I have earned a few fractions of a Bitcoin doing a programming work for people here and there and by doing some trading as mentioned in my earlier post.
So it was time to see how we can turn Bitcoins into US dollars when needed. We tried two approaches.
First, we connected our bank account to CoinBase. This is a nice easy to use service where we just send the Bitcoins to an address given by their website and click a few buttons and the agreed US dollar amount goes to our bank. Very nice in theory, the only slight hitch is that they want two full business days to complete orders. We placed our sell order on a Monday and the cash was not available to us until Thursday. This is a nice option when planning ahead and they gave a very fair market price.
But what if we need cash immediately for cat food? Those little guys eat so much you never know when an emergency will happen. We decided to attempt to get cash for Bitcoins. I signed up for LocalBitcoins, a service which promises faster trades than are possible through CoinBase. This service connects sellers with buyers and vice-versa and has a reputation system so it is easy to find someone trustworthy. We have heard rumors of exchanging Bitcoin for cash at Starbucks coffee locations and I wanted to experience this first hand.
I contacted a seller giving a nice price for Bitcoin, around $580 each. I was only selling 0.45 meaning a couple hundred dollars was on the line. The price was a bit below market, but I suppose that is the fee you pay for fast service. Within 24 hours we met. At a Starbucks. I saw the cash, clicked the button on LocalBitcoin's website and it gave me a magic confirmation number. The buyer across from me got the same number on his phone, gave me the cash. We shook hands and parted ways. The cats were well fed that night.
Both methods of exchange were interesting and exciting. It was really neat to get paid this way and Monkeys at Keyboards is happy to be a part of this fascinating new economy.
In related news, computer part and electronics seller NewEgg has recently started accepting Bitcoin. Maybe in the future we can pay for everything with Bitcoins.