How To Buy Chia Coin (XCH) In The UK

Last Updated December 19th 2024

14 Min Read

A Beginner’s Guide to Buying and Trading Chia Coin Cryptocurrency in the UK

Chia coin is a new trendy cryptocurrency that has recently emerged and claims to be greener and more eco-friendly than Bitcoin or Ethereum. Even though Bitcoin is considered by many as the king of future currency, its mining consumes a high amount of energy and significantly damages the environment. Chia was founded to solve this problem and be a more energy-efficient alternative to Bitcoin and other cryptos having similar mining technology.

In this article, we will explain the purpose of the Chia coin that has generated a lot of excitement since its launch. We will also analyze Chia prices and future predictions and include a short guide on how to buy Chia XCH in the UK.

How To Buy Chia Coin In The UK – Quick Guide

To help you buy Chia Coin coins as quickly as possible, we broke the process down into a few easy steps:

Step 1: Open an account with eToro – Head to eToro’s website and click join now to open a new account.
Step 2: Verification – By uploading essential documents that show proof of identity and home address, you will get your account verified in a short time.
Step 3: Deposit – Fund your new eToro account with a minimum of $10.
Step 4: Search for Chia Coin on eToro – Search for XCH or Chia Coin in the eToro crypto market.
Step 5: Buy XCH – Enter the amount of the worth of Chia Coin you want to purchase in United States Dollars (USD), then click Open Trade.

That’s it! By following these easy steps, you can invest in Chia Coin in The UK in less than 5 minutes.

Crypto asset investing is highly volatile and unregulated in some EU countries and the UK. No consumer protection. Tax on profits may apply.

Where To Buy Chia Coin (XCH) In The UK

Are you searching for how to buy Chia Coin in the UK? Well, there are hundreds of crypto exchanges and brokers in the UK. This can make it hard to know which platform is right for you.

List of the best Exchanges to buy Chia Coin (XCH) in the UK:

Looking where to buy Chia Coin in the UK right now? Below you will find 4 of the best brokers that allow you to buy XCH in the UK.

eToro - Best broker to buy Chia Coin (XCH) in the UK
Binance - Best exchange to buy Chia UK for asset diversity
Coinbase - Best exchange to buy Chia Coin (XCH) for beginners
OKEx - Best broker to buy Chia UK for low-cost

What Is Chia Coin (XCH)?

In general, one of the things that make cryptocurrencies attractive assets is that when you buy and sell any crypto, the process occurs without the involvement of any third party - your traditional bank or government body, etc. Unlike fiat currencies that are controlled by a central bank, digital currencies work through a network of computers that use databases to record and verify transactions. This technology is called Blockchain. Every cryptocurrency has its method of verifying transactions.

Bitcoin and Ethereum, for example, use Proof of work technology which consumes lots of electricity to power those computers. According to some calculations, Bitcoin's total energy consumption per hour is equal to that of entire Argentina or New Zealand. Thus, it can have a devastating effect on the environment in the future. On the other hand, Chia offers a new mining technology, which the Chia Network calls "farming," to solve this problem.

Chia cryptocurrency was founded in 2017 by San-Francisco-based entrepreneur Bram Cohen, who is also the founder of peer-to-peer file-sharing protocol BitTorrent. Chia is designed in a way that you don't need tremendous computer power to harvest it, but anyone can simply mine it at home with a computer.

In order to do that, you need to download their transaction platform "Mainnet" on the chia.net website. Having downloaded the program on your computer, you allocate some space on your computer to the network. For this, you get rewarded with Chia coins, also known as XCH. This harvesting system is known as the Proof of space and time mechanism or PoSt.

Crucially, while Chia's mining technology does not require electricity and seems to be more environmentally friendly, there is another controversy that arose even before the coin started trading. The problem is that miners must offer spare space on their hard drives to be able to mine XCH. The more free space they can give, the more Chia they will get, and consequently, they will tend to have as much space as possible.

According to the USA-based hard disk drive manufacturer and data storage providing company Western Digital, the demand for HDDs has grown significantly after the Chia launch. Of course, natural resources are used to build these HDDs, which is the downside of Chia. So, using the term "eco-friendly" to describe Chia Network is not at all right. Instead, it can be right if we use it in this way: "Chia mining is eco-friendly, but compared to what"? If we compare it with BTC mining, it's more energy-efficient, but anyway, Chia also somehow damages the environment.

Should You Buy Chia Coin (XCH)?

Though the Chia cryptocurrency project was founded in 2017, it launched its main net only on March 17 this year, and the first transaction was made on May 3. XCH entered the market with a trading price of $1498. But after that, Chia prices dropped significantly, and the coin eventually dropped to its all-time low in January 2022 when it was traded at $68.

From May 7, Chia prices have had significant growth and hit another all-time high on May 15 when the XCH was traded at $1612. This happened thanks to the Amazon announcement saying that the cloud computing company allows mining this cryptocurrency in the Amazon Web Service's cloud. The Chia company also published an explanatory video about how to mine cryptocurrency.

Along with the other cryptocurrencies, XCH suffered from the latest crypto market drop. The significant decrease in crypto prices is mainly associated with the Tesla car-company announcement that it suspends transactions with Bitcoin because it does lots of damage to the environment and China National bank expanding its cryptocurrency crackdown. As a result, at the time of writing Chia XCH fluctuates between $70-$80.

How To Buy Chia Coin (XCH) Online In The UK - A Step by Step Guide

If you already decided that you want to invest in Chia Network by buying some XCH for trading and don’t know how to start, here is a step-by-step explanatory guide to help you buy Chia coin in the UK.

Find a UK Crypto Exchange that Supports Chia Coin

In order to buy Chia XCH, the first you need is to find a crypto exchange platform that is accessible for UK residents and supports Chia coin. As Chia has just allowed trading its coins, it's still not supported by many of the largest cryptocurrency exchange platforms. It means there are not too many to select. Here are two of the most well-known platforms that accept Chia XCH.

Huobi Global: Huobi Global is among the most secure and convenient crypto trading platforms, which accepts almost 400 crypto assets, including Chia Network. It stands out with its exceptional fees and user-friendly platform. However, you cannot buy Chia XCH with fiat, but you can swap it with BTC or USDT.

Gate.io: Gate.io is another large and secure cryptocurrency exchange platform that you can use for buying XCH as it accepts UK residents. It's mainly designed for professional traders but is convenient also for beginners who want to make a one-time purchase of XCH.

Register for an Online Account and Deposit Funds

After selecting the exchange platform on which you want to buy XCH, you then need to open an account. This process usually requires filling in some personal information, like name/surname, birthday, etc., and verifying your account with a phone number and a copy of your ID. As long as your account is verified, you need to link your credit or debit bank account or use another payment method to deposit funds and start buying digital assets.

Buy Chia Coin

When all these technical steps are done, you can now choose the amount of Chia you want to buy and complete your purchase. However, you cannot buy XCH with fiat currency, so you first need to buy another crypto, such as BTC or USDT, and then swap it with XCH.

Transfer Your Funds to a Cold Storage Wallet

After completing your purchase, it would be more secure if you transfer them to a cold storage wallet and keep it there, especially when you are planning to make a long-term investment. Some crypto exchange platforms offer their personal wallets, though these are not cold wallets and are considered less safe.

Crypto asset investing is highly volatile and unregulated in some EU countries and the UK. No consumer protection. Tax on profits may apply.

How To Trade Chia Coin (XCH) In The UK - A Step by Step Guide

Apart from investing in Chia Network, you can also trade it and profit from its price fluctuations. Here is our step-by-step guide to help you find a platform to trade Chia XCH in the UK.

Find an Online Trading Platform that Supports Chia Coin

If you wish to trade XCH coins, you must start searching for an appropriate trading platform that supports Chia coins and allows you to use margin trading when you buy and short sell Chia coins in the UK. Before making the final decision, carefully examine how much transaction fee it charges and also learn whether there are any other fees or not.

At the moment, Chia is not supported by many major crypto exchange platforms like Coinbase or Binance, but this may change in the future. So, for now, Gate.io is one of the best options to trade Chia in the UK.

Fund Your Account

After selecting the exchange platform, you need to follow the technical steps of registering an account, verifying it with a copy of your passport and with your phone number. Then, you need to deposit money by one of the supported payment methods available on the exchange you have chosen.

Develop a Trading Strategy

After you have signed up and added funds to your new account, you can now choose a trading strategy. Trading strategies can be of two kinds - active and passive. While the first one requires you to actively follow the market, news, and changes in these areas, the second one does not require too much attention, so consider these factors before making the final decision. With that in mind, here are some of the famous trading strategies you can choose to trade Chia coins.

Day Trading allows you to buy and sell assets on the same trading day. This strategy can be appropriate for Chia as its prices usually have high fluctuations during the same day. But also consider that you need to have some risk management techniques like risk-reward ratio in case something unexpected happens.

Farming is another way to make an income if you have too much spare computer storage. You can acquire some XCH at relatively low prices and generate profit by selling your coins on the exchange platforms.

Start Trading Chia Coin

Now, when you have a verified account, deposited funds on it, and selected a trading strategy, you can start trading Chia XCH in the UK.

Chia Coin (XCH) Pros And Cons

If you are still undecided whether you want to invest in Chia Network or not, here is some more information about its price predictions and some pros and cons of this project to help you make a more reasonable decision.

Pros of Chia Coin

Chia offers some major changes for the transaction methods that can bring significant changes in the crypto field.
Chia mining relies on Proof of space and time protocol that is more eco-friendly compared to a Proof of work mechanism used by Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Chia is still a highly volatile asset, so you can use short-term trading strategies (like swing trading) and generate a huge profit.
Chia is relatively new in the market and still does not have too many rivals.

Cons of Chia Coin

When Chia coin was released, the project was expected to have a massive success after release, but the prices dropped significantly, making it an unpredictable asset.
There is also some security risk as Chia Network uses a Proof of space concept supported by hardware.
As Chia mining relies on hardware storage, this could grow the demand for HDDs and SSDs, making their prices grow significantly.

Crypto asset investing is highly volatile and unregulated in some EU countries and the UK. No consumer protection. Tax on profits may apply.

Is Chia Coin (XCH) A Good Long-term Investment?

To understand whether Chia XCH can bring you high profits in the long term, let's take a look at Chia price predictions made by some crypto analytical websites.

According to the predictions on Digital Coin Price, Chia is a good long-term investment, and XCH will reach up to $170 in 2025. But these calculations are just made by algorithms, so this does not mean that we should rely only on these forecasts. There are some other factors to take into account.

Instead, there are some crucial factors to take into account. One of these factors that can have a huge impact on Chia prices is that the coin is expected to be listed on Coinbase, one of the largest and well-known crypto trading platforms in the world. In that matter, Bram Cohen, Chia founder, mentioned it could happen in the near future.

All things considered, Chia is one of the most interesting coins these days, especially if you believe Bitcoin is going to be replaced by another coin that has better qualities.

What Will Be Chia Coin (XCH) Worth In 2025?

According to the algorithm predictions on Digital Coin Price, Chia prices can reach up to $170 in 2025, $220 in 2027, and finally reach $300 in 2028. But, once again, these are only predictions made by algorithms, so it would be better to take other factors that can influence Chia prices into consideration.

What’s The Purpose Of Chia Coin (XCH)?

The bottom line, Chia Network aims to become a more eco-friendly and greener alternative to such leading cryptos as Bitcoin or Ethereum. The problem with these cryptos is that their mining relies on Proof of Stake and Proof of Work mechanisms that require too much electricity in order to solve computationally complex puzzles and to award miners with the coins. It makes the miners compete with each other, and thus use more power and more electricity. Consequently, it brings enormous damage to the environment.

Chia Coin, on the other hand, uses Proof of space and time mining technology that does not spend too much electricity; but instead, users must provide some spare storage on their HDD or SSD to be rewarded with Chia.

Is Chia Coin (XCH) Mining Profitable?

Overall, yes Chia coin's mining is profitable and can be done by any person whi has a computer. Chia uses the PoTs mechanism for XCH mining which completely differs from Bitcoin's Proof of Work system and Ethereum's Proof of Stake mining system. For example, you need to have computers with too much power for Bitcoin mining, and your machine runs 24/7 until you get rewarded. Moreover, it requires too much electricity, so BTC is preferably mined in places where electricity costs are relatively cheaper.

In the case of Chia coin, you can be rewarded with XCH even sitting at home as long as you have some spare hard disk space on your computer. For this purpose, you need to download Mainnet on Chia.net and allocate some space to the network.

Crypto asset investing is highly volatile and unregulated in some EU countries and the UK. No consumer protection. Tax on profits may apply.

Buying Or Trading Chia Coin (XCH) Things To Take Into Consideration

To conclude, Chia Network is a cryptocurrency project that tries to minimize the amount of damage the crypto mining causes to the environment. As famous car company Tesla suspended its transactions with BTC because its mining damages the environment, it can mean that these relatively eco-friendly coins, like Chia, can be welcomed in the future. From this point of view, Chia can make a good long-term investment.

But we should also mention that Chia mining requires HDD or SSD spare storage, which means that the demand for these devices will most likely grow if the coin becomes mainstream. And because building such devices also requires some natural resources, Chia anyway does some damage, too, though indirectly. Nonetheless, Chia still seems to be a better option than Bitcoin.

So, if you want to buy some Chia, it's the right time to do that as the crypto market is down right now, and Chia, too, is trading at very low prices.