How to Buy Cardano South Africa – Beginner’s Guide

Back in 2017, Cardano (ADA) was one of the many cryptocurrencies that received recognition and reached its previous all-time highs of $1.24 per coin. Since then, for nearly three years, Cardano was trading at a narrow range of $0.02-$0.10 per coin and the future did not seem very bright for the open-source decentralized cryptocurrency.

But, the cryptocurrency market is a different story, with ups and downs and plenty of recoveries. From the start of the year, Cardano has gained over 525%, outperforming the majority of other digital assets in the market including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and many more. This has lead Cardano to become the fifth-largest cryptocurrency in the world with a market capitalization of over $37 billion at the time of writing.

If you are wondering how to buy Cardano in South Africa, this guide will help you find the answer. We’ll explain about the ADA coin, analyze the Cardano historical price performance, suggest the top brokers in SA that offer you to trade ADA, and show you the full process of opening an account and buying Cardano.

How to Buy Cardano South Africa – Beginner’s Guide

If you want to want to get the fastest way to buy Cardano in South Africa without reading our full guide, simply follow the quick tutorial below:

1. Open an account with Libertex – First, you need to open a trading account with an online trading platform that supports Cardano. Libertex is one of the few marketplaces in SA that support the coin, in addition to other crypto crosses.  
   
2. Verify your account – Nowadays, the vast majority of brokerage firms require new users to verify their identity as a condition of trading. As such, you’ll have to submit your personal information and upload documents to verify your identity. 
3. Deposit Funds – Next, you can add funds to your account. Libertex supports a large variety of payments including SEPA bank transfers, credit and debit cards, as well as a range of banking solutions including e-wallet payment methods. To get started, the broker requires a minimum deposit of just €10.
4. Buy Cardano – That’s it. Now that your account is approved and funded, all you need to do is to search for Cardano on Libertex’s crypto trading platform and place a buying order.

74% of retail investor accounts lose money when spread betting and/or trading CFDs with this provider.

What is Cardano (ADA)?

Cardano is a public blockchain network for smart contracts that enables users to build smart contracts and create decentralized applications and protocols. The Cardano network is the first blockchain platform that was built through peer-reviewed research, and it aims to solve various problems such as scalability, interoperability, and sustainability that exist on other blockchain networks. Cardano is a proof-of-stake blockchain, meaning that the validation of new blocks is made by users who are staking their coins in the network.

Its cryptocurrency, known as ADA, allows users to make transactions on the network. And, much like any other cryptocurrency, Cardano (ADA) is a digital asset that can be used to store value or transfer funds.

Cardano was founded in 2015 by Charles Hoskinson, which was a co-founder of the Ethereum network. The network was launched in 2017, and In its ICO in 2018, the Cardano group has managed to raise $62.2 million when the maximum supply of ADA was set at 45 billion coins and a price of $0.0024.

Why Buy Cardano? Cardano Analysis

There are a number of reasons why Cardano is booming since its launch in 2017, and in particular since mid-2020. Most important of all, the main catalyst for the rise in Cradano’s price is the Shelley hard fork upgrade that was released in July 2020. This update has a huge impact on the Cardano network as it has transformed the system to a proof-of-stake (PoS) protocol, which means users can now hold coins on the ADA network and receive rewards (much like other fixed-income assets).

Recently, Cardano has also launched a new hard fork update called “Mary” that enables developers to issue custom cryptocurrencies on top of the blockchain. The ‘Mary’ upgrade is part of Cardano’s roadmap known as “Goguen”, which aims to compete with its biggest rival in the industry, the Ethereum network. Following the recent updates, it appears that Cardano is currently much faster than Ethereum in terms of TPS (Transaction Per Speed). The ultimate goal of Cardano’s team is to create a blockchain network that will process a large number of transactions at a lower cost than its competitors.

Another reason to buy Cardano is the hype around Defi (decentralized finance) projects. As such, Cardano has a list of partnerships and collaborations that include IOHK, The Cardano Foundation, Emurgo, IBM, PwC, New Balance, Sirin Labs, and many more.

Cardano Price – How Much Does it Cost to Buy Cardano?

Since mid-2020, Cardano’s price has been on an incredible run, rising from $0.05 in late May 2020 to its all-time high of $1.33 on February 27th, 2021. Since then, Cardano dropped nearly 12%, largely due to the mini sell-off in the crypto market. At the time of writing, Cardano is trading at $2.15 per coin.

In the past year, Cardano has become the most decentralized blockchain network on the market, and thus, one of the used blockchain networks and most traded tokens. Ultimately, it is no wonder that Cardano is now the fourth-largest cryptocurrency in terms of market cap with a total valuation of more than $70.8 billion at the time of writing.

Ways of Buying Cardano

Essentially, there are three ways to buy Cardano. Every method of payment has its own strong points and weaknesses – by using bitcoin as a payment method, you can significantly reduce the trading costs, however, many people prefer using a credit/debit card or PayPal to buy digital coins like Cardano. With that in mind, let’s take a look at how to buy Cardano in South Africa via the most used payment methods.

Buy Cardano with Debit/Credit Card

Arguably, the easiest way to buy Cardano is with a credit or debit card. Even though not all cryptocurrency trading platforms accept credit and debit cards as a payment method and it might cost you a bit more, it’s still the most commonly used way of payment when buying cryptocurrencies.

Fortunately, Cardano accepts credit and debit cards as a payment method so you have the option to choose between the two. The process is extremely simple. First, you’ll have to visit Libertex’s homepage and sign up for an online account. Then, you’ll be required to complete a short verification process and deposit funds. As you can see from the image below, Libertex accepts a variety of payment methods that include credit/debit cards, bank wire transfer, and other electronic payments. Once the funds reach your account, search for Bitcoin and place a buying order.

Buy Cardano with PayPal

If you want to buy Cardano with PayPal in South Africa, you’ll need to go through a cryptocurrency exchange that accepts PayPal payments. Alternatively, you can buy Bitcoin through PayPal and then transfer that to a cryptocurrency exchange.

Buy Cardano with Bitcoin

For those who already hold Bitcoin and are looking to buy Cardano with the most widely used digital currency in the world, Binance is the best option. To make a purchase with Bitcoin, navigate to the Trade tab on the top menu and choose convert.

Then, simply enter the amount in Bitcoin you wish to convert, and exchange the coins.

Where to Buy Cardano in South Africa?

Cardano is a very popular cryptocurrency and thus, you’ll find many cryptocurrency exchanges and online trading platforms in South Africa allowing you to buy and sell the digital coin. But you want to make sure you find the trading platform that meets your needs and your financial budget. We think the best way to buy Cardano is using a CFD trading platform.

It is important to understand the difference between buying Cardano with an online broker or cryptocurrency exchange. While buying a coin via an exchange enables you to physically purchase the coin, a CFD broker allows you to speculate on the price of the asset without actually owning and exchanging it. Some of the additional differences between online brokers and exchanges include the pricing structure, the leverage ratio, and the trading platforms and tools provided.

1. Capital.com – Best Cryptocurrency Platform in South Africa to buy Cardano with Low Fees

Capital.com is one of the best places to buy Cardano or more than 80 other cryptocurrencies in South Africa. It takes just minutes to sign up and you only need to make a minimum deposit of $20 to open a new trading account.

Capital.com is a CFD broker, so you cannot buy cryptocurrency outright. However, this has some important advantages. First, you don’t need to worry about setting up a cryptocurrency wallet or storing your Cardano tokens. Second, you can go long or short on Cardano depending on which way you think the markets will go. Finally, trading CFDs with Capital.com gives you the option to leverage your trades up to 2:1. So, you can place bigger bets on Cardano even with a small trading account.

Capital.com supports a wide range of cryptocurrency pairs, and you can trade both fiat-to-crypto and crypto-cross pairs. Spreads for Cardano trading start at just 1.45%, which is very competitive. (For Bitcoin trading, Capital.com charges spreads as low as 0.20%). All cryptocurrency trading on Capital.com is 100% commission-free, and the broker doesn’t charge deposit, withdrawal, or inactivity fees.

Capital.com’s trading platform includes a mobile app that allows you to trade Cardano on the move. It’s available for both iOS and Android. Capital.com also offers other CFD asset classes – should you wish to diversify. This includes stocks, commodities, forex, and indices.

Capital.com is authorized and regulated by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC). The broker also offers 24/7 customer support, which is great since the crypto market never sleeps.

Pros of Capital.com:

Cons:

75.26% of retail investor accounts lose money when spread betting and/or trading CFDs with this provider.

How to Buy Cardano (ADA) Tutorial

By now, you should enough information in order to decide if you want to buy Cardano coin. As mentioned previously, Libertex is one of the best options to buy Cardano in South Africa, and as such, we are now going to show the full process of opening an account and placing a buying order on Libertex.

Step 1: Open an Account

The first action you need to take is to register and open an account with Libertex. To do this, you’ll have to visit Libertex, enter your email address, and create a password in the registration form.

Then, in order to complete your account opening, you’ll be asked to verify your email address on the email

Step 2: Verify Your Identity

Before you can start to buy cryptocurrency CFDs on Libertex, you must first verify your identity. To start the verification process, log in to your account and click on the identification button under your profile logo.

On the next page, click on the Verify button next to the Personal Details box. Next, you need to enter the personal details as registered on your passport or ID and upload the document (front and back pages).

Step 3: Deposit Funds

You can easily deposit funds into your Libertex account using a debit/credit card or bank transfer. Just remember that the minimum deposit is €10.

Step 4: Buy Cardano (ADA) Coin

Once you have completed the verification process and funded your account, you can trade the Cardano CFDs on Libertex. The best way to do this is to search for ADA and click on it when it appears in the search menu.

Once you click on it you’ll be taken to the Cardano trading dashboard. There, you can analyze the coin using the charting package. Whenever you are ready to place an order, enter the amount (in USD) you want to buy and choose the type of order (market or limit).

To complete your purchase, click on the Buy ADA button.

Our Verdict on Cardano (ADA)

Cardano’s goal is clearly to become the largest smart contract platform in the world. The process is not simple and the competition is very fierce at this level. But, there’s something special about Cardano – the ADA network is unique as it is built on scientific philosophy and is based on peer-reviewed research. Consequently, the long-term outlook for the Cardano project as well as for the ADA token is very positive.

Cardano is a very popular cryptocurrency these days with a limited supply, and as such, the vast majority of platforms enable you to trade the coin. So, if you are ready to buy ADA, it’s all about finding the exchange or brokerage firm that will work best for you. In our view, Libertex is the best option for SA investors that wish to buy and sell Cardano CFDs.

74% of retail investor accounts lose money when spread betting and/or trading CFDs with this provider.

Frequently Asked Questions about Cardano (ADA)