Holiday seasons are full of shoppers buying valuable goods for their friends and families. From a pair of jeans to an expensive perfume, from an Amazon gift card to gold. It's the excitement of receiving gifts and celebrating at every occasion, which makes the process so heartwarming.

Progressing in the digital world, we are seeing cryptocurrencies becoming a technological and financial phenomenon. In the last two years, the world has realized that if there is an asset that has proved to be an incredible store of growing value, it is Bitcoin. Seeing this tremendously rising interest, and naturally willing to be thoughtful with her gift, one of my friends asked:

“Can I gift someone a Bitcoin?”

A 100% YES!

There are modern and traditional ways of sending Bitcoin gifts. Let’s talk about the modern way first which is the easier of the two.

Gifting Bitcoin with OSOM App

OSOM has built an easy method for any person to gift Bitcoin. All you have to do is download the app and sign up. You can use a bank transfer or a debit card to deposit EUR to the app. Once the money is deposited, buy Bitcoin for the amount you wish to gift. A link will be generated. Just send the link to your friend and they will be able to access their gift using it. It couldn’t be easier!

Other Ways of Gifting BTC

To gift cryptocurrencies using traditional methods, you will need to keep a few prerequisites in mind. In this guide, we will discuss all the requirements and methods you can use to gift cryptocurrencies to your lucky recipients.

You should be able to buy cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. Your crypto gift needs to have storage with a public and a private address where cryptocurrencies can be transferred and withdrawn. The recipient should be able to withdraw those cryptocurrencies.

Let’s discuss the ways you can buy, store, and gift cryptocurrencies, in order to meet those requirements.

Gifting Bitcoin via Crypto Exchange

Gifting cryptocurrency via an exchange is one option. You start by creating an account on a crypto exchange of your choice, which allows you to buy cryptocurrencies. Once you have an account, you will be asked to complete your KYC Verification. There are some exchanges which allow deposits, withdrawals, and trading to a certain limit for customers who don’t wish to verify their KYC.

Once you have your account set up, you will be asked to add a payment method. You can link your bank account or directly buy Bitcoin or any other listed tokens using a debit or credit card. You can later send these cryptocurrencies to your friend’s wallet address but for this, you will need the public address of your friend’s wallet. Exchanges like Coinbase also allow you to send cryptos using email ids if your friend also has an account on Coinbase.

Choosing a Wallet

You need wallets to store your cryptocurrencies and now, these wallets are available in all digital and physical forms like cold storages, hardware, browser extensions, desktop, paper, and many more. You can directly gift BTC to your friend’s wallet as long as it can accept the crypto of choice.

Hardware Wallet

Hardware wallets are most commonly available in the form of a pendrive. Compared to others, they are quite secure. Hardware wallets are offline and hence, completely disconnected from a possibility of an online cyber attack. Additionally, they are virus-protected and support multi-signatures as well. Hardware wallets are used by investors around the world to keep their long-term investments secure. You can buy small, portable, and multicoin hardware wallets like Ledger Nano S or Trezor Model T for less than 100 EUR.

Paper Wallet

Paper wallets are the easiest wallet to gift Bitcoin if you want your wallet to be tangible and cheap. A paper wallet is a paper in which all the necessary details which a user needs to access the wallet like public address, private keys, and QR codes are printed. Paper wallets were used in the initial years of Bitcoin but seen their application reduced because they were deemed unsafe by the experts. However, there are precautions you can take to keep your private information and keys printed on the paper wallet secure.

Bitcoin Gift Cards and Crypto Vouchers

Bitcoin gift cards are the crypto replicas of Amazon or Starbucks gift cards which you can directly gift to your friends and family. The process is also similar. There are several websites where you need to select the amount you want and pay it to the platform. Once the payment is made, the same denomination will be deposited into your gift card and the gift card will be couriered to you at your mailing address. Your friend can then redeem these cryptocurrencies by going on the same website and entering the details mentioned on the code.

Crypto vouchers also work like they do in the retail industry. You can buy vouchers online and a private code will be emailed to you. Your friend can use this private code on a given website, provide your wallet’s public address, and the same amount of cryptocurrency will be automatically deposited in your friend’s wallet. As you can see, it is a type of prepaid way to buy cryptos where they are redeemable via a code.

Physical Crypto - What is it and how to gift it?

You might have seen those physical-looking gold Bitcoins on various blogs or crypto news websites. These are not just chocolates which you receive on Christmas. Some organizations manufacture physical Bitcoins containing a hologram, a public address, and a private-key to access the wallet. These coins look precious with their gold, silver, and bronze colors. The appearance of these coins look premium for a gift. Gifting these coins, which are actually “holding” Bitcoin, can be a pretty cool surprise for your friends.

We have already digitized our gifts and the mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies globally is allowing us to be more creative with their use cases. It is a young and growing market with a huge potential to grow in the coming years. Buying cryptos as gifts for your loved ones is a sign that you care for their future as you are gifting something which is likely going to appreciate in value over time.

No worries if you can’t purchase a full Bitcoin, you can always start from a fraction. If you want to level up your game, many methods support multiple cryptocurrencies. This means if you want, you can gift an entire crypto portfolio, which you can do inside the OSOM Autopilot App.

Gifting a Bitcoin can be your way of introducing a loved one to the world of crypto and you might have to sit with them for a while to help them learn the basics of blockchain and cryptocurrencies. Just take care of a few security measures from your side and that’s it! You have gifted them something which is an expression of care and financial savviness.