If you’re a bitcoin investor, you’re likely doing so to generate some sort of future profit. And in order to do that, you’ve certainly learned how to buy bitcoin. (If you’re still learning, be sure to check out our how to buy bitcoin article.) However, now that you’re a holder, you’ll definitely want to know how to sell bitcoin (BTC). Fortunately, this guide is here to help.
In this guide:
How to sell bitcoin in four steps
Now, before answering the question of how to sell bitcoin, it’s vital to understand where you can do so. The easiest way to sell bitcoin is via a cryptocurrency exchange. Of course, this requires you to sign up for one.
Signing up for a cryptocurrency exchange
It’s not very difficult to sign up for an exchange. Generally, you’ll want to do some research before deciding on one. Use BeInCrypto’s best exchange guide to help you out.
Once you’re decided on an exchange, it’s time to sign up. Most of these platforms follow a similar signup process, which includes the following steps:
- Signing up and verifying an email address
- Verifying identity and following other procedures
- Inputting a payment method
When the signup process is complete, you can simply purchase whichever amount of bitcoin you prefer. From there, hold it, convert it, do whatever you’d like! But when the time comes for knowing how to sell bitcoin, we’re here to help.
How can I sell BTC for cash?
If you’ve been holding bitcoin and are now wondering how to cash out bitcoin, follow this guide.
- Log into your exchange that’s holding bitcoin.
- Select bitcoin as your asset of choice and click the “Sell” button.
- Input the amount you’d like to sell. Most exchanges allow you to type this is USD or in BTC.
- Pick your type of sell order. There are generally the following:
- Limit Order – A limit order has you setting an exact amount to automatically sell your bitcoin. This can happen immediately if there is someone looking for bitcoin at that price. Otherwise, it will be held in the exchange until someone buys at the price.
- Market Order – A market order means you’ll be selling your bitcoin at the exact price it’s currently at. There is no waiting for a price to match. It simply sells at the market price.
- There are a few other types of orders, but considering this guide is for beginners, we’ll leave it at that.
Finish the order, and you’re done!
That’s pretty much it! Learning how to sell bitcoin is pretty easy. But you might have a few extra questions — which we’ll answer for you, of course.
What is the best way to sell bitcoin?
There are other ways you can learn how to sell bitcoin, but the best, or easiest, way, is using a cryptocurrency exchange. Exchanges are a streamlined, simple way to both buy and sell your bitcoin, and we’ve even detailed the steps above!
How do I cash out my bitcoins?
Generally, when you sell your bitcoin, it will convert to cash being held on your exchange of choice. To withdraw that cash, you usually have to link a bank account. From there, you can choose to withdraw any amount of your earnings to the account.
Peer to Peer
Bitcoin gained massive adoption in recent years; as a result, there are many brokerage services available to onboard users. On the same token, this has led to many losing sight of bitcoin’s original intent — peer to peer transactions.
The most straightforward way to sell your bitcoin, admittedly not the easiest, is peer to peer. You can sell bitcoin for cash through a peer-to-peer marketplace. This is a faster, cheaper, and far more private method. You can choose the form of payment you wish when you sell bitcoins to other individuals.
If you know what you’re doing, peer-to-peer selling is safe. However, it’s critical to be on the lookout for fraudsters. Using a peer-to-peer network that enables you to keep your bitcoins in escrow until you can verify the buyer has made payment may be helpful.
Sell BTC for crypto using bridges
It is important to remember that cryptocurrency is a new order of financial economy. As such, it is possible to sell bitcoin for other cryptocurrencies. Stablecoins are a great way to maintain the purchasing power of your bitcoin.
This, however simple, is more complex in practice. The simple fact that Bitcoin is not Turing complete makes it difficult to sell bitcoin on-chain. On the contrary, there are popular solutions.
Bridges are a great way to bring the value of bitcoin on to other blockchain networks. Bitcoin on Ethereum, or any other smart contract platform, makes it easy to cash out your BTC. The process of bridging an asset is very simple:
- Send your asset (bitcoin, in our case) to the bridge.
- The bridge takes custody and stores the asset.
- A “wrapped” token is minted on the corresponding network.
Although, like many solutions in the world, there are trade-offs to using a bridge. Bridges are very difficult to build, and suffer from regular hacks. Furthermore, there are two types of bridges: trusted (custodial) and trustless (non-custodial). Ironically, trusted bridges are operated by central parties.
All wBTC (wrapped Bitcoin) on Ethereum is held by BitGo. When one company controls all aspects of an asset, it creates a single point of failure. If the company is corrupt, goes bankrupt, or has other fundamental issues, the cryptocurrency in its possession is at risk.
Is selling bitcoin illegal?
Not in the slightest. That is, assuming you’re using a legal cryptocurrency exchange. Just make sure you’re reporting your bitcoin taxes to prevent any trouble with the law. We have a guide for that, which you can view right here. Therefore, feel free to sell your BTC without any repercussions.
Selling bitcoin is quite easy
If you want to sell bitcoin, the process is very simple. Novice investors need not be afraid of working with the cryptocurrency market. Platforms and companies are working hard to make the process as intuitive as possible. It’s only going to get easier from here, as the market becomes more accessible.
In any case, that’s it! Now you know how to sell bitcoin with no issues at all. Good luck out there, and we wish you safe and secure trading!
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