How and Where to Buy I/O Coin (IOC) – Detailed Guide

What is IOC?

Overview

iOC (I/O coin) is currently in steadfast development, upgrading it's open source blockchain protocol to host a fully private cryptocurrency. Enabling fully confidential, decentralized peer to peer digital payments. iOC currently fuels Dapps (decentralized applications) that take advantage of a full array of features, from encrypted document storage, encrypted transfer, identity storage to a fully encrypted messaging system.

Profile

iOC was fair, launched on July 24th, 2014. iOC is a Privacy based cryptocurrency and blockchain ecosystem. iOC was initially launched via POW X11 algorithm. The difficult mining period lasted for 2 weeks. This was in order to properly and fairly distribute 16M coins before switching over to their own unique flavor of Proof of Stake Cipher. There are around 18 Million iOC in circulation with a maximum cap of 22 Million. The remaining iOC are minted via POS reward system for Stakers who work on confirming transactions. Stakers also receive transaction fees from on chain services. There is no governance model. The iOC community values freedom. The project was built with a free, fair minded and decentralized spirit. iOC was launched without any Initial Coin Offer (ICO) or Premine.

In 2015 iOC was the first project to move away from the Bitcoin QT wallet and replaced it with a unique "fully decentralized" HTML5/JS based UI wallet. Along with IONS DNS. In 2016 the iOC community and developers formed the I/O Digital foundation to further awareness of the open source public blockchain as it was done for Bitcoin, Litecoin and a few other fair launched projects. In 2017 I/O developers upgraded iOC's blockchain protocol to codename DIONS "Decentralized Input Output Name Server" further enhancing the base platform to host decentralized applications.

With the release of DIONS, the iOC Blockchain enabled identity storage. Users can store their own personal identification and be in full control of who can view it and who they want to share it with. It also allows storage of art and pictures including deeds, copyrights, trademarks, proof of ownership, data and much more. All of which are fully encrypted, fully controlled by the users private keys.

In addition the blockchain enabled features include, Private and Public identities, Stealth Addresses, AES 256 Encrypted 1MB Document/Data (upload, transfer via private users) capabilities, along with AES 256 Encrypted Instant Messaging. The I/O dev team also enabled and increased capacity to 4MB blocks with up to 16 second confirmation times. Along with our very own shuffle staking features. Ensuring that even low weighted users will always see a reward for their work.

In 2019, iOC's main focus continued a strong path towards privacy for all. Ensuring to serve as a privacy based economic and social platform. This by expanding their own privacy based mechanism in coding a Zero Knowledge protocol "NightHawk" ring signatures and Anon Balances.

NightHawk protocol is currently on stand-by as the team is embarking on developing Non Turing Complete smart contracts to be deployed in 2021. The team will follow with a project codenamed "Chameleon - a scalable entropy based molecular graph ledger, to advanced interoperability of multiple blockchains and deploy our own scalable virtual machine and I/O abstract smart contract Ecosystem". The team will follow Chameleon with DIOEX. Essentially creating a completely private, secure and fully decentralized economic ecosystem.

iOC is a fully decentralized world wide cryptocurrency maintained by the I/O Digital Foundation and the iOC World Wide Community.

IOC was first tradable on 2nd Aug, 2014. It has a total supply of 18,764,965.47,434,563. As of right now IOC has a market capitalization of USD $unknown. The current price of IOC is $0.332 and is ranked 1059 on Coinmarketcap and has recently surged 46.20 percent at the time of writing.

IOC has been listed on a number of crypto exchanges, unlike other main cryptocurrencies, it cannot be directly purchased with fiats money. However, You can still easily buy this coin by first buying Bitcoin from any fiat-to-crypto exchanges and then transfer to the exchange that offers to trade this coin, in this guide article we will walk you through in detail the steps to buy IOC.

Step 1: Register on Fiat-to-Crypto Exchange

You will have to first buy one of the major cryptocurrencies, in this case, Bitcoin (BTC). In this article we will walk you through in details two of the most commonly-used fiat-to-crypto exchanges, Uphold.com and Coinbase. Both exchanges have their own fee policies and other features that we will go through in detail. It is recommended that you try both of them and figure out the one that suits you best.

uphold

Suitable for US traders

Select Fiat-to-Crypto Exchange for details:

IOC

Being one of the most popular and convenient fiat-to-crypto exchanges, UpHold has the following advantages:

  • Easy to buy and trade among multiple assets, more than 50 and still adding
  • Currently more than 7M users worldwide
  • You can apply for UpHold Debit card where you can spend the crypto assets on your account like a normal debit card! (US only but will be in the UK later)
  • Easy to use mobile app where you can withdraw fund to a bank or any other altcoin exchanges easily
  • No hidden fees and any other account fees
  • There are limited buy/sell orders for more advanced users
  • You can easily set up recurring deposits for Dollar Cost Averaging (DCA) if you intend to hold cryptos long term
  • USDT, which is one of the most popular USD-backed stablecoins (basically a crypto that is backed by real fiat money so they are less volatile and can be treated almost as the fiat money it's pegged with) is available, this is more convenient if the altcoin you intend to buy has only USDT trading pairs on the altcoin exchange so you don't have to go through another currency conversion while you buy the altcoin.
Show Details Steps ▾
IOC

Type your email and click 'Next'. Make sure you provide your real name as UpHold will need it for account and identity verification. Choose a strong password so that your account isn't vulnerable to hackers.

IOC

You will receive a confirmation email. Open it and click on the link within. You will then be required to provide a valid mobile number to set up two-factor authentication (2FA), it is an extra layer to the security of your account and it is highly recommended that you keep this feature turned on.

IOC

Follow the next step to finish your identity verification. These steps are a bit daunting especially when you are waiting to buy an asset but just like any other financial institutions, UpHold is regulated in most countries such as the US, the UK and the EU. You can take this as a trade-off to using a trusted platform to make your first crypto purchase. Good news is that the whole so-called Know-Your-Customers (KYC) process is now fully automated and it shouldn't take more than 15 minutes to finish.

Step 2: Buy BTC with fiat money

IOC

Once you finished the KYC process. You will be asked to add a payment method. Here you can either choose to provide a credit/debit card or use a bank transfer. You may be charged higher fees depending on your credit card company and the volatile prices when using cards but you will also make an instant purchase. While a bank transfer will be cheaper but slower, depending on the country of your residence, some countries will offer instant cash deposit with low fees.

IOC

Now you are all set, on the 'Transact' screen under the 'From' field, select your fiat currency, and then on the 'To' field choose Bitcoin, click preview to review your transaction and the click confirm if everything looks good... and congrats! You've just made your first crypto purchase.

Step 3: Transfer BTC to an Altcoin Exchange

But we are not done yet, since IOC is an altcoin we need to transfer our BTC to an exchange that IOC can be traded. Below is a list of exchanges that offers to trade IOC in various market pairs, head to their websites and register for an account.

Once finished you will then need to deposit BTC to the exchange from UpHold. After the deposit is confirmed you may then purchase IOC from the exchange view.

Exchange
Market Pair
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IOC/BTC

Last Step: Store IOC securely in hardware wallets

Ledger Nano S

Ledger Nano S

  • Easy to set up and friendly interface
  • Can be used on desktops and laptops
  • Lightweight and Portable
  • Support most blockchains and wide range of (ERC-20/BEP-20) tokens
  • Multiple languages available
  • Built by a well-established company found in 2014 with great chip security
  • Affordable price
Ledger Nano X

Ledger Nano X

  • More powerful secure element chip (ST33) than Ledger Nano S
  • Can be used on desktop or laptop, or even smartphone and tablet through Bluetooth integration
  • Lightweight and Portable with built-in rechargeable battery
  • Larger screen
  • More storage space than Ledger Nano S
  • Support most blockchains and wide range of (ERC-20/BEP-20) tokens
  • Multiple languages available
  • Built by a well-established company found in 2014 with great chip security
  • Affordable price

If you are planning to keep("hodl" as some may say, basically misspelt "hold" which get popularised over time) your IOC for a considerable long time, you may want to explore ways of keeping it safe, although Binance is one of the safest cryptocurrency exchange there had been hacking incidents and funds were lost. Because of the very nature of the wallets in exchanges, they will be always online("Hot Wallets" as we call them), therefore exposing certain aspects of vulnerabilities. The safest way of storing your coins to date is always putting them into a type of "Cold Wallets", where the wallet will only have access to the blockchain(or simply "go online") when you send out funds, reducing the chances of hacking incidents. A paper wallet is a type of free cold wallet, it's basically an offline-generated pair of public and private address and you will have it written somewhere, and keep it safe. However, it is not durable and is susceptible to various hazards.

Hardware wallet here is definitely a better option of cold wallets. They are usually USB-enabled devices that store the key information of your wallet in a more durable way. They are built with military-level security and their firmware are constantly maintained by their manufacturers and thus extremely safe. Ledger Nano S and Ledger Nano X and are the most popular options in this category, these wallets cost around $50 to $100 depending on the features they are offering. If you are holding your assets these wallets are a good investment in our opinion.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I buy IOC with cash?

There is no direct way to buy IOC with cash. However, you can use marketplaces such as LocalBitcoins to first purchase BTC, and finish the rest of the steps by transferring your BTC to respective AltCoin exchanges.

LocalBitcoins is a peer-to-peer Bitcoin exchange. It is a marketplace where users can buy and sell Bitcoins to and from each other. Users, called traders, create advertisements with the price and the payment method they want to offer. You can choose to buy from sellers from a certain nearby region on the platform. is after all a good place to go to buy Bitcoins when you can't find your desired payment methods anywhere else. But prices are usually higher on this platform and you have to do your due diligence to avoid getting scammed.

Are there any quick ways to buy IOC in Europe?

Yes, in fact, Europe is one of the easiest places to buy cryptos in general. There are even online banks which you can simply open an account and transfer money to exchanges such as Coinbase and Uphold.

Are there any alternative platforms to buy IOC or Bitcoin with credit cards?

Yes. is also a very easy to use platform for buying Bitcoin with credit cards. It is an instant cryptocurrency exchange that allows you to exchange crypto fast and buy it with a bank card. Its user interface is very easy to use and the buying steps are pretty self-explanatory.

Read more on I/O Coin's fundamentals and current price here.

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