Over the last two years, cryptocurrencies have started gaining increasing attention from wider audiences. There might be a lot of reasons why – the global pandemic, the economic uncertainty, or the growth of digital technologies in general. Plus, the availability of digital assets has grown significantly – right now you don’t need to have advanced knowledge of the blockchain in order to possess some crypto coins. All you have to do, in case if you’re a complete beginner, is to launch a custodial account with a crypto exchange like CEX.IO and buy or sell crypto in just a few clicks.
The easiness with which it became possible to trade cryptocurrencies is amazing but how about cashing out your crypto? In an ideal situation, which by the way might happen in a crypto world overnight, you have just bought some coins and the next day they soared in price. So, what are you going to do? You start rushing around trying to figure out how to convert the tokens that don’t actually exist into hard cash. Don’t panic! We know a few methods that will help you to convert your crypto into cash as fast as possible. Read on to discover them all!
Ways to Convert Crypto Into Cash
Centralized exchange
As we briefly mentioned before, a centralized exchange is one of the easiest and most popular ways to cash out your crypto. The reason for that is simple. Usually, businesses like these are officially registered as payment providers, so they get to deal with digital assets and cash. That’s exactly why they are able to accept payments with the card or e-wallet and exchange it for cryptocurrencies. So, the backward scenario is also applicable.
You can take the crypto that you bought earlier in the centralized exchange and claim for a withdrawal. Usually, there is an easy interface that lets you do this in just a few clicks. You will need to pick one of the methods in which you want to withdraw – whether it be a credit card, an e-wallet or a bank account. Bank accounts take longer to process so many users choose e-wallets or cards to withdraw quickly.
The newest option is when a centralized exchange issues a credit or debit card. This way, you don’t even have to cash out crypto since the equivalent amount of cash is always accessible for you in the form of a physical card. As a result, you can spend crypto anywhere.
Bitcoin ATM
Some Bitcoin ATMs let you withdraw not only BTC but also a range of other popular cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin ATM looks just like a regular one but without a connection to the conventional banking system. Instead, they have a connection with a blockchain.
At Bitcoin ATMs, you won’t see regular plastic card readers. Instead, you will see QR code readers because often crypto holders possess their BTC on the so-called cold wallets which are essentially just pieces of paper with a few codes printed on them. You need to scan the code or enter the necessary credentials manually and you will receive the amount of cash that you wish to withdraw. The map of Bitcoin ATMs is usually available online.
One drawback of this method is that Bitcoin ATMs are businesses held by someone. A decentralized blockchain won’t go installing physical ATMs in hot spots as you can imagine. So it’s fair to say that the providers of services like these do charge some commission for using these ATMs. So mind that if you want to use one of them someday.
Peer-to-peer exchange platform
Methods of crypto withdrawals like centralized exchange come with a bunch of rules. For example, they have to comply with anti-money laundering policies so they are going to ask for your personal information like document scans or photos, bank statements, utility bills, etc. This suggests that you expose part of your privacy to a third party like an exchange itself. But if you don’t want to do that and would like to stay anonymous, there is a way.
You can find a peer-to-peer exchange platform. Basically, it looks like a hand-made version of a bigger exchange. In this case, random users are filling the orders of each other. For example, user A says that he has 14 BTC ready to be exchanged for cash. He posts an announcement and promises that he will send you cash if you send him BTC. However, you need to be careful with places like this because all you see are the nicknames of people you don’t know. And as a rule, no one in a peer-to-peer network is going to guarantee the fairness of its participants. You’re going to accept trusting these people and it can be risky.
Do you even need to cash out?
As we already mentioned before, there are ways to enjoy your crypto in everyday life while holding it on your crypto balance without having to withdraw, wait, switch between accounts and payment methods. One such way is to get a plastic credit or debit card issued by a crypto exchange that you’re holding an account with.
Also, there are selling spots that accept crypto. Don’t worry, it’s absolutely legal. The technology allows exchanging this crypto in the backend into cash. As a result, you pay with crypto, and the merchant gets to cash in their official bank account. Also, since the merchant deals with an exchange, you automatically get a fair exchange rate anytime you’re willing to pay in crypto.
