"Buying Bitcoin" sounds like a single decision, but it's actually the outcome of several different questions. Do you want to own and store bitcoin yourself, or is exposure to its value through a regular brokerage account enough for you? This post walks through both paths in detail: buying directly through the providers we have partner programs with, and a full overview of indirect alternatives like ETFs, stocks, and preferred shares.
An important note up front: this post describes paths and providers, but it explicitly does not offer a purchase or investment recommendation. Bitcoin21st.de does not provide investment advice under German law (§ 34i GewO) or tax or legal advice. Whether and how you invest, which provider fits you, and in what amount, is a decision only you can make, ideally together with an independent advisor.
Direct Purchase or Indirect Investment: The Fundamental Difference
Before the question of which provider even becomes relevant, there's a more fundamental fork in the road. With a direct purchase, you acquire actual bitcoin: you receive (or create) a private key that gives you full control over that money, can transfer it to your own wallet, and, as described in our Deep Dive series, can actually use it as a means of payment or hold it yourself long-term. With an indirect investment, you instead buy a conventional security, such as an ETF share, a stock, or a preferred share, whose value is tied to bitcoin or depends on a company's bitcoin holdings. You hold it through your existing brokerage account, don't have to deal with wallets or private keys, but you also don't own the underlying bitcoin itself.
| Feature | Direct purchase | Indirect investment |
|---|---|---|
| What you actually own | Real bitcoin (private key) | A share of an ETF, stock, or preferred share |
| Custody | Self-custody in your own wallet, possible and recommended | Handled by the broker or custodian bank |
| Access | Requires a new account at an exchange or app | Through your existing brokerage account |
| Usable as a means of payment | Yes | No |
| Additional layer of risk | Self-custody, risk of losing the key | Company or fund risk, tracking difference |
Which path suits your situation better depends on questions only you can answer for yourself: do you want to control bitcoin as independent money yourself, or should bitcoin's price performance simply be another building block in your existing brokerage portfolio? We cover why Bitcoin is even discussed as a store of value in a post of its own.
Buying Bitcoin Directly: The Process, and the Providers We Work With
The technical process is similar across providers: open and verify an account (KYC, legally required), deposit funds, buy bitcoin, and afterward, ideally, transfer it to your own wallet. We have partner programs with the following three providers. Using one of these links supports our work at bitcoin21st.de, at no extra cost to you.
21bitcoin
21bitcoin is a Bitcoin-only app from Salzburg, Austria, fully MiCAR-CASP licensed by Austria's FMA since November 2025 and therefore regulated EU-wide. Over 100,000 customers, an automatic wallet transfer after every purchase, and Volksbank Raiffeisenbank Bayern Mitte as a strategic investor are the standout facts. The app targets beginners and savings-plan users in the DACH region; there's no web interface.
Using this link gets you a 0.2% fee reduction on instant and savings-plan purchases at 21bitcoin.
Kraken
Kraken is one of the oldest crypto exchanges in the world (since 2011), with over 15 million users in more than 190 countries, and, since March 2026, the first US digital asset bank with its own Federal Reserve master account. Its regulatory footprint spans the US, the UK, Australia, and Cyprus, among others. Kraken caters more to advanced users looking for an internationally established, well-capitalized exchange with a broad range of offerings.
Ledger Live
With Ledger Live, you buy bitcoin that flows directly into your own Ledger wallet, so the purchase lands straight into your own custody with no extra step. It's aimed at anyone who already owns a Ledger hardware wallet, or wants to tie the purchase to self-custody from the very start. Fees tend to run a bit higher than at dedicated crypto exchanges, but you skip the separate transfer step.
Other major exchanges also exist, such as Coinbase, Binance, or Coinfinity, which we don't have a partner program with, but which we also compare on facts around regulation, incidents, and user numbers in our detailed comparison for buying Bitcoin.
After the Purchase: Storing It Securely
"Not your keys, not your coins": bitcoin left sitting on an exchange remains exposed to that exchange's custody risk. Anyone who chose the direct-purchase route should therefore think about self-custody, for example via a hardware wallet. We walk through how that works in practice, and the security architecture behind it, in Storing Bitcoin securely and in the primer Hardware wallet: How can Bitcoin be securely stored?. You'll find an overview of the hardware wallet providers we also have partner programs with on our storage comparison page.
Buying Bitcoin Indirectly: Investing Without Self-Custody
If you don't want to manage your own wallet, or simply want to reflect bitcoin exposure as a building block within your existing brokerage portfolio, there's by now a whole range of established financial products for that. We've put together the most relevant ones, across four categories, on a dedicated overview page: Bitcoin investments without buying Bitcoin directly. The page deliberately contains no affiliate links, we earn nothing from that overview.
- ETFs and exchange-traded products, such as the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), the 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ABTC), or the Bitwise Bitcoin ETF (BTCW): a fund holds bitcoin directly, and you buy a share of it through your regular brokerage account.
- Stocks with Bitcoin exposure, such as Coinbase (COIN), Marathon Digital (MARA), or Bitcoin Group SE: operating companies whose business is tied to bitcoin, but not a pure bitcoin holding.
- Preferred shares with Bitcoin exposure, such as STRC, STRK, STRF, STRD, STRE, or SATA: a more bond-like, usually dividend-paying variant companies like Strategy use to raise additional capital for their bitcoin holdings.
- Bitcoin treasury companies and direct stakes, such as Strategy, Metaplanet, GM Data Centers AG, or Terahash: companies whose business model includes building up their own bitcoin holdings.
Each of these categories carries its own risk-reward profile, including management fees, tracking differences from bitcoin's actual price, and the additional company- or fund-specific risk. You'll find the full figures, sources, and risk disclosures for every individual title on the Bitcoin investments overview page.
Tax Treatment
Whether and how a bitcoin purchase or sale becomes tax-relevant differs depending on whether you hold bitcoin directly or an indirect security, and further depends on your individual situation. Our post Bitcoin: The Most Honest Measure of Political Success? offers an introduction to the basics, as does our FAQ page. Important: Bitcoin21st.de explicitly does not provide tax advice; for specific questions, always consult a tax advisor. You'll find an overview of specialized tracking tools that document purchases and sales for your own tax filing on our tax comparison page.
Common Mistakes and Timing Questions
Regardless of which path you choose: typical mistakes when buying bitcoin usually don't happen at the moment of purchase itself, but before or after it, around timing or storage. We've rounded up the most common ones, and what's more sensible instead, in 5 mistakes you can make with your Bitcoin investment. If you also want to think through how to structure your entry timing, Bitcoin: Investment strategy offers a detailed look.
Conclusion
Direct purchase and indirect investment are two fundamentally different ways to engage with Bitcoin, not competitors, but two answers to different needs: genuine self-custody and use as money on one side, straightforward integration into an existing brokerage portfolio on the other. You'll find the concrete providers and products in detail in our comparison for buying Bitcoin and on the page Bitcoin investments without buying Bitcoin directly. This post doesn't replace individual advice; only you can decide which path, which provider, and what amount are right for you.
