The Trials and Tribulations of Turning a Little Steem Into Fiat
I Need a Nap
Why would anybody want a bunch of greenbacks when they could have Steem?
Well, I have been working with Steemit for several weeks and decided that I needed to prove that I could turn 5 SBD into George Washingtons. Also, I've suggested Steemit to some friends. I even promoted it on my website. I didn't feel right about recommending something that I wasn't 100-percent sure of.
After all, we're doing this to support the platform but ALSO to earn. I wasn't going to be satisfied until I actually turned just a bit of Steem digital currency into traditional money. I do plan to use most of my earnings to power up and transfer to other Steemians, but I just had to know, OK?
What Did I Want to Do With My Moolah?
This is what I wanted:
- A debit card I could reload
- For obvious reasons, it had to take US residents
YES, I POWERED UP TOO -- THIS WAS JUST A TEST
Don't worry. I spent more powering up a bit. Since I lost my tiny, new-member delegation a few weeks ago, I've been sad. What's up with that, anyway? They couldn't have let me use their lousy 14 SP a little while longer?
Here's What Did Not Work for Me
All I have to say, is the process has been difficult so far.
What didn't work is trying to fund BitPay with Blocktraides. Blocktrades said the wallet address from BitPay was invalid. Crap, what do I know? Then I looked and saw that BitPay only accepts a few wallets, and that would mean transferring to one wallet, and then to BitPay, and that's way too hard.
I was about to give up and just try buying from @steemgiftcards. I might do that in the future because that looks like the easiest option, but I really wanted something I could reload.
I Finally Got a Shift Card
I finally just sent the Steem through Blocktrades to Coinbase, signed up for a Shift card, and then completed that process. The problem is funds evaporated all along the route, both from Bitcoin fees and then paying for the Shift card for the first time.
Here's the deal:
- What should have been well over $40 in SBD, turned to about $30 by the time it got to Coinbase.
- Then I paid some tiny crumb of a bitcoin for the $10 Shift fee, so I've got about $20 left in Coinbase. Hey, I'm a baller!
PLEASE, GURUS, TELL ME A BETTER WAY
I've got shiny, new .05 upvotes and polite replies for all relevant comments.
Please either tell me amusing stories about how hard it is to turn Steem (SBD, in this case) into USD or give me better advice. Thanks, and have a nice day! I'm in the USA and would prefer a debit card I can reload. Thanks!
There honestly isn't a good way, because for most people right now, the roads all run through bitcoin and its enormous fees. We need a payment processor and major fiat exchange (USD/EUR) to trade STEEM directly, that way a STEEM backed debit card could be created. That would enable better extraction, and entry of fiat into the STEEM ecosystem.
The @steemgiftcards account said they were working on that For now, the best option might be to just buy one-time debit cards.
That seems like an interesting temporary solution, but realistically a better payment processor is needed long term.
Thanks, once you figure it out, please let me know. I'm a long way from taking anything out, but it would be nice to know the most efficient steps to take.
Hopefully, some of our fellow Steemians will check in with good suggestions.
From Coinbase you could have sent it to PayPal and saved the Shift fee.
PayPal gives you a free re-loadable MasterCard.
You're right, and I actually already have one. I could have also hooked up a checking account and did a transfer. I just don't want to connect all those accounts because I'm a bit leery about giving CB all that info. I guess that's the best way to avoid the Shift fee. The good thing is I don't have to pay the Shift fee again, so I can reload without it. We've still got the transfer fees from SBD to BTC.
I just seen this post where you can go straight from Steem to visa:
https://steemit.com/steem/@taskmaster4450/steem-visa-card-hell-yeah-commerce-is-starting-to-emerge-on-the-steem-blockchain-this-is-a-big-deal
Might be a little better for you.
Thanks, that's very cool. I actually mentioned Steemgiftcards in the article briefly. The problem is you can't reload the gift cards yet, so you have to pay a new card fee every time. At least with Shift, I only had to pay that fee once.
Edit: Maybe just paying the fee each time would still be cheaper than having to pay Bitcoin fees each time. Still, you have to wait for your card to be delivered, so the option isn't as convenient as having a card you can reload each time.
This post received a 54.61% upvote from @morwhale team thanks to @theinsideout! For more information, click here! , TeamMorocco! .
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Good post.