I have had a lot of readers contact me recently asking for a guide on how to buy Bitcoin with Zelle, and I have finally found time to do so. I have used Zelle to buy Bitcoin many times over the last few years, so I am familiar with the method, and will walk you through this step-by-step.
Most crypto exchanges do not accept Zelle as a payment option, and I was surprised to find that many other articles on 'How to buy Bitcoin with Zelle' recommend using eToro. From my years of experience using eToro I have never seen Zelle as a deposit method. I investigated further, reaching out to the eToro customer support team, who confirmed that Zelle is NOT supported on eToro.
Ignoring the misinformation from other sites, I rely on my most trusted method of buying Bitcoin with Zelle, which is to use Paxful. If you have never heard of Paxful before, it is a P2P (peer-to-peer) cryptocurrency marketplace where you can buy and sell crypto directly from others. Zelle is one of the popular payment methods accepted on Paxful; this is how you will be able to buy Bitcoin using Zelle.
How do I buy Bitcoin using Zelle?
It is simple to buy Bitcoin using Zelle; all you need to do is sign up with Paxful, and find a seller who accepts Zelle as a payment option. This is a brief overview of the steps involved, and I will go into further detail below, complete with screenshots.
Step 1: Sign up to Paxful
Step 2: Verify your account
Step 3: Go to the 'Buy Bitcoin' section
Step 4: Search for offers
Step 5: Buy Bitcoin with Zelle Pay
Step 1 - Sign up to Paxful
First off, you will need to sign up to Paxful, which you can do by clicking here. You will be taken to the homepage, where you can create a new account.
Step 2 - Verify your account
After you have created an account on Paxful, you need to verify your account. If you don't verify it you won't be able to gain full access to all of Paxful's features, for example withdrawing or selling Bitcoin. Additionally, some sellers will only accept transactions from verified users.
To verify your account, click on the dropdown arrow next to the profile button (see red arrow in the screenshot below), then click 'Verify Me'. Follow the prompts to verify your phone number and identification.
Step 3 - Go to the 'Buy Bitcoin' section
After verifying your Paxful account, it is time to navigate to the 'Buy Bitcoin' section. Click on the arrow next to 'Buy' (see red arrow below), and then click 'Buy Bitcoin'.
Click on the Payment Methods search field (see red arrow below), then type in Zelle. Click 'Zelle Pay' when it appears at the bottom of the pop-up window.
Step 4 - Search for offers
Type in your preferred currency, and the amount you would like to spend. You can also choose to accept offers from only certain countries or worldwide. Once you have selected all the specifics, click on 'Find Offers' at the bottom to see what is available.
Now you will see a list of people who are selling Bitcoin and accepting payment with Zelle Pay. You will notice that some of them require ID verification before you can buy from them (as explained above). However, some sellers will accept your transaction with no verification, such as the one at the bottom of the screenshot below.
If you find one that you are happy with, click on the 'Buy Bitcoin' button (see red arrow below).
Step 5 - Buy Bitcoin with Zelle Pay
Now you are at the final step. If you are happy to buy Bitcoin, click the blue 'Buy now' button, and follow the prompts to finalize your purchase. However, it is important to check the price that you are paying.
I purposely chose this seller as an example, to highlight how important it is to check the price before making your purchase. In the screenshot below, you can see that for $100 USD, I will only receive $58.48 worth of Bitcoin in return. Lower down in the screen you can see the seller's asking rate is $47,233.877 USD (for 1 BTC), which is 71% above the market value of BTC at the time of writing.
This would be an example of an offer that you wouldn't want to accept. You are paying $100 to receive only $58 of BTC. You should return to the list and find another buyer with a lower asking price.
Once you have selected a buyer with a decent exchange rate, you can click the 'Buy now' button and purchase your Bitcoin. Congratulations, you have used Zelle to buy Bitcoin!
Conclusion
Zelle Pay is a convenient payment method, and many crypto investors want to use it to buy Bitcoin. While there aren't many crypto exchanges that support Zelle, Paxful definitely does, and from my experience using it to buy Bitcoin for years, it is the most straightforward method you can use.
If you have any questions, or there are any other topics that you would like me to cover, please reach out via the contact form.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, you can use Zelle to purchase Bitcoin if you use Paxful, a P2P Bitcoin trading platform. Follow the simple step-by-step guide above to do this.
No, Coinbase does not accept Zelle as a payment method. If you wish to use Zelle to buy Bitcoin, my suggestion is to use Paxful. Follow my simple guide above to learn how to buy Bitcoin easily using Zelle.
While Zelle doesn't allow the transfer of crypto to another account, you can use Zelle to buy Bitcoin if you use a P2P trading platform like Paxful. You can follow the steps above to learn how to buy Bitcoin with Zelle.
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