For Americans living in the USA, here’s the easiest way to convert your STEEM to US Dollars:

STEP 1: Create an account on Steemit.com

STEP 2: Sign up for a BitPay Visa Debit card

This process takes around 10 days because you’re ordering a physical card in the mail. My card took about 2 weeks to arrive. (If you can’t get a BitPay card because you’re not a US Citizen, then you can use Wall of Coins. I personally know the owner of Wall of Coins, so I know it’s safe to use.)

STEP 3: Create an account on Bittrex.com Please only use this Bittrex link: https://bittrex.com/

And bookmark it. There are plenty of scam sites that are phishing sites. If you only use the web address that you have bookmarked in your browser, you know that you will be safe.

Here’s a video that shows you how to create a Bittrex account:

After you have made some Steem and Steem Dollars and want to convert it to Bitcoin then to US Dollars, you need to follow these instructions:

Steem is different from Steem Dollars. On Bittrex, please be careful because each is considered a separate currency. Before you transfer anything to the Hive account@bittrex account on Steemit, you must be aware if you’re transferring STEEM:

or STEEM DOLLARS (SBD):

Here’s a tutorial of how to send Steem Dollars (SBD) to Bittrex, then convert to Bitcoin. The same method would apply if sending STEEM, but you’d have a different memo # and of course, you need to find STEEM currency in order to get the right memo #.

Once you have converted your STEEM or STEEM DOLLARS (SBD) into Bitcoin, you can send it to your BitPay wallet.

If you don’t know how to send Bitcoin to an address, watch this video for the basics. Always do a test when sending your first Bitcoin, so send a very very small amount. Bitcoin is undergoing a huge influx of users, and nowadays, there are large fees and long wait times for confirmations. Some transactions have taken many hours. This is a new development as more people are beginning to use Bitcoin. The other coins like Dash and Steem do not have these long confirmation times.

Your BitPay wallet is best used as app on a smartphone, and it’s part of the BitPay card, but it has a separate function. They work together though. It’s used to hold your Bitcoin because it is a wallet, then after it has Bitcoin in it, you top up your BitPay card with those Bitcoins. At the time you add Bitcoin to your BitPay debit card, your Bitcoins are now converted into US Dollars. So make sure and sell your Bitcoin when the price is high.

Here are the basics of the BitPay wallet and card:

I only recently started using the BitPay card and I have to say it's fantastic. I want to avoid using Coinbase because of its high fees. Also, I prefer using Bittrex because it's a smaller exchange and I haven't had any issues with it.

Cheers,
Stellabelle