How to Cash Out Steemit Rewards as Real Money? {Steemit Withdrawal Guide}

in #howto7 years ago (edited)

I have been approached by many people to publish a tutorial on how to withdraw cash from Steemit. Add to the list the amazing @kus-knee who shared his own experience of spending Steemit earnings in the real world in Europe. If you are from his region, his post is a must read for you. As far as my tutorial is concerned, it will help everyone located anywhere in the world.

For the sake of simplicity, the whole tutorial is divided into three main parts. These are the three larger steps that you need to take but they contain within them the smaller steps. Each step is further divided to numerous mini steps to create a step by step procedure. A visual guide will follow the three main parts. By end of this tutorial, you will know how to withdraw your Steemit earnings.

Note: - This tutorial uses Poloniex as exchange and Steem Dollars as the currency to withdraw. You can use Bittrex, BlockTrades (do see procedure at the end of this tutorial) or any other exchange. Similarly, you can use Steem as the currency in place of Steem Dollars. Procedure will be same. 

Disclaimer: Poloniex sucks and the only reason I have used it is that I had done all the homework on Poloniex. Bittrex is way better and the procedure of Bittrex is similar to the procedure described in this post for Poloniex. @blocktrades is the quickest eexchange. Poloniex regularly disables deposit/withdrawal of Steem and Steem Dollars as well.

Step # 1 - Transfer Steem Dollars from Wallet to Crypto Exchange

The first thing you need to do to cash out your Steem Dollars (or Steem) is to send them to a crypto exchange. This transaction will shift your balance from Steemit wallet to your account on the cryptocurrency exchange. It will happen only if you follow the procedure below. One error and your money is gone so always take the steps carefully.

  1. Go to the Wallet>Steem Dollars>Transfer in your Steemit account.
  2. Sign in to your Poloniex account. If you don't have an account, sign up for one.
  3. After signing in, go to Balances>Deposits & Withdrawals.
  4. Search or Click SBD and the click Deposit. A Deposit Memo will appear. Copy it.
  5. Go back to step number 1 and paste the memo in the memo field. Enter "poloniex" (without quotes) in the Transfer To account name. Enter the amount of SBD that you want to transfer.
  6. Verify spellings, correction of memo and amount and the click Submit.
  7. Wait for at least 15-30 minutes. Due to backlog, you may face delays.
  8. Check your SBD balance by going to Balances>Deposits & Withdrawals.

Let's quickly go through the process visually as well to understand the process.

Here's the step # 4 from the above procedure explained visually.

And here's how the step # 5 looks.

That's it for the transfer. Follow points 7 & 8 above before moving to the next big step.

Step # 2 - Sell SBD for BTC

Now that you have SBD in your Poloniex balances, it's time to sell it in the market to get Bitcoin. Follow the steps below.

  1. On Poloniex, go to Exchange.
  2. Search or Click SBD.
  3. On the left side of the screen will appear a price chart. Scroll down. You'll find Buy and Sell options.
  4. Go to the Sell box and fill up the fields and click Sell.
  5. When the order has been completed, go to Deposits & Withdrawals to see BTC balance.

Let's see through screenshots how these simple actions are performed. All 5 steps lead to the following screenshot.

That's it. Your have sold your Steem Dollars. An important thing to note here is that your sell order will be completed only if the price of SBD matches exactly with the price that you set. You may also set a higher price to gain more BTC but then you will have to wait for the price to reach till that point for the order to be completed.

Let's move the final part where you will change the obtained BTC in to fiat currency.

Step # 3 - Sell BTC to Get Fiat Currency in Bank Account

This is where you have to convert cryptocurrency into your local currency. The process is simple if you follow it step by step. It is important to note that I have used LocalBitcoins.com as a medium to sell BTC and get Pakistani Rupees (local exchangers in your country will transfer your local currency). 

The service is named LocalBitcoins because you can buy or sell Bitcoin using your local currency. Let's see how it works.

  1. Make an account on LocalBitcoins where you can sell your BTC for fiat cash.
  2. Login to your account and go to Bitcoin wallet/receiving address. Copy the wallet address (key).
  3. Go to Poloniex>Balances>Deposits & Withdrawals and select BTC. That's the BTC you got by selling Steem Dollars earlier.
  4. Click Withdraw. Two fields will appear named as "Address" and "Amount". Paste the address copied in step 2 above and enter the amount you want to send.
  5. Click withdraw and wait for 15-30 mins for transaction to complete.
  6. Check LocalBitcoins balance.
  7. When you receive balance, click Sell Bitcoin.
  8. Choose an exchanger of your choice and click Sell.
  9. Read terms and conditions and then enter the amount of BTC you want to sell.
  10. Enter the bank, contact details as required.
  11. Click "Send Trade Request."
  12. A trade request will be sent and a chat will be established with the buyer. He/she will confirm when the transfer is completed.
  13. When you get the amount, go to LocalBitcoins and release Bitcoin to be sent to that buyer. 

Step # 2 is performed as shown below.

Step # 3,4 & 5 are performed as given below.

For step # 7 & 8, see this image.

Step # 9, 10 & 11 are covered in the following screenshot.

Let me share with you one of my trade history with details and chat.

These steps won't take more than a minute to perform. However, transfer of money from the exchanger to your desired account will take some time depending on availability of that exchanger. It is important not to release Bitcoin before you get the agreed amount of money in your account.

Alternative BTC Selling Options

LocalBitcoins is reliable but there is one problem. The exchangers buy Bitcoin at lower rates than the market price and you get slightly less money than you can get on some other exchanges. However, it is global and reliable (if you choose a reliable exchanger) so this tutorial can be used by anyone in the world. 

That's why I chose LocalBitcoins because there are many countries, like Pakistan, where selling BTC is not easy and services such as Coinbase do not work. That's why I am mentioning some of the known and reliable Bitcoin exchanges that people may use depending upon their location and ease.

  • Coinbase - By far the most popular exchange for buying or selling Bitcoin. You need an account on Coinbase to be able to deposit and sell Bitcoin for USD or Euro. However, to cash out USD/Euro, you need to link your bank account or the card to your Coinbase account. It may involve some form of verification as well. 
  • CEX.io - CEX is also similar to Coinbase in transaction and involves verification as well. Cex is known to have higher rates as well.
  • Payza - Read about this at  "Sell Bitcoins with Payza: Bitcoin Deposits Now Available".
  • UrduBit - As the name suggests, this is particularly for my people from Pakistan. Buying or selling Bitcoin in Pakistan is difficult. Furthermore, banking access is still low. Well, you don't even need a regular bank account to get money from UrduBit because EasyPaisa, Jazzcash etc. work too (some LocalBitcoins exchangers offer such transfers too). Rates wise, it is slightly better than LocalBitcoins.

So, for Pakistanis, the best available options are either LocalBitcoins or UrduBit. If you know an exchanger from your Facebook circle, you can send him your BTC and get money in your bank. Do this only if you trust that BTC seller/buyer. 

Alternative Steps # 1 & 2

You can pull off Steem's transfer and sell for BTC transaction in one go if you use @blocktrades. Not only that, in the same transaction you can send your new BTC to the selling exchange of your choice as well. It is super quick! 

BlockTrades is one of the most quickest exchange and is quite popular among Steemians. There are two steps that you need to take. All other transactions are done by BlockTrades as per provided information.

Here's how you do the two steps.

On BlockTrades, Set the Steem/BTC Transaction.

Do the mini steps.

  1. Set Send currency to Steem (or Steem Dollars) and enter the amount you want to send from Steemit.
  2. Set Receive currency to Bitcoin and it will calculate the amount automatically.
  3. Click 'Get Deposit Address' button.
  4. Copy the memo (very important).

See the image below.

On Steemit, Send Steem (or Steem Dollars) to BlockTrades

Process is simple but connected to the previous steps on BlockTrades (amount and memo).

  1. Go to your Wallet>Transfer on Steemit and Select Steem (or SBD). 
  2. Enter the amount you entered on BlockTrades.
  3. Paste the Memo you got on Block Trades.
  4. Click Submit.

Here's the visual image.

That's it. After some time, check your BTC wallet (that you used as receiving address on BlockTrades) balance. Once you have BTC on your selling exchange, the process to sell them for local currency is same as already highlighted.

Conclusion

It is fairly complicated to cash out Steem or Steem Dollars but the procedure I have shared will surely enable everyone to cash out Steemit earnings. Some people, like @charles1, have been talking about a Steem Debit Card to cash out directly from the site but it's just a raw suggestion at the moment.

You can read about this argument here and here. Some people have shared their experience with payment cards like Bitwala which accepts Steem. This may well be a good fix for you. Read more at Bitwala is now accepting Steem!

Anyways, there will always be three things you need to do to get cash from your Steemit earnings.

  1. Transfer your Steemit currency to a cryptocurrency exchange.
  2. Sell it to get BTC. 
  3. Send BTC to BTC exchange and sell it.

 I hope this post solves a massive Steemit issue faced by so many people; many of whom requested me to create this tutorial. It took me quite a while to finalize this post. It solves a community problem so I will request you to resteem it. Upvoting on community posts supports the author's work so please do support generously. 

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Oh my God! How do you do that bro? I mean just look at this guide, you have made a very complicated thing much easier for us. This guide is so helpful.
Thumbs up for the hard work. You are amazing as usual.
Thanks a ton! Upvoted and resteemed. :)

Thanks for the massive encouragement and support. To be honest, it wasn't easy to create because I had to go through the process myself and try mutiple channels and face numerous challenges before finally learning how to withdraw.

As always, I have tried to help the community despite all the hard work required to post this tutorial. Feedback such as yours keeps me going. Thanks!

Requesting Everyone

Please do resteem this post to help your followers.

Plzz information steemit help my whatsaap 0344911289

hi.. @ayeshanor.... are you on steemit??

Plzz help my whatsaap 03449112896

Tarar bhai very informative stuff you share for a minnows like us thanks , looking for more good stuff

Good to see you bro and thanks for your comment. You have made some great progress on Steemit. Steem on

yes bro i m trying my best , actually i m not a good writer or blogger just invest a bit on upvotes bots and delegate some Steem power thats why

Keep working bro. I have written a complete guide on creating quality blog posts as well. Do have a look at old posts on my blog. You'll find it helpful. I would like to learn about delegation bots if you can

Outstanding tutorial thank you very much for showing how to do this!

Thank you, Jerry!

It is an incredible honor to have you commenting on one of my posts. Thanks for mentioning me in the #upvotable 12 post as well. I am lucky to have known the initiative from the start. Finally made it! Yayy!!

Keep up the good work. Would you please have a look at The Mystery of Steemit Rewards to see how I simplified Steemit reward system for the community.

ha! Genius! Thank you so much for this tutorial! Definitely going to give it a try!
Congratulations on the No. 1 spot! in the #upvote 12 xxx As no. 12 I am showing my love and support :) Followed and upvoted x

Thank you @jaynie for the love and support. I was spreading some love as well before I had to do something urgent. I'll head back to the post and see the number 12.

urgent is understandable. hehehehe ;) no worries xxx

This is awesome! Thanks for taking the time to spell this out in such great detail.

You're welcome. I'm glad to have helped.

Great tutorial, I would like add also that once you have converted steem dollars to btc you can use the btc atm if your country has it another alternative.

Thanks a lot for adding value to the post with your comment and knowledge. I'll upvote you for this and also to make your comment rank higher. BTC ATMs are not available in our country perhaps but there are many global Steemians who can benefit from your comment so thank you.

And please don't forget to resteem this post. Thanks

"One error and your money is gone." Well, that's a scary thought. I saw a video years ago about people using Bitcoin in real-world transactions like buying fast food by using their smart phones and I looked at that and thought, this is such a tiny market, it's irrelevant. Now that there are debit cards for cryptocurrency, that's a game changer. And I like the idea of a Steem card too, backed by Visa or MC. This tutorial is amazing, and it's going to take a lot of study to really absorb it all. Thanks for this hard work!

Thanks for the appreciation @hartiverse. It means a lot. From Pizza Day to $3000, Bitcoin has been on an amazing journey. Hoping for Steem to go on something like that too.

Errors in memo copying, wallet keys etc can lead to permanent so double checking everything is essential. Reason why I discuss each aspect in detail is that I don't want to cause any loss.

Thanks for sharing your lovely thoughts. I would request you to resteem this post so that it can reach more people. Thanks again.

Ilyas this is super duper helpful. I have some Bitcoin kicking around on Bittrex but need to get it over to USD eventually, or I can keep building it up. Either way, it is good to learn a few different methods for cashing out. Now it is up to me to find the 25th hour to spend more time on Steemit LOL.

Hahaha! I'm sure you're determined enough to get the 25th hour. Just will add for you that instead of transferring USD to your bank account, you can get it in your PayPal via Coinbase, LocalBitcoins or whichever exchange you use.

And about Steemit, I think you can do small list posts on life topics to keep the momentum. Length takes time. 200-300 words list post won't take much.

Great suggestion Ilyas. Well, great 2 suggestions ;) Appreciate it!

Thank You for posting this detailed how to, I am still very new to all this stuff so any step by step helps folks like me so I will share it out! A question I have is what happens to your reputation number, does it go back to 25?

Thanks for feedback and support. Once you have earned reputation, it will only go back through a flags (downvotes). Reputation is directly proportional to the rewards (not the upvotes). It decreases when the rewards are minused (because of heavy flagging).

Cashing out won't affect your reputation.

Thank You very much for answering!

That's what I always do. You're welcome. Please do resteem.

Such a good explanations ! Good job man

Thanks a lot for your comment.