Quote:
Originally Posted by HundredsOfStuff
Anybody know what options there are besides Circle and Coinbase for Americans?
The absolute fastest way to turn BTC into cash is probably localbitcoins. You will need to be familiar with how lbtc escrow works, and knowledgable about the payment form you are intending to receive. The safest options are those where you receive cash in hand.
--In-person cash trade if you live in a location where there is significant bitcoin activity. (advice: don't get robbed, meet in public place)
--Western Union/MG (don't release escrow until you are counting the cash in your hand)<--prob the easiest for a new user
--Cash deposit at bank account--make sure they deposit cash (and not checks or IOUs), ask them to upload a picture of the deposit receipt via lbtc, check your balance online, call the branch to make sure they don't employ ******s who will let a depositer pull cash back out of an account he doesn't own. Extremely rare that you will get scammed if you follow these rules (I have completed hundreds of non poker-related trades for over $80k of cash deposits across 4-5 different banks on lbtc and have not gotten scammed once.) You will generally need to provide the buyer your name and account #. Do read up on how to do these trades safely before you jump in headfirst.
Generally, buyers of BTC will pay you some vig so exchanging on lbtc should never result in you trading for less than the market value of your btc balance.
*There are also other payment options but they require a more nuanced understanding of how they operate. You can certainly get them done without every getting ripped off but you will need to spend considerable time researching the mechanics of accepting these payments. They have a forum: search through it for the payment form you're interested in to see if/how people end up getting scammed with those payment forms, and make sure you don't fall for similar scams.*