Buy your first Bitcoin — and pay for the course with it

Hi, I'm Mufy. Welcome to GetBitcoin.guide.

This is the free preview lesson of the course. By the end of the next ten minutes, you'll have a verified exchange account, you'll have bought your first Bitcoin, and you'll have paid for the rest of the course in Bitcoin.

That last part is intentional. Let me explain.

This course is about teaching you to actually own your Bitcoin — not just have a balance on someone else's server. The best way to teach that is to have you experience it. So we're going to do it live. First, you buy some Bitcoin. Then you use a small slice of it to pay for the course. Then, over the next ten lessons, we move the rest of your Bitcoin into a wallet that only you control.

By the end of the course, you'll have done every step of self-custody yourself, with real money on the line. That's how this sticks.

Let's start.

Step one: open Coinbase.

In your browser, type coinbase dot com directly. Don't click a search ad. Don't click the first Google result. Phishing sites that look like exchanges are extremely common, and they steal your password.

If you're in India, you can use Coinbase, or a local platform like CoinDCX or WazirX. The steps are essentially identical — buy BTC, then send it to my address to pay for the course.

Step two: create your account.

Sign up with your email and a strong password. The exchange will ask you to verify your identity — this is normal and required by law in most countries. You'll upload a photo of your government ID and a selfie. Verification usually takes a few minutes; occasionally a day.

Step three: turn on two-factor authentication.

This is non-negotiable. Use an authenticator app — Google Authenticator, Authy, or 1Password — not SMS. SMS-based two-factor has been broken for years by attackers swapping your phone number to a SIM they control. Authenticator apps don't have that weakness.

Step four: link a funding method.

Connect your bank account, a debit card, or UPI in India. Each has different speed and fee characteristics. Bank transfer is slowest but cheapest. Card is instant but charges more. Pick what fits you.

Step five: buy some Bitcoin.

You need a small amount — enough to pay for this course plus a little extra so you have some Bitcoin left to practice self-custody with.

I recommend buying about $130–$150 worth. That covers the course price plus network fees plus a small amount of BTC to use in lessons 7 and 8, where we move it from the exchange into your own wallet.

Click "Buy Bitcoin." Enter the amount. You'll see a quoted price — slightly worse than the price on a chart. That difference is the exchange's spread, usually one to two percent. That's fine for the size we're working with.

Confirm the purchase. Within seconds, your exchange account shows a Bitcoin balance.

Step six: pay for the course.

Go back to GetBitcoin.guide. You'll see a button labeled "Pay with Bitcoin." Click it. A new page opens with a Bitcoin address (or a Lightning invoice, if you're advanced) and the exact amount.

Back on the Coinbase tab, click "Send" or "Withdraw" or "Transfer out." Paste the address from the payment page. Enter the exact BTC amount shown. Confirm with two-factor authentication.

Within ten to thirty minutes, the payment will confirm on the Bitcoin network. You'll get an email from me with the link to all ten paid lessons.

That's it. You've done four things in one lesson:

- Set up an exchange account - Bought your first Bitcoin - Paid for a course in Bitcoin — probably your first real Bitcoin transaction - Joined the course

In Lesson 2, I'll show you what you actually bought — and why that exchange balance, sitting there right now, isn't really yours yet. It's a promise. And in Lessons 3 through 11, we fix that.

See you on the inside.