Can I buy crypto with cash?

Yes, through a machine or a counter — and both cost far more than the boring route.

Two ways exist. A crypto ATM takes banknotes and sends coins to an address you show it, typically charging between five and fifteen per cent once the exchange rate margin is counted. A cash desk or OTC office quotes one price for the whole amount at a physical counter, usually a few per cent, with paperwork if it is a legitimate one.

Availability is a matter of local rules rather than demand: some countries license these operators, some prohibit them, and some have none registered at all — meaning any machine standing there is operating outside the rules.

One thing to say plainly: if somebody instructed you to put cash into a crypto machine — a caller from a bank, a tax office, a support desk, a police officer — it is fraud, without exception. Buying at a crypto ATM explains why these machines feature in that scam everywhere they exist.

Last checked 19 Oct 2026.