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.
Here are a few pictures from my day.
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.