When this guide was first published in 2018, there were 14 coins with a market cap of over US$1 billion. While many of these 14 coins were directly competing against each other, IOTA (ticker IOTA, formerly MIOTA) offered a much more unique architecture and value proposition. As such, anyone looking to hold a varied portfolio, or just wanting to be in at the front of an exciting technological evolution, should consider buying into IOTA.
This guide is going to show you how to buy your first IOTA coins on one of the world’s largest exchanges, Binance.
What is IOTA?
IOTA is a distributed ledger platform intending to power the Internet of Things (IoT) economy. Well… what is the IoT?
The Internet of Things is the network in which all kinds of devices communicate with each other, sharing data and performing automated actions. Smart TVs, smart homes and Amazon’s Alexa are just the beginning. Many believe the IoT has almost limitless potential to expand, and encompass everything in our everyday life.
One hurdle in place for the IoT’s advancement is the ability for devices to make transparent microtransactions between each other without significant fees to be paid for each transaction. This is the problem IOTA set out to solve, with its IOTA token.
To enable instant microtransactions with zero fees, the issue of scalability with traditional blockchain platforms needed to be fixed. IOTA originally did this with a different architecture to the blockchain used by the likes of Bitcoin and Ethereum. Their Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) structure (called the “Tangle”) allowed transactions to run parallel to each other and theoretically scaled to work faster with more activity on the network.
This cryptocurrency network did not use the traditional blockchain system that other virtual currencies use. Instead, it used the Tangle to avoid the scalability issues that affected other cryptocurrency networks. Since the IOTA Rebased upgrade of May 2025, IOTA has been a delegated proof-of-stake network secured by validators, and each transaction pays a small fee, about 0.005 IOTA on average, which is burned.
When this section was written, IOTA was the 19th largest cryptocurrency in the market, with a valuation of $671 million and a price of $0.241. On October 9, 2026, CoinGecko ranked it 167th, with a market capitalization of about $239 million.
If you want to learn more about IOTA (MIOTA) we have written a beginner’s guide to IOTA.
Now let’s see how you can buy IOTA tokens.
Step 1: Register for an account on Binance
There are several exchanges in the crypto market, but Binance is certainly one of the most recognized and largest in the world. The exchange is not only offering crypto trading services but also many other products for all kinds of investors around the world. Moreover, Binance is also one of the exchanges with the largest liquidity for smaller digital assets and other altcoins.
When this section was written, Binance had a trading volume of $649 million in the last 24 hours, IOTA could be traded against Binance Coin (BNB), Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and Tether (USDT), and it made up 0.12% of the total trading volume of the platform. As of October 2026, Binance lists IOTA only against Tether (USDT), USD Coin (USDC) and the Turkish lira (TRY).
Some exchanges, such as Bitvavo (euros) and Bitfinex (US dollars), now sell IOTA for fiat currency. This guide focuses on buying IOTA with Tether (USDT) or USD Coin (USDC) on Binance.
If you haven’t already, register for an account on Binance. The exchange is open in most countries but not all: since 2019 it has not served US residents, who use the separate Binance.US. Signing up should not take long.
Step 2: Verify your account
Binance will require you to submit several verification documents before you can start trading. The approval process is usually quick, but in some cases may take up to a day.
Additionally, set up 2-Factor Authentication to protect your account.
Step 3: Send USDT or USDC to Your Binance Account
Once you have registered, you’ll need to send Tether (USDT) or USD Coin (USDC) to your Binance wallet. If you don’t hold any of these coins, you can buy with a credit or debit card from sites like Coinmama or Changelly, or from a Fiat exchange like Coinbase.
To make a deposit, log in, click “Deposit”, then “Deposit Crypto”.
Select the coin you wish to deposit and the network you are sending it on. Binance will give you a wallet address to send your coins to. Make sure you only send the right type of coin, on the network you selected (i.e. USDT to the USDT address). Any other coins sent here could be lost.
Step 4: Wait for confirmation
Transactions are often completed very quickly, but could take up to several hours in some cases depending on the network load at the time.
Make sure your transaction has been completed successfully before continuing.
Step 5: Find and Select the Trading Pair Desired
Once your deposit has gone through, move to the exchange section of Binance. Click on “Trade” from the menu at the top, then “Spot”.
From the exchange screen, find the box on the right hand side. In the search field, select the coin you deposited earlier, and search for IOTA. Click on the pair that comes up (IOTA/USDT or IOTA/USDC).
Optional: Use Binance’s advanced tools to buy at the right time
Binance offers a lot of data, such as real-time graphs and order history, to help you track a coin’s performance and buy at the best time.
The exchange will also let you set buy or sell limits. This means you can put at price (in USDT or USDC) at which you want to buy. Once the price hits that point, the exchange will automatically make your trade.
There are many different tools that would allow traders and investors to have better trading experience in the market.
Step 6: Choose the amount of IOTA to buy
Put in the price you want to buy IOTA for, or select Market to buy at the current price (market price is fine for beginners).
Now select how much IOTA to buy. You can choose a specific amount in IOTA, or 25%, 50%, 75% or 100% of the USDT or USDC in your Binance wallet.
Step 7: Buy IOTA!
Click the big green button to complete your trade!
Step 8: Move your coins to a secure IOTA wallet
The best practice in crypto is to keep your coins in a secure wallet you control, not on an exchange. So when you are finished trading, always withdraw your coins.
There are different crypto wallets in the space that would allow you to store your funds safely. This is very important because exchanges are usually affected by hacks and attacks that could result in the loss of virtual currencies from users. Hardware wallets are considered to be the most secure to store digital currencies.
To do this, you’ll need a wallet that supports IOTA. IOTA’s wallet page lists the official IOTA Wallet browser extension and the Nightly mobile wallet, and the Atomic Wallet also lists IOTA. The older GUI IOTA Light Wallet, Trinity Wallet and IOTA Android Wallet are discontinued.
To withdraw coins to your own wallet, go to “Assets”, then “Overview”, and click “Withdraw”.
Select IOTA and add the address from your IOTA wallet. Double check it, make sure the network matches the address, and click “Withdraw”. Check Binance for confirmation that your withdrawal has been successful.
Binance is also allowing users to purchase some digital currencies using credit cards. This is important for users that want to have access to the crypto market in a fast and easy way. Nonetheless, some digital currencies are currently available for purchasing using this method.
…and that’s it! Now you know how to get your first IOTA tokens on Binance.
