Disclaimer: This guide is not Buy recommendation.

In this post I’ll take you step-by-step through how to buy Solana in NZ from a reputable broker and your different payment and storage options.

What is Solana?

Solana is a blockchain developed by two former Qualcomm engineers Anatoly Yakovenko and Greg Fitzgerald in 2020.

Solana is similar to Ethereum in that it is a platform upon which other apps and currencies can be created.

Solana is a popular blockchain for minting NFTs and deploying dapps.

One of the essential innovations Solana brings to the table is the proof-of-history (PoH) consensus developed by Anatoly Yakovenko. This concept allows for greater scalability of the protocol, which in turn boosts usability.

Solana is known for its very cheap fees and short transaction times. With lightning-fast processing times, Solana has attracted a lot of institutional interest as well.

My personal experience in Solana is that it is indeed extremely fast and cheap, and the dapps that run on it work well. One of the games I play daily is Stepn, which is a kind of like a Fitbit, and it has been great. The one downside is that the Solana chain does seem to have downtime regularly, which is not ideal for a blockchain that is supposed to have 24/7 usability and uptime.

How To Buy Solana In NZ

The option I recommend right now is EasyCrypto.

They are a full-service crypto and Bitcoin brokerage owned and operated in NZ.

Here is why it’s my top recommendation:

• Orders are filled quickly at market prices.
• Very low fees.
• Excellent customer service.
• Over 100 other cryptocurrencies available.
• They are a registered NZ Financial Services Provider and FDRS member.
• Pay by bank deposit, credit or debit card, Poli or Account2Account. 

How to buy Solana on EasyCrypto

The reason I like EasyCrypto is that the process is quick, and everything is done in NZD.

To buy Solana, there are six simple steps.

Step 1: Open an EasyCrypto account

First, click here to head to their website and open an account:

You can sign up with your socials or an email address just like any other online service.

That’s it!

You now have a crypto brokerage account giving you access to hundreds of cryptocurrencies.

Step 2: Verify your account

As a registered Financial Services Provider in NZ, they need to verify your identity.

This might feel like a nuisance, but try to remember it is actually to protect you.

Don’t buy Bitcoin or crypto from anyone who isn’t registered in New Zealand, especially if you’re new to the market.

People get scammed daily trying to get a deal from obscure sellers.

Verification should only take you a few minutes and only requires a driver’s license or passport:

Once you’ve done that, you’re ready to buy!

Step 3: Choose your coins and quantity

For this example, I’m going to walk you through buying $200 of Solana.

Head to the homepage after you’ve signed up and you should see a page with all the coins you can buy:

Click “Buy”, then click “Solana” and then click “$200” as I’ve shown in the screenshot above.

The prices are all in NZD.

Step 4: Choose your Solana address

On the next page, you’ll get asked to enter your Solana address.

This is where your Solana will be sent to.

Solana addresses work exactly the same as Bitcoin addresses.

If you don’t have one, you have two options.

You can click the “I don’t have a Solana address” button and EasyCrypto will help you set up a private wallet. I also have a guide that will help you set up a private wallet here.

However, for beginners, my advice is to forgo a private wallet and set up an address at an exchange instead.

This goes contrary to the popular advice, which is to always keep your coins in a private wallet, but personally, I think beginners who are just buying their first few hundred dollars of crypto are not yet ready for private wallets.

However, be aware that carrying crypto on an exchange contains risk! Your funds can be locked or lost in the event the exchange is compromised. However, carrying crypto in a private wallet also contains risk. Personally, if this is your first purchase, and if it’s only for a small amount of crypto (say, a few hundred dollars), I think an exchange contains less risk. You can read more about my reasoning and why I recommend exchanges for beginners here.

When you start building your crypto portfolio to higher levels (say, past $1,000) then I would suggest looking into more secure options such as private wallets and hardware wallets. If that sounds like you, check out my guide on private wallets here.

If you’re happy to start with an exchange wallet, the exchange I recommend people start with is Binance.

It’s the exchange I’ve been using since I first got into crypto.

Head to their homepage and register an account.

Once you’ve registered, head to the menu in the top right and click “Wallet”.

Then click “Fiat/Spot Deposit/Withdraw”

Then in the top right, click Deposit:

This should take you to the deposit page where you can find your address.

Where it says “Coin”, choose Solana.

Where it says “Network”, choose Solana.

This should display a string of characters.

This is your Solana address.

Copy/paste this, then go back to your EasyCrypto order and paste it into the address field:

Step 5: Choose a payment option

The next screen will give you your payment options.

I always use bank deposit because it’s free, but choose whichever is most convenient for you:

Step 6: Make payment and wait for your Solana to arrive

EasyCrypto will then give you payment instructions.

If you choose card, Poli or Account2Account, your order will execute immediately.

Your Solana should arrive within a few minutes.

If you chose bank deposit, your order will execute whenever your bank deposit clears.

That’s it!

You’re now the proud owner of Solana.

You will see it in the “Fiat/Spot” Wallet section in your Binance account.

Earn Interest On Your Solana:

One of the cool things about using an exchange like Binance is you get more features to utilise your crypto.

To earn interest on your Solana, follow these steps:

First, click “Earn” in the menu.

This will take you to the Binance Earn page.

Select SOL as your coin, and you will see the staking/deposit options that will allow you to earn yield:

Simply choose one of those instruments, and deposit your Solana:

Your deposit will now show in your Binance Earn dashboard.

At the end of your subscription term, your interest will get paid into your Spot wallet.

As you can see, yields are relatively high on Solana.

This is because it runs on a proof-of-stake protocol – owners receive staking rewards by holding the currency.

Binance manages this for you and pays the rewards to your account.

Warning: Depositing your Solana/crypto for yield contains risk. Make sure you read the product disclosures and understand the risks before depositing.

You can also stake Solana via a private wallet, which is the safer option if you are ready to start using a private wallet.

Who should use this method to buy Solana in NZ?

In my opinion, EasyCrypto combined with an exchange wallet is going to be the best option for 95% of first-time buyers, and for people who are new to crypto.

When it comes to crypto, most people are interested in buying $200 or $500 or maybe a few thousand dollars as an investment.

EasyCrypto is absolutely perfect for this and you won’t find a service better suited for it.

As you get more involved and educated about crypto, increasing your portfolio and adding other coins, you will need to start looking at moving your assets to a private wallet.

I talk about private wallets in this post.

The software wallet I currently use is Exodus which is compatible with Solana.

A private wallets is the safest way to store and access your Solana, but does come with a learning curve, and still contains risk if you don’t manage/backup your wallets properly.

Once crypto starts to become a significant part of your portfolio, start educating yourself on private wallets and moving your Solana to a private wallet like Exodus.