You can buy crypto with Amex on Cash App and Rain, but the options are quite limited overall. In this article, we’ll show you how to buy Bitcoin with Amex and highlight some alternatives you can use to buy BTC or other crypto.

If you’re searching for cryptocurrency exchanges that accept American Express, you’ll likely find many outdated articles that list crypto exchanges and brokers that don’t actually accept American Express. As of December 2023, we were only able to find five options to buy Bitcoin with American Express: 

• Cash App
• Platforms that integrate with Sardine
• Rain (only in Kuwait)
• Paxful
• LocalCoinSwap

Buy Bitcoin with American Express via Cash App

Cash App is an incredibly popular payments app that’s available in the United States and the United Kingdom. Cash App was one of the first mainstream financial apps to offer support for Bitcoin, and you can use it to buy Bitcoin with American Express.

To get started, you should create a Cash App account and fund it using your American Express card. In addition to American Express, Cash App also supports Visa, MasterCard and Discover cards.

After you fund your Cash App account, head over to Your Cash app home screen and select the “Bitcoin” section. Then, select “Buy BTC” and enter the amount of BTC you would like to purchase. The final step is to enter your PIN code and select “Confirm”. You can also set up a “Custom Order” to buy Bitcoin automatically when it drops to a specified price.

Please note that Bitcoin is the only cryptocurrency supported by Cash App. If you wish to buy another cryptocurrency, you can withdraw Bitcoin from Cash App to your own wallet, and then deposit your Bitcoin to a cryptocurrency exchange like Coinbase where you can swap it for another cryptocurrency.

Buy Bitcoin with American Express on platforms that integrate with Sardine

Sardine is a company that offers compliance solutions for fintech (financial technology) companies. Sardine helps fintechs eliminate fraud and automatically detect suspicious transactions. Platforms that are integrated with Sardine are one of the few options available on the market where you can buy Bitcoin with your American Express card.  

One example of a crypto platform where you can buy crypto with American Express is BitPay. However, it's important to note that Sardine is the only crypto on-ramp supported by BitPay that supports AMEX as the payment method. You can buy up to $3,000 worth of cryptocurrency per day on BitPay, and the platform supports more than 60 cryptocurrencies overall. Please keep in mind that the purchase will be finalized through the Sardine website. 

Buy crypto with American Express via the Rain exchange

Rain is a cryptocurrency exchange based in Bahrain that caters to the Middle Eastern market. The exchange allows customers to buy a wide variety of cryptocurrencies, and also accepts American Express as a payment method. However, Rain only accepts American Express from customers based in Kuwait. 

You can add your American Express card to your Rain account by heading under your profile settings and selecting “Payment Methods”. Then, choose “Add Payment Method”, and select the type of card you would like to add. Finally, fill out the necessary information with your card details and select “Add card”.

Buy Bitcoin with Amex on the Paxful P2P marketplace

Another platform where you can buy Bitcoin with an American Express card is Paxful. Paxful is an example of a P2P (peer-to-peer) cryptocurrency marketplace. Platforms like Paxos allow cryptocurrency buyers and sellers to directly trade with each other and arrange the price, as well as the payment method.

While P2P marketplaces can be more cumbersome to use than regular cryptocurrency exchanges, one of their clear advantages is that cryptocurrency sellers can choose to accept a very wide variety of payment methods. On Paxful, this also includes American Express.

If we take a look at the various listings on Paxos where users are offering to sell Bitcoin in exchange for an American Express card payment, we can see that the premium they charge for the service is quite high. In fact, the best offer we could find still charges a premium of around 13%. This means that compared to the current Bitcoin market rates, you would only get about $0.88 worth of Bitcoin for each $1 you pay. Some sellers charge even steeper premiums, which can go up to 30% in some cases.

Examples of listings on Paxful for buying Bitcoin with American Express.

If you are really determined to use your American Express card to buy Bitcoin, Paxful is a choice that's available. However, the premiums charged by the sellers are so high that it won't be worth it for most users.

Buy Bitcoin with AMEX on LocalCoinSwap

LocalCoinSwap is a peer-to-peer crypto marketplace that puts an emphasis on user privacy. The LocalCoinSwap facilitates the trading of various cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, BNB Chain, Celo, and TRON, along with tokens issued on these blockchain platforms. LocalCoinSwap adopts a non-custodial design, granting users control over their crypto assets while utilizing the platform.

Cryptocurrency sellers on LocalCoinSwap can accept a very broad range of payment methods (more than 300 payment methods at the time of writing), and American Express is among them. However, we have only been able to find a handful of offers where users are selling Bitcoin and accepting American Express. From the offers we have been able to find, the premium for buying Bitcoin is at least 25% or higher.

Alternatives to buying crypto with American Express

If you’re looking to buy Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies with a credit or debit card, the best way is to use Visa or Mastercard. Credit and debit cards issued on these networks are accepted by the vast majority of cryptocurrency exchanges, including:

• Binance
• KuCoin
• Coinbase
• Kraken
• Bybit

Please note that while buying cryptocurrency with a credit card is fast and convenient, you will usually pay more in fees compared to using other payment methods (for example a bank transfer). Ultimately, it’s up to you to decide whether the convenience of using a credit or debit card is worth the additional fees.

On some cryptocurrency exchanges, it’s also possible to buy Bitcoin with a prepaid card. If you’re interested in other ways of buying Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, make sure to check out our ultimate guide to investing in cryptocurrency.

The bottom line — American Express is not the best option for crypto investors

If you want to buy crypto with Amex, you’re not completely out of luck, but you unfortunately only have a few options. If you live in the United States, you can buy Bitcoin with Amex using Cash App or use a platform such as BitPay that allows users to buy crypto via Sardine. American Express is also supported by the Rain crypto exchange, although it is only available in the Middle Eastern market. There is also the option of using the Paxful or LocalCoinSwap P2P marketplaces, although most sellers who accept Amex charge a very high premium.

So, if you’re trying to buy Bitcoin or other crypto with Amex, you should probably look for an alternative payment instead. Most cryptocurrency exchanges accept payments with Visa and Matercard cards, and some of them also allow you to buy Bitcoin with a bank transfer. 

Frequently asked questions

Here are some frequently asked questions users have when it comes to buying Bitcoin and other crypto with American Express.

How to buy Bitcoin with Amex?

You can buy Bitcoin with Amex by using your American Express card to fund your Cash App account, and then buying Bitcoin through Cash App. You can also buy Bitcoin with Amex on the Rain crypto exchange, although the exchange only supports this feature for customers in Kuwait. The third option available on the market is Paxful, which is a peer-to-peer Bitcoin marketplace where sellers can accept American Express.

Can I buy crypto with American Express?

Yes, you can buy crypto with American Express. However, your options are very limited. The only platforms we were able to find where you can buy crypto with American Express are Cash App and the Rain crypto exchange. You can also buy Bitcoin with American Express on the Paxful peer-to-peer Bitcoin marketplace, although most sellers charge a very steep premium when accepting this payment method.

Does Binance accept American Express?

No, Binance currently doesn’t accept American Express. If you want to buy crypto on Binance with a credit or debit card, you’ll have to use a card issued on the Visa or Mastercard networks. 

Does Coinbase accept American Express?

No, Coinbase does not accept American Express. If you want to buy crypto on Coinbase with a credit or debit card, you’ll have to use a card issued on the Visa or Mastercard networks.