The joys & complications of my first BTC to cash exchange in Bali
Please watch the above video (2:45 mins) to enjoy my first experience changing Bitcoin into cash today at Indonesia's largest Bitcoin exchange centre, in Ubud, Bali.
My Bitcoin originated as Steem, so it felt great to finally convert some of my hard work into cold hard cash and also finally get round to posting episode 21 of Sammy's Simple Solutions! A series I have not added to ever since I discovered steemit, having found films to be less effective than well written articles.
Of course, I knew there wouldn't be any problems making this exchange today , but still needed to see it with my own eyes... and film it all so that you may bask in my victorious day too :)
There were in fact a few unexpected surprises. For example, the two ATM machines in Bali accepted only cash for Bitcoin... and when I did find the exchange shop (one mile from my home in Ubud), I was surprised at the amount of personal information I had to give over along with my passport.
And the 3% service charge was unexpected too. Not cheap by any means, but when you need some quick easy cash from your BTC... this does seem to be the best solution.
My gorgeous partner Sabrina who likes to do the driving
Our perfect children, Luna & Esteban
Their crazy daddy :)
The map!
The sign in the window
A poster on the wall of the exchange shop. My Indonesian ain't all that hot, but I'm guessing there is some good info here.
The super friendly exchange dude who converted my 0.19 BTC to IDR for me after I scanned his QR code from my ipad and made the transfer which went through instantly.
My yummy fresh wonga all ready for collection (3 million IDR equates to around $250)
A view from our drive home
All in all this was a most enjoyable experience and despite the 3% charge, I really feel like I have a fully functional bank account now, which after 3 years of having no dealings with the banking industry, is a very good feeling indeed.
Here are the sites I looked at and mentioned in the film:
https://coinatmradar.com/bitcoin_atm/322/bitcoin-atm-lamassu-ubud-hubud/
To avoid the 3% charge and retain your anonymity use LocalBitcoins to find your nearest person willing to buy Bitcoin in exchange for cash. Or visa versa!
Next time I will use the Localbitcoins site to avoid this charge and naturally, I will film the whole journey to share it with you here on Steemit.
Please resteem this article so that others may learn from it.
Come join the discussion on Facebook in my Aspiring Steemit Whales & Dolphins group where we work together as a team.
The guy must be running a thriving business.
A lady who likes to drive? Good for you, man.
At 3% he isn't doing bad. Especially when those big transfers come in!
And yes, I am lucky that she likes to drive but less lucky that she likes to swear and beeb constantly at all the bad drivers here :) haha
You can't have it all!
Yes, and with the rupiah they have there, he's easily a multi-millionaire. :-)
You know it! I was a millionaire the moment I arrived here :)
haha good post my friend! Das schnelle Geld kostet eben auch was...hihi**
Yes indeed, one always pays extra for convenience :)
Why do not you book it on a debit card??
Haven't had a debit card for 3 years. Is this something Bitcoin can provide?
Great video brother, nice to see you back to vlogging, family looks super cute and happy! We have a SHIFT visa/mastercard that is linked to our coinbase account. It works everywhere we go and makes it easy to draw our bitcoins when we need them at atms as well as simply electronic swipe. Coinbase does require some form of ID and shift of course needs some proof of address to deliver a card to. However if you're a regular user of bitcoin and not too bothered about anonymity then this is a really functional asset to have imho.
Thanks bro. Yes, this certainly sounds like a useful thing to have :)
Thanks for the info
yes
Thanks. Gonna get myself one of these! :)
Good post @samstonehill
Thank you. I enjoyed writing it. And making the film :)
Good one..
I also saw the bitcoin sign outside exchange in Kuta..
3% It is a normal "fee" for that kind of transaction.. Localbitcoins also has higher rate than typical exchanges especially when is for person to person exchange...
The same applies for fiat exchanges... If you use online forex, you make the prices...
Nice video though and for Bali is probably the safest way to exchange...
Better than having to carry cash from home and for sure better than using a credit card in Bali... (You should probably note the fees you have to pay if you use a foreign card in Bali or the risk to be scammed...)
Do you remember what was the rate he charged you? What was the price of bitcoin at that time and how many rupiah you got in the end?
I didn't make a note of the exact rate he gave me as I was so excited at the time just to be picking up the cash! Next time I will ask. And thanks for the advice regarding person to person exchanges. Didn't realise that these too had fees. Crazy really.
But yes 3% isn't all that bad considering what I've been through in the past getting paid in dollars, which I would then exchange to UK pounds before pulling it out of a machine as Rupiah, getting charged at every stage!
I would love to see how to convert BTC to cash via local bitcoins