If you decide to buy through an exchange, check local availability, KYC, fees, withdrawal rules and enable 2FA. An exchange is a purchase gateway, not your long-term wallet.
Action
Choose an exchange available in your location, finish necessary security setup and buy only a small first amount.
Completion signal
You understand exchange accounts, KYC, 2FA, fees and withdrawal rules, and know not to keep large BTC balances on an exchange.
Learn the relationship between private keys, seed phrases and wallets: whoever controls the private key controls the BTC. Never screenshot, cloud-sync or share a seed phrase.
Action
Read self-custody basics and separate hot wallets, cold wallets, private keys and seed phrases in your notes.
Completion signal
You can distinguish private keys, seed phrases, wallets and exchange accounts without entering a seed phrase into websites or chats.
After understanding wallets and seed phrases, test a small BTC withdrawal. Confirm the BTC mainnet address, fee, arrival status and offline seed backup.
Action
Move a tiny amount of BTC to your own wallet, confirm arrival and record the process. Before larger withdrawals, make sure backups can be recovered.
Completion signal
You have completed one small withdrawal test, know how to check address and arrival, and have an offline backup.
Do not withdraw before understanding wallets, private keys and seed phrases. Do not make large transfers before checking addresses, networks, fees and backups.