Bitcoin.com Wallet Now Makes It Even Easier to Buy Bitcoin Cash (BCH)

On Tuesday (April 16), Bitcoin.com announced that its official cryptocurrency wallet, which supports both BCH and BTC, has been updated such that it now allows its Europe-based users to purchase BCH directly from within the wallet.

With this update, the "Bitcoin.com Wallet" app, which was originally released in June 2017, is able to buy, store, send, and receive BCH and BTC. The app is available for all major computing platforms: iOS, Android, MacOS, Windows, and Linux.

Thanks to a partnership with UK-based MoonPay, Bitcoin.com Wallet users in Europe (including the UK) are now able to buy cryptocurrency via debit and credit cards (both Visa and Mastercard are supported). You can purchase up to 150 euros' worth of BCH "without the need for formally validating your identity," but for larger amounts ("up to €5,000 daily" and "up to €20,000 monthly"), you will need to go through the Know Your Customer (KYC) process.

Bitcoin Cash advocate Roger Ver, who is also the CEO of Bitcoin.com, had this to say about the new feature:

“We strive to bring economic freedom to everyone, everywhere, and we want to make it easy for everyone to buy bitcoin cash. With our latest wallet feature, it’s never been simpler.”

Here is how Bitcoin.com explained the advantage of buying BCH in this way as opposed to via a centralized cryptocurrency exchange (such as Coinbase):

"Because the Bitcoin.com Wallet is noncustodial, it provides a more secure solution for acquiring crypto because there’s no need to deposit funds on a centralized exchange. After a purchase is made within the wallet interface the BCH is sent directly from the official seller to the owner’s noncustodial light client. This is in stark contrast to leaving funds on an exchange for a period of time to make a trade. Cryptocurrency exchanges are custodial, which means the exchange has full control of the user’s funds at all times."

The Bitcoin.com CEO added:“It’s a big eye-opener for many people. Buying from an exchange means using their custodial wallet and, even if it’s just temporarily while you purchase the coins, the cryptocurrency is still not as secure as it could be — the Bitcoin.com Wallet now lets users sidestep exchanges altogether, so your bitcoin cash is under your control from the moment you buy it.”

Although initially this new feature is only available to users in Europe, "there are plans to roll the service out to more countries soon."

On March 19, (with the release of version 5.6) the Bitcoin.com Wallet added a feature that introduced the ability to switch between the BTC and BCH (with just a few clicks) from within the app. This feature came about as a result of a partnership with SideShift AI, which is a competitor to ShapeShift.