Changing Bitcoin to Euro or USD?
Yes, you can change any cryptocurrency back to your country’s currency. Most articles you find online will outline how to plunge into cryptocurrency trading, but not what you can do to get your money back to FIAT currency quickly and seamlessly.
Why is this?
I guess it has more to do with the fact that most people are still grappling with how to start operating in the crypto space. I call it the “give ‘em what they want” mentality.
To us, guiding you on how to exit from the crypto island back to fiat mainland seems natural as a way of ensuring that you can exit with part or all of your loot when you want. So let’s find out the how.
Timing is everything
I hate clichés, but in crypto too, timing is everything. currency you have bought increases. You must also be keeping an eye to ensure that you are not losing the money you invested in a crashing portfolio. In the beginner’s guide to cryptocurrency, we showed you how to acquire a crypto portfolio and how to trade in the crypto world.
The top currencies are a good investment because they are the most traded. However, if you are a disciple of treasure hunts, penny tokens are in abundance too, and some might be ripe for short-term buy and dump, or long-term speculation based on your research.
Some crypto ideas bring “new, dumb money” in the short run following a token launch, especially with good advertising, hype, and fanfare. You could benefit from that if you follow the activities around the development and marketing team of your chosen altcoin.
When a currency is about to hard fork, it could also be advisable sometimes to withdraw your money back to fiat.
This is especially if you believe that there will be price turbulence based on whatever the underlying reasons for the fork. But this is purely a personal decision because sometimes hard forks are good for your portfolio and you are better off simply putting your crypto in cold storage until the fork dust settles.
If you are a day trader, you could put up your money and withdraw the gains as you go, and therefore you may need a fast and cheap daily ‘milking machine,’ aka exchange.
Understanding the options on your exchange
Exchanges are inevitable in the crypto world.
You have to select a good exchange that gives you a good mix of flexibility, security, low fees, fast transactions, good crypto sell-out prices, crypto options and good customer service.
Once you get a good exchange that delivers your crypto stash back to fiat with little or no injuries, you can then start the cash-out process.
There are three types of exchanges:
Brokers; they will sell you your desired currency directly at a price you specify.
Trading platforms; they will link you with sells of the currency you want and coordinate the sale in an automated fashion for a fee. It is usually less risky than the next option.
Peer to peer; you will go to a marketplace where the sellers specify what you need to do to get their currency, including the payment method, the rate, and the limits.
Let us take cex.io for example.
If you are trading off CEX.IO, you will already have made a good choice of a crypto to currency sell option. This is because they have a fast and cheap platform if you place your crypto prices at rates that are comparable with the rest of the market.
However, you will need to convert your crypto from any other currency to bitcoin (BTC), bitcoin cash (BCH), Ethereum (ETH), or dash (DASH).
You can then send the crypto to your cex.io wallet, and it will reflect on your balance accordingly.
To sell your crypto, you click on the sell button, and you will be taken through an email verification step.
Once you verify, the window for selling pops up, which allows you to set up a sell order, stating the price at which you intend to part with your crypto.
Once you place the order, it will display on the order board, and await a ‘take’ from someone who wants to buy it. Your money will be reflected on the wallet as a balance of the USD, GBP, EUR or RUB.
The account will then be credited with the amount you have chosen. The fees are shown before you transact, though your bank may levy conversion and transaction charges separately from cex.io.
You can also click here to learn from the horse’s mouth!
Transaction Wait times
Sometimes new crypto traders get impatient and execute the same order multiple times because they don’t know what happens after a transaction has been executed. If you are trading crypto, you need to know that confirmations take somewhere between 15 minutes to 30 minutes for the balance to reflect on your account.
This is because crypto is operated on a blockchain, and network nodes need to nod in the affirmative that your transaction is genuine.
So don’t fret. Exchanges like cex.io and all the other major ones thrive on ratings and customer feedback. They will not allow your crypto to disappear. In fact, they always tell you what to do when you can’t find your crypto balance.
This may include sending them details about your transaction ID, the crypto amount and the time you sent, to allow them to find your transaction.
Final Thoughts
There are many options for withdrawing your crypto back to fiat currency. Most exchanges will use the biggest currencies like USD, GBP, and EUR to show trading balances. However, banks will easily transfer the money through international exchanges to the fiat currency of your account.
You may incur fees, but they are usually less to fees that we have been used to in the fiat world.
You need to examine your exchange beforehand to be able to know the shortest route from your wallet to your fiat account. This will enable you to avoid transaction gas costs as you move your portfolio from wallet to wallet.
However, setting sail from the crypto island is less tempestuous than exchanging most fiat currencies back and forth!