Update January 2020:
VirWox will stop its operations in January 2020. Our recommendation is to use the German exchange Bticoin.de
For most bitcoin users (new or old) choosing which exchange to use is one of the most important decisions to make. Almost all largest exchanges have been subject to some successful hacking attempts in the past.
All large names like Bitstamp, BitFinex, Yapizon etc. became victims of the hackers at some point. Some of them survived, but the market will never forget Mt.Gox (the first and largest bitcoin exchange) that vanished with all users assets and even 4 years later nothing have been recuperated.
In this setup, it might come as a surprise, but one of the safest and long running cryptocurrency exchange is actually one that launched before bitcoin itself.
Virwox has been around for more than 10 years, and it was one of the places were first wave of online assets like Second Life Dollars were transactioned in the past.
Even on this blog, I was presenting here how users can buy or sell bitcoins using credit cards or alternative payment methods back in 2013. It is 2017, and
Virwox is still around and never subject to any hacking or other big scandal.
Yes, there is a premium to pay for this service, and the buying experience in not as straightforward as in other places. You can see below a short video showing how you can buy on Virwox
