It's a good news for Steemians in the Philippines!
Coins.ph launched Ethereum wallets this week. The wait is over! To those who are new, or just about to start dealing with cryptocurrencies and/or coins.ph, here's a quick review:
What is Ethereum?
It is a decentralized, blockchain-based platform which allows any user to program and run decentralized applications (DAPPs).
Simply explained, Ethereum allows people to develop apps based on blockchain technology for payments and more. Thousands of computers around the world are connected through the Ethereum blockchain and together forms a world supercomputer that anyone can access, build upon, and run programs on.
To execute or run programs on their blockchain, you need to pay with Ether (ETH). Although it is often referred to as a “cryptocurrency” (which next in popularity to Bitcoin), Ether/Ethereum was not designed to be a currency alone. It seems more appropriate to say that it is the digital “fuel”, the token required to facilitate transactions on the Ethereum network. It is analogous to Steem, being the token used to determine one’s influence on the Steemit platform. It’s not only used for payments between members of the community (as a currency), but it is the “fuel” that makes each member powerful or influential.
How to Withdraw Cash From Steemit?
In this video, I have explained (in Filipino) how to withdraw cash using Bitcoin (BTC). Now that there is an option to trade Ethereum (ETH) at coins.ph, it’s much faster and the fees are lower. The process is pretty much the same but we will use ETH instead Let’s start with creating an Ethereum wallet.
At coins.ph, creating your Ethereum wallet is really easy! At the moment, Ethereum wallets are offered on Android only. It is not yet available through web browsers but only through their Android app. Creating your Ethereum wallet costs only a one-time fee of 20 PHP. This is really low compared to the usual referral incentive (50 pesos) that you get when someone you have invited joins the exchange. This fee goes to the Ethereum network, and the profit doesn’t go to Coins.ph, as per their support website.
Once offered on your main screen, swipe right to create your Ethereum wallet. Just follow the prompts.
Once done, you should be able to select among three wallets on top: Peso, Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Once in the Ethereum wallet, you can see these options where you can view any transaction history (specific for each wallet), send, receive, buy load, pay bills, cash in, cash out, and convert with ETH.
To cash out your earnings from Steemit, you need to go to your Steemit wallet. Typically, you want to cash out SBDs (Steem Dollars, not to be confused with Steem), which you earned from your posts. In case you have Steem instead, it’s pretty much the same process. Just click on the link showing the available balance and choose the option “sell”. This will open the official exchange platform Blocktrades.us. If you prefer to use an external exchange, you will have to choose "transfer" and provide the address of your wallet in your preferred exchange platform.
You will first see the exchange rate. Choose your preferred coin. In this case, we are going for Ethereum, which we are going to send to coins.ph
Provide the deposit address which you can copy from coins.ph app by tapping the "receive" button
You can tap the "copy" button to copy the numerical address, then go back to blocktrades. Paste the address and follow the prompts until the transaction is finished.
On this screen, you can see ETH being received. It usually takes less than 5 minutes. -A very short time compared to receiving bitcoin which usually takes about 20 mins!
It is best to sell Steem or SBD for Ethereum if ETH price is low and SBD price is high. Holding ETH for a few hours in coins.ph while the price is going up (checking on it from time to time) might even increase your payout. It’s completely up to you and it’s pretty much logical to do if you can monitor the conversion rate. A graph for ETH is not available yet (only for Bitcoin) but you can monitor the price at coinmarketcap.com. Just be aware of the risks when trading like this. It is possible to lose money if you fail to convert to Pesos when the price is on its peak. I don’t give financial advice but in my opinion, newbies shouldn’t overdo this kind of day-trading, especially if you’re going to convert pesos to ETH for example, then hope the price goes up. What if it goes down and your hands get sweaty? Many newbies sell and get their Pesos (or their local currency) back with a loss. For those cashing out their earnings on Steemit, it might be worth holding on ETH if you consider your earnings as “extra income” that you’re not really expecting. I hope these information can help you.
