is it possible to be able to buy cryptocurrencies other than bitcoin, litecoin and eth with USD

I've been looking online for quite sometime but it doesn't seem like I can find this exact answer. I've been looking to buy some cryptocurrencies but I'm hoping to be able to buy them with USD.

I know that I can go to coinbase, open an account, buy bitcoin, or ether and then transfer it to an exchange such as bittrex or bitstamp and get coins using those two main cryptocurrencies.

What if I want Ripple or DASH and want to buy it directly at the price that it's at, and i do not want to buy Bitcoin or Ether to get it (since the prices are so high).

Basically I'm not interested in buying Ether or Bitcoin, i'm looking to buy some other cryptocurrencies that are very low in price.

Am I able to do that - or do I HAVE to use Bitcoin or Ether to buy the desired ctyptocurrencies.

BobSmith7777

Posted 2017-12-19T01:02:05.900

Reputation: 21

You're saying you don't want to buy bitcoin or ether to get it because the prices are so high? prices of an intermediate currency are irrelevant. As long as you end up with ripple or dash, you could first convert your $X USD into bitcoin, ethereum, euros, rubles, amazon gift cards, whatever.... you still end up with $X worth of ripple or dash, just minus fees – hedgedandlevered – 2017-12-21T04:33:55.847

Answers

Your issue makes no sense; the price of the intermediary currency is irrelevant.

Say you want to buy $600 worth of Bloopcoin. Bloopcoin's exchange rate is around $60 per Bloop, so you expect to get 10 Bloop.

Unfortunately only markets to buy with BTC are available, and (assume) BTC's exchange rate is $6000 per BTC. You can still buy 0.1 BTC for $600, and then use those 0.1 BTC to buy 10 Bloop.

If BTC were instead to be at $12000 per BTC, you'd only be able to buy 0.05 BTC for $600; but if the Bloop exchange was $60 per Bloop, those 0.05 BTC would still buy you 10 Bloop.

I'm aware this is not a full answer to your question, but perhaps it addresses the "since price is so high" comment you made.

Pieter Wuille

Posted 2017-12-19T01:02:05.900

Reputation: 54 032

Yes, it is possible as long as it is supported by the specific exchange.
Take a look at Coinmarketcap.
Kraken is an example that support a wider selections of altcoins/USD.

However, Tether(USDT) will be a better choice if you want to deal with more exotic cryptocurrencies/tokens. Every Tether is supposedly backed 1-to-1, so 1 USDT always approximate to 1 USD. This way you can avoid the volatilities of Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Chak

Posted 2017-12-19T01:02:05.900

Reputation: 1 187

-1 for recommending tether and spreading the misinformation that it is backed one to one. It almost certainly is not. There is no way they're sitting on a pile of over one billion dollars now. In all likelihood, USDT is a large bubble about to burst – hedgedandlevered – 2017-12-21T04:34:52.730

Yeah, was not the best choice of wording. Fixed now. – Chak – 2017-12-21T15:00:52.347

Also he wants to "buy directly at the price that it's at".This is only possible via FIAT or USDT at the moment, since these are the options with lowest volatilities. – Chak – 2017-12-21T15:15:08.433

Thats only possible via fiat if you're talking about the price in fiat. the "price" of something is defined as a ratio between two currencies, not necessarily involving USD. For example, the price of ethereum is .08 right now (in bitcoin terms) – hedgedandlevered – 2018-01-09T15:39:14.613

Yep, it's possible. You can buy several coins, including mentioned by you dash at cex - https://cex.io/dash-usd. By the way xrp is also listed there.

richcoin

Posted 2017-12-19T01:02:05.900

Reputation: 9

If you're doing it with small quantities you can try changelly.com (some people like it, some don't). The fees are high for credit card txs but you can definitely buy a ton of alts without having to touch bitcoin in the process

FKrauss

Posted 2017-12-19T01:02:05.900

Reputation: 111