your bitcoin, ethereum or other cryptocurrency for Australian dollars.

Withdraw to your bank account, cheque, or credit card

Once you have sold your cryptocurrency, the exchange will credit your account with Australian dollars, which you can withdraw to your Australian bank account.

Where to Buy Ethereum in Australia

Buying the Ethereum cryptocurrency in Australia couldn’t be easier with the majority of the below websites offering instant, or near-instant, funding of your account from a bank account or deposit over the counter at a newsagent. 

Ethereum Security

What’s different with crypto-currency, is that you are even more responsible for securing your new found money. If your CoinSpot account is hacked, it’s easy for someone to send the Ethereum/Bitcoin in your account to their own account, and at that point, it’s gone forever.

You MUST secure your account, your computer, and any other devices you use to login!

  • Add Two-Factor Authentication to your account – CoinSpot uses the Google Authenticator to verify that it’s you; if you’re prone to losing your phone, you need to be a little bit more responsible…
  • Never disclose your wallet/account addresses to anyone on social media – if someone has your address, they can easily query the balance of your account, and target you
  • Once you have funds in your CoinSpot account, transfer them to a new account which is not held on CoinSpot or any web based account!

Setting up your own Ethereum Account

This is trickier. You need a physical computer; laptop or otherwise; and about 20GB of free space.

This comes with a disclaimer; you must download the Ethereum wallet from the Ethereum Project website; https://www.ethereum.org – scroll to the bottom and find the download button. You’ll receive this disclaimer which covers off what I said above; it’s no joke.

No joke, you ARE responsible for your own security. If you ignore this warning, you risk losing it all.

No joke, you ARE responsible for your own security. If you ignore this warning, you risk losing it all.

Once you’ve downloaded this and installed it, you need to wait for the blockchain to synchronise – the first time you run this, it will execute a “fast sync” which can sync the entire blockchain in under an hour. If you exit before this finishes, it will revert to a full sync, and start at zero all over – this will take a lot longer.

It should look a little something like this:

Ethereum Wallet up and running; here you can add accounts and send Ethereum

Ethereum Wallet up and running; here you can add accounts and send Ethereum

Next step, you want to click ADD ACCOUNT. You’ll be prompted for a password – I suggest using 1Password or LastPass to generate a very strong password!

When you create an account, you must specify a password to unlock it to transfer Ethereum. Make sure you keep this secure; if you forget it, you won't be able to "forget password"

When you create an account, you must specify a password to unlock it to transfer Ethereum. Make sure you keep this secure; if you forget it, you won’t be able to “forget password”

After you confirm your password and heed the warning about backing up your keys, BACK UP YOUR KEYS.

To do this, point to the Accounts menu, then Backup, then Accounts.

Make sure you backup your account somewhere safe; to a USB or Dropbox; if you lose your account keys, they're gone forever.

Make sure you backup your account somewhere safe; to a USB or Dropbox; if you lose your account keys, they’re gone forever.

Make sure you backup these files to something safe! DropBox, a USB flash drive – whatever it is, if you transfer money to this new account, you MUST have the key on your PC – if your computer is lost, stolen or you have to format the hard drive for whatever reason, you won’t be able to ever get your account back, unless you backed up the keys as directed above.

Transferring Ethereum from CoinSpot to your Account

Simple. Grab the account address by clicking your account in the Ethereum Wallet app, then use the Copy Address button to copy it to your clipboard.

Head to CoinSpot, login etc, and head to your wallet. Open your wallet and you will have an option to Send Ethereum.

Paste your account address in the Recipient field,  select your ETH wallet and how much you want to transfer – click Use Max if you want to transfer the whole lot.

Make sure the address is right!!!! If you muck that up, your moola is GONE.

If you’re happy with it, click Send Funds, and wait for it to show up in your Ethereum Wallet. Done.

Always triple check the amount and payment address; if you haven't noticed the theme here, no one can reverse your transaction if you muck it up!

Always triple check the amount and payment address; if you haven’t noticed the theme here, no one can reverse your transaction if you muck it up!