This guide will cover three different ways to get your first DOT / KSM
You can buy your crypto via the Talisman integrated fiat on-ramp, a dex and a cex. Dex stands for decentralized exchange and requires to already have some form of token to trade against. Cex on the other hand stands for centralized exchange that allows you to deposit funds like Euro or Dollar via regular bank transfer. Each with their own up- and downsides.
Get your funds via the Talisman integrated fiat on-ramp
1. Click on the buy button in the extension view or the expanded view.
2. Select a Substrate account to purchase substrate based assets like DOT / KSM or an EVM account for ethereum assets like ETH / MOVR. These are all the assets you can buy via the Banxa fiat on-ramp at the moment. Finally decide on the dollar amount you are willing to pay and click Continue.
3. You will be redirected to the Banxa website where you can review your order and choose a payment service. Either pay with credit card and pay a small amount of gateway fees or even use google pay for a zero fee purchase. Note that Talisman doesn't take a cut of any applicable fees! Talisman will automatically put in the address of the account you chose earlier. Finally click Create Order.
4. Enter your email and verify it with a pin.
5. Enter your personal information and verify your ID. The following steps depend on your ID type and country of residence. Simply follow the instructions and finish the transaction. After this first transaction you can use the service again without repeating the KYC steps.
Get your funds on a centralized exchange
First step is to open an account on the exchange of your choice. Make sure that the exchange offers service to residents of your country. After creating your account you most likely have to undergo a similar KYC process as the just described Talisman fiat on-ramp via Banxa.
As soon as your KYC process is finished you can fund your account with a traditional bank transfer or a credit card among many other funding methods. That fiat money can then be traded for crypto assets. Pay attention that you are trading on the spot market. Most exchanges also offer levereged trading with derivatives but those can't be withdrawn to any wallet. Avoid those.
Once you have your DOT / KSM acquired you can withdraw it to your Talisman wallet in the withdraw section of the exchange. There you can paste your address from your Talisman account and request the transfer. The withdrawn funds should appear in your Talisman wallet after a few minutes.
If you struggle to complete the procedure on any cex you can reach out to their customer support. Try to communicate with support on secured channels for example via their own website. Keep in mind that if you try to get assistance in public places like telegram or discord, strangers might impersonate staff trying to steal your funds.
Get your funds on a decentralized exchange
Other than on a centralized exchange you need to already have some crypto in your wallet to trade for DOT / KSM. Also you need a dex that supports a combination of trading pairs that enables you to swap your current assets for DOT / KSM. Make sure there is a valid trading route before you end up paying unnecessary fees for bridging or partial trades.
The general procedure is as follows:
Connect your Talisman wallet that you want to do the swap in (make sure it’s a safe site)
Choose the asset/amount that you want to swap from / to
Determine slippage. Most dex will ask you for your slippage tolerance. This is a percentage value that you tolerate as a difference between the expected conversion rate and the actual conversion rate. A common slippage is around 0.5%. This is a necessary evil to account for eventual events in between the submission and execution of your transaction.
View your tokens in Talisman. If you trade your crypto for some niche EVM tokens then you probably have to add it as a custom token. Check this guide on how to do so. Adding Custom Tokens. Substrate based assets that are deployed as a parachain on the other hand will show up automatically.
Compared to the previous two methods this way of obtaining funds is for more proficient Talisman users that already know how to connect their wallet to a dApp like a dex and have some basic knowledge in the ecosystem to avoid phising sites and other threats.
