How To Buy Solana (SOL) In Australia

What Is Solana?

Solana is a decentralized layer-one blockchain protocol that was initially released in April 2019. It was created to enable scalable applications and smart contracts for the world, and It is fast, in fact very fast and only gets faster as the ecosystem grows.

Solana can process more than 50,000 transactions a second and transaction fees are extremely low which makes it very desirable compared to its established rival Ethereum.

Solana is now one of the biggest cryptocurrencies in the world currently sitting in the top ten. SOL is the cryptocurrency that runs on the Solana blockchain, and there were 489 million SOL tokens released in circulation on its launch.

How To Buy Solana With AUD: Full Guide For Australians

Buying crypto assets in Australia is best done through a regulated crypto exchange that accepts AUD as payment, has competitive trading fees, and supports cash withdrawals to a local bank account. Therefore, we have used Swyftx in this tutorial to show you exactly how we bought SOL tokens. You can read more about the crypto platform in our Swyftx review.

Step 1 – Set Up Your Account

To your benefit, we have partnered with Swyftx to provide a promotional offer for new customers. By using our Swyftx referral link, you can obtain $20 worth of Bitcoin to kick-start your crypto portfolio. After clicking on the link above, the below screen will be presented showing our promo code “cryption20“.

Following this, all you need is a good password and a valid email address that has not been used to create an account with Swyftx before.

Step 2 – Passing KYC

Digital asset exchanges that are regulated by the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) are the most trusted and safest platforms to buy altcoins from. However, they do require you to verify your identity before any AUD funds can be deposited. This process is known as Know-Your-Customer (KYC) and is a common measure implemented by financial institutions for security purposes.

Since Swyftx is registered with AUSTRAC, you will be required to verify your account using a form of government-issued photo ID. We chose to our driver’s licence and the uploading process took about 3 minutes. An hour passed before email confirmation was provided from Swyftx that we had passed the mandatory KYC process.

Step 3 – Depositing AUD

You can fund your Swyftx trading account using a few methods, but our preferred method is to do a bank transfer since it is instant and straightforward. Although they also accept PayID, POLi and credit cards. There are no Swyftx charges or fees for AUD deposits and withdrawals which is fairly common in the Australian crypto market, barring a few exceptions.

The deposit function can be found in the left sidebar. Clicking this will open a window (as shown below), where you can choose the AUD payment method that suits you. All methods are near-instant, however, the minimum deposit amounts differ. Transfers from an Australian bank account, POLi and PayID carry a $30 minimum, whilst credit/debit cards have a higher minimum of $75. In addition, credit/debit card fees are about 2%. Whilst this is on par with industry standards, you can avoid it by using one of the three other methods.

After the deposit has been carried out, you will see the AUD funds in your Swyftx trading wallet. Now you can start buying Solana.

Step 4 – Purchase Solana

The trading section of the Swyftx interface can be found by clicking on “Trade” on the left sidebar. Swyftx supports more than 320 crypto assets so you will need to find SOL from the list. Selecting SOL will present the TradingView charts for the SOL/AUD trading pair including all the drawing tools and indicators if you know how to analyse the price action of crypto.

Regardless if you use charting or not, pressing the green “Buy” button will open a new panel on the right-hand side of the interface. This is where you can enter the amount of AUD to spend on SOL, set up trigger orders, or implement recurring purchases of Solana.

The instant function will trade your cash for SOL on the spot. Trigger orders are used by more experienced traders if they want to buy Solana at a particular price. You can enter a desired purchase price, for example, $30, and when the real market price reaches $30 then Swyftx will execute the transaction on your behalf.

Recurring orders are a popular tool used by beginners who prefer to slowly buy into the market. More commonly referred to as Dollar-Cost-Averaging (DCA), this allows you to slowly invest and build up your portfolio without having to ‘time’ the market. This also helps to mitigate price volatility and is a popular method used in the traditional finance sector.

Clicking “Review” will present a summary of the transaction for you to review. This will include the trading fees incurred. Luckily, Swyftx offers very competitive trading fees of 0.6% for all crypto buy and sell orders. Considering the 1% fee using the Instant Buy/Sell feature on CoinSpot, you will quickly realise the value for money difference between that and Swyftx.

After the Solana purchase has been made, you can visit your dashboard to see that the SOL tokens have been transferred into your trading wallet.

The Applications Of Solana

One of the most well-liked blockchain ecosystems is Solana, which has a high adoption rate and practical usability. Beginner investors would often want to buy SOL with the expectation that its value will rise over time. SOL, though, can be applied in a number of ways to give you returns or further value through its utility.

Staking is a well-liked method of generating passive revenue and is particularly helpful for cryptocurrency that is just sitting in your wallet. If you stake SOL, your tokens will be used to validate transactions on the Solana blockchain network and sent to a staking-compatible wallet on an exchange (they cannot be exchanged during the staking phase). You continue to be the owner and will be compensated with more SOL tokens. Annual Percentage Yields (APY) for SOL in Australia range from about 4% to 6.5%. A reliable crypto staking exchange available to Australians is Bybit. The other advantage is that you don’t need to pass KYC.

There is a multitude of Decentralized Apps (dApps) available on the Solana network. These include Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), gaming apps, conducting faster transaction payments, and participating in the governance of the Solana network.

Should You Invest In Solana?

Solana ( SOL ) had an amazing start when it was launched in April 202O, and quickly became one of the fastest-growing cryptocurrencies in 2021. The price of Solana skyrocketed from $0.75 to a high of $215 in September. With a market capitalisation of over $8.3 billion, Solana is frequently inside the top 10 cryptocurrencies to own and invest in.

Choosing A Crypto Exchange To Buy Solana

Choose a regulated exchange

Although almost all crypto exchanges implement bank-like security measures, ones that are registered with AUSTRAC have the added benefit of being monitored for suspicious financial activity stemming from organised crime. Examples of AUSTRAC-registered trading platforms include Swyftx, CoinSpot, Digital Surge, and eToro Australia.

Low trading fees

For purchasing and selling Solana, different crypto exchanges in Australia have varying trading fees. Be mindful of the deposit, trading and withdrawal fees and charges since value for money should be a determining factor for most Australians.

In Australia, the costs associated with purchasing Solana tokens are typically between 0.1% and 1% of the value of the transaction. Global exchanges with substantial trading volumes and liquidity across the AUD-SOL trading pair often provide fees that are closer to or even less than 0.1%. If you want to use a local Australian exchange, check for costs between 0.5% and 0.6% because they offer excellent value. Anything towards 0.8 and 1% are too expensive.

Payment methods

Some digital asset exchanges only allow a few types of payments. typically, global crypto exchanges have fewer ways to deposit AUD and the local Australian platforms are more AUD-friendly.

Depending on your financial situation and the level of convenience you want, make sure the exchange you choose an exchange that offers a wide variety of convenient AUD payment methods. Currently, CoinSpot offers the most ways of funding your account with Swyftx a close second. These include POLi, PayID, BPAY, cash deposits (Blueshyft), credit/debit cards, and transfers from an Australian bank account. The international exchanges that allow for SOL purchases with credit/debit cards frequently charge higher fees.

The exchange has SOL-AUD as a trading pair

Since Solana is a popular crypto asset for the majority of investors and traders, the majority if not all, Australian cryptocurrency exchanges and platforms will support the AUD/SOL trading pair. This indicates that you can sell SOL for cash as well as exchange your money.