Localbitcoin, Localmonero: the definitive guide to cashing out crypto (anonymously)
If you need to cash out crypto — do it the right way and make sure to be protected.
The cashless society is already here, but unfortunately from time to time we have to pay our bills in fiat, cash. There are multiple services to pay your regular day-to-day bills with Bitcoin, such as Living Room of Satoshi or bit2bill, both unfortunately only available in Australia. So for regular crypto people like us, we have to go via localbitcoins, localmonero or to crypto ATMs.
Monero via ATM: your best bet is the Czech Republic.
There is not a lot of registered ATMs with Monero support, 78 spots to cash out XMR are listed on coinatmradar.com, and 17 of those are in Prague alone. So your best chance of getting real privacy via ATM is travelling to Prague.
Localmonero or Localbitcoins?
Cashing out crypto has a lot of drawbacks.
Trust in the counterparty: Firstly, you have to trust the person (at least to some extent) from whom you are cashing out. It helps getting info from people who you know, as well as from friends who have already cashed out. There also are a lot of honeypots around, so make sure to spread the info if you encounter something fishy.
Minimize the amount you “take” with you: Secondly, you have to be protected in terms of how much crypto you are actually “taking” with you. This means having a mobile phone wallet with you with the actual amount of BTC (or other crypto) on it, else you are risking getting shot or worse, if your long-term HODL-stash is discovered.
Coin Anonymity: Usually people would have their Bitcoin wallets with them, on mobile phones. But don’t forget that BTC or most other coins are traceable, and Bitcoin is a large data storage for prying eyes of all sorts of bad actors. After all, Bitcoin is not anonymous.
Tainted Coins: if you are in bad luck, you might have some tainted Bitcoin, which are not accepted by the localbitcoins dealer.
Suggested protocol
Monero
Make sure to own some Monero already. If you don’t have it yet, you can anonymously convert smaller values of other crypto through shapeshift or alternatively use exchanges like Bisq (decentralised exchange) or Binance (which doesn’t have KYC for small amounts).
A rooted Android phone with Lineage OS
Install Lineage OS and make sure to check the supported devices section. If you don’t already have a supported device you can get one via ebay or craigslist, or any other classifieds. Recommendable phones are the older Google Nexus devices, or (as they are very widespread in Asia) older Samsung or Xiaomi devices. There are a lot of install instructions out there, so you should be fine.
Monerujo Android Wallet and XMR.TO
Use the Monerujo Android Wallet, and get it via F-Droid. Make sure to check the fingerprint of the downloaded file. Monerujo comes with integrated xmr.to support, where you can make instant anonymous Bitcoin payments using Monero.
Monerujo since version 1.6.3 has Ledger Nano S support so you can separate your private key from your phone (in case it gets stolen).
Localbitcoins
I suggest going through ‘regular’ localbitcoins buyers, as more people are exchanging BTC and you are on the safer side in my opinion compared to localmonero or any other more ‘niche’ context. Pay with the XMR you have on the device and instantly convert it to BTC.
Voila!
