Betting Big and Cashing Out Bigger
Betting with cryptocurrency can be quite lucrative — but what’s the point if you can’t use your winnings to buy a celebratory drink?
Your winnings will only be numbers on a screen until you move them into fiat — into a type of money that you can spend on a beer, whiskey, or drink of choice for the champion.
How can you go about translating your BTC winnings into cold hard cash?
Let’s find out.
Cold Hard Cash
“Money makes the world go around” they say — and they’re right. When you have cold hard cash in your pocket you can do anything (to the limit of your cash on hand).
If you win big using one of the Bitcoin betting sites listed in the linked article above — you can’t go to a bar and show them your laptop screen as payment. You need to show them the money.
One way of showing them the money is to move your Bitcoin winnings off the site and through a Peer-to-peer exchange.
Several P2P exchanges exist. Each of them has various levels, limits, and trading fees. One that springs to mind is LocalCoinSwap.
You can use them to find people near you who will buy your BTC or other cryptocurrencies. The terms are set by the buyer, but you can start to negotiate once you enter into a trade.
The service does not require any KYC when dealing with cash between people in a face-to-face trade. But of course, certain risks come up when making such arraignments.
- Be sure to check for counterfeit bills when getting paid.
- Stay safe and bring a friend, pepper spray, or whatever is allowed and makes you feel safe to the trade.
- Have the patience if a no-show happens to take place.
This method works better in places where there are large cities and greater chances of finding someone who will trade with you.
Another option is HodlHodl
This is another P2P service with similar restrictions and freedom as LocalCoinSwap.
One of the things about HodlHodl is the ability to place your funds in escrow.
“After the contract is created, you deposit Bitcoin into the multi-sig escrow address. Click “Create payment password” or “Generate escrow” (after you previously created the payment password), but in this case, you’ll be given an escrow address where to send the funds once the buyer has entered his payment password.”
This ability keeps your funds safe as well as provides a deal of trust for the buyer. It’s a safety measure designed for both parties when betting with cryptocurrency, and in case something still goes wrong, then you can enter a dispute process.
Bitcoin Forums For All Your Needs
The drawback of P2P exchanges is that you might find it difficult to find anyone who will buy or sell BTC or other cryptocurrencies where you live — if you live further outside larger cities.
You might find a solution using Bitcoin forums.
Bitcointalk, for example, holds myriad threads with various topics. Questions and answers populate the whole forum and if you can’t find an answer by searching, you can find one by asking.
So if you have BTC winnings from a betting site — and you’re looking to cash out but not finding a place or method to suit your needs — then you’ll be able to find an answer by asking people who might have been in your similar situation.
If that doesn’t quite cut it for you — or you’re looking to be a bit more anonymous — then going to a Bitcoin or cryptocurrency meetup might be the answer you’re looking for.
People at meetups might have similar questions or the organizers might at least be able to point you in the right direction.
Whichever method you chose to use, be safe.
For example, some people offer to buy your BTC winnings by giving you Paypal, Venmo, or other funds.
Those types of funds can be stolen or otherwise obtained illegally and you might end up with chargebacks or worse — criminal investigation.
Thankfully, many P2P transaction sites have reputation settings to show if the buyer/seller has a good reputation and has been faithful in past transactions.
The bottom line is that there exist multiple possibilities for turning your winning numbers into real-world cash for celebratory drinks, dinners, and whatever else might fill your appetite.
Of course, if you don’t need to stay anonymous with your winnings, you can always choose to send your crypto to your favorite, trusted exchange. From there you can get the best spot prices with the lowest fees — then transfer to your bank account.
In such cases, be sure to check the taxes of your local government. You might need to pay taxes based on your winnings if they meet certain thresholds.
You don’t want to be stuck with tax burdens or fines that erase your winnings, after all.
If you can’t find laws applying to winnings on cryptocurrencies, then perhaps be safe by declaring the winnings under the same laws that apply to normal fiat winnings from gambling. The good faith of you trying should help cover you in case of problems down the road.
The article does not contain investment recommendations, or recommendations to use the service described in this article. All the opinions expressed express exclusively the personal opinions of the author and the respondents. Any activity related to investing and trading in the markets carries risks. Make your own decisions responsibly and independently. Neironix is not responsible for the safety of your investment and does not make any recommendations
Published at Fri, 25 Jun 2021 08:57:00 +0000
