Bittrex=$$$ Bittrix=???
I joined Steemit in August, 2016, but was so daunted by the fact it involved Steem, Steem Power, Steem Dollars and had a “wallet” for it all. < I still kick myself for not jumping into Steemit then – I would have a better chance at... but, that is not what I'm writing about.> I'm new to cryptocurrencies, cryptowallets, cryptoexchanges, @cryptos (who's post are always interesting & thanks for the info on f.lux), and was not far from being one of those old fogies who thought cryptocurrencies were a scam, or a the very least, a passing fancy.
I have long been familiar with accounting, charts, stock quotes and forex exchanges. Since I have truly joined Steemit, in November, I have become familiar with the Steemit Marketplace and Bitcoin charts as well as a few other interesting cryptocurrencies; and have come to realize cryptocurrency is as real as any other currency. I continue having trouble relating to the seemingly infinitesimal amount of bitcoin as it relates to the US dollar, Steem Dollars, and Steem; but I'll get used to it.
I have mastered transferring money from my several 'conventional fiat' accounts, so transferring money into my Steemit account should be easy, right? RIGHT! I was proud of myself for creating a cryptocurrency wallet and getting amounts into my Steemit account: Out went dollars and in went Steem - automatically. < I did it correct the first time, even!> Problem 1 solved!
That was so easy. It stands to reason moving my Steem back to US Dollars into my cryptocurrency wallet should be a breeze, right? Just reverse the process, right? I have found the answer to these questions is not a “NO,” per say, but a resounding
AW, HELL NO! 
Ok, Steemit has my money. I want some of it back. Nothing against Steemit, I just want to spend some of it. Let's review the options, hmmm...
- Check my cryptocurrency wallet - Strange, only tells how to get send and receive bitcoin (BTC) and how to send, receive, and retrieve my government issued fiat back. Requesting from my Steemit name comes back with an error. Send ticket to help. Of course this is Saturday night. Won't hear back until Monday. < mad face – DAMMIT! If a service is 24/7/365, Customer Service should be 24/7/365! Oh, right: true Customer Service is practically extinct.>
- Steemit marketplace – changes Steem to Steem Dollars and back again; the US Dollar amount is for comparison purposes only. Got it.
- _Steemit wallet – can only transfer Steem and Steem Dollars to another Steemit users. Can accept BTC, but cannot it. Seems like a shortfall here, somehow, but not worried. < yet> Others seem to have done it. A way must be here somewhere.
- Check Help – oh, right! Beta, no real help section, yet.
- Do a Search – OK, found some things. Nope, wrong wallet. Oh, here! Oh, nope: how to get it into Steem, not out.
After several searches and reading for hours, I felt I was close, but certain things were not clear, written for those with more cryptocurrency than I, or simply just didn't make sense. The Whitepaper was certainly written for those with much more knowledge of cryptocurrency and Steemit than I possessed. I needed a step-by-step manual written in layman's terms. I vowed to write one – and will start on it as soon as I finish this article.
Needless to say, I found how to do it, or I would not have gotten into my current dilemma.
Fast forward to four days ago. < sound of 8-track tape whirring; ha, ha! remember those> Testing my newfound skills, I send 5 steem to @bittrex, checking and double-checking the numbers and letters, one at a time. Unsure how long this should take, I open my Bittrex wallet and wait for the transaction to complete. And wait, and wait, and wait. After an hour, I start to panic, but only a bit for it was only 5 steem (what 16 cents US each, then?). Unsure what I did wrong, I checked my source of information: it said the transaction should take no longer than 10 minutes. Panicking, I contacted Bittrex.
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As my luck would have it , Bittrex lost it's connection with it's Steemit counterpart @bittrex. < Many of Murphy's Laws are written from my life> Within a few minutes, my money was safely within my Bittrex account. < sing-song> AAAWE-SOOOME!
Sent this to my bitcoin to government-issued-fiat wallet, and I have my small test amount! SUCCESS!
Fast forward again to today. < sound of cassette tape whirring – hey making progress, right?>
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Confident of my progress and transaction knowledge nouveau, I attempt to move 400 Steem (around $100) to my Bittrex wallet.
I know how to do this. I've done it before and it worked properly.
First, To move my 400 Steem from my Steemit account to @bittex. Enter info, top to bottom...double-check info, bottom to top (helps me proofread): Memo? Correct. Amount? Correct. Amount type Steem? Correct. Going to @bittrex? Oh WAAAAAIIIIITT!
NOW?!?
REALLY?!?
WHY THE *F NOW!?!
WHY WAS MY MOUSE HOVERING OVER THE “SUBMIT” BUTTON?!?
MY MONEY WENT TO @bittrIx! NOT @bittrEx
Would the kind and honest person or persons who control @bittrix please return the 400 Steem I had inadvertently transferred?
Thank you ever so much.
Sorry for your trouble. It looks like you're the first person who's done that with the @bittrix account; I don't know if that account is owned by someone honest or not. Several other accounts like @bitrex and @bitrrex are owned by people who will send your money back, so maybe you'll get lucky and get your money back.
Here's what I want to know: how was it easy to go USD-> STEEM if you had this much trouble going STEEM->USD? There are pathways between the two that are completely reversible.
You are absolutely correct, biophil. I was blinded to the path in the beginning...
I opened a Circle bitcoin wallet. With Circle, all I had to do to get Steem into my Steemit account is to provide Circle with my Steemit bitcoin wallet address and state how much (in US Dollars) I want to send. Everything was done in the background, either by Circle or Steemit. Therefore, I did not know what steps Circle and Steem took to get the Steem into my account.
However, I could not simply provide Circle the same bitcoin address, or my Steemit address, to get Steem out of my Steemit acccount. So, I could not just reverse the process in my Circle wallet. Herein lied the initial issue.
I worked it out, though the in vs. out pathways are a bit different with Circle.
Got it, I see. I didn't know about Circle, and it sounds like I wasn't quite right to say "completely reversible." :)
Oh, but it is completely reversible. You were correct. One just needs to know the path Circle and Steemit take for the process. This is just not visible to the Circle customer, initially .
Well, as Murphy's Law would have it, just as i have figured out what I need to do, the wallet with which I exchange from BTC to US dollars and then to my bank account have quit trading BTC - THE day I began typing this article!!! Go figure.