Selling a cryptocurrency, like bitcoin, doesn’t necessarily mean exchanging it for fiat money. Exchanges will also allow you to exchange one cryptocurrency for another. We’ll explain that scenario then the process for withdrawing cryptocurrency which we’ve already introduced when explaining how to send and receive crypto (earlier in this section).
Given the huge array of cryptocurrencies that now exist, and the need for enough buyers and sellers, most exchanges will only offer exchange pairs where there is the greatest demand.
This means you can generally sell your cryptocurrency for
- Fiat
- Bitcoin
- Ethereum
- USDT/USDC
- Any of the above for an Alt Coin
But if you want to exchange crypto A for crypto B and there is no direct exchange available you can simply add an extra hop:
- Exchange your crypto for Fiat/Bitcoin/Ethereum/Stablecoin
- Then Exchange to the desired Alt Coin
With those assumptions in mind let’s look at the steps for one of the most common crypto-to-crypto exchanges. Selling bitcoin for ethereum and then withdrawing the ethereum to a mobile wallet.
Depending on the Exchange or wallet used, you might find that you need to go through a Whitelisting process for the withdrawal address. This is a security feature that – if used – only allows withdrawals to addresses you have confirmed in advance.
It makes unauthorised withdrawals far less likely, but on the flip-side, adds a bit of friction to withdrawing if, for example, you want to use an address that you haven’t approved, as to provide that layer of security it normally involves a 24hr wait before a withdrawal address can be used.
Selling Bitcoin for Ethereum
- Login to your exchange account
- Navigate to the Markets/Trading section
- Select the BTC/ETH trading pair – selling bitcoin for ethereum
- Select Instant or Market as the Order Type taking the current price
- Input the amount of BTC you want to sell; make sure it doesn’t exceed your balance
- Review the amount in ETH the trade will give you
- Review the fee
- Once happy – hit the ‘Sell’ button & wait for the confirmation
Withdrawing Ethereum To A Mobile Wallet
It is assumed that this process follows on directly after Selling. It also assumes that you have checked in advance the Minimum Withdrawal threshold, transaction time and fees associated with withdrawal (in this case ETH) and are comfortable with them.
- Go to your account dashboard
- Check your ETH balance – the amount should reflect the trade you just executed
- Select the Withdrawal option for ETH
- You’ll be prompted to provide the destination ETH address
- If your doing this from a mobile Scan a QR code otherwise paste the ETH address from your destination wallet
- Double check the transaction details – Total & Available Balance; Size of Order & Fee then
- Once you’re happy – Submit
- Go back to your account dashboard and review your Withdrawals
- You should see a Pending transaction
- Monitor this until processed then when it changes to Processed or Complete, check the receiving ETH address (in your mobile wallet) to ensure the funds arrived..
You’ve now gone full-circle in your journey learning how to use cryptocurrency. From downloading and setting up your first wallet, through learning its functions then buying your first cryptocurrency, and finally selling to turn your funds back to fiat, or converting to another cryptocurrency and moving off the exchange to your non-custodial mobile wallet.
You’ve learned a lot, but this is just the start of the wider journey to understand more about what using cryptocurrency really involves, behind the scenes,
So in the next lesson we’ll explore a transaction in detail to understand all the constituent parts, what they mean and why they are important to understanding how to use cryptocurrency.
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