it depends on how familiar with bitcoin your friend is!
it can be a simple importing of private keys on an offline and air tight computer and signing the transactions offline to broadcast them on the other online pc. or it can be the lazy but expensive way of buying a hardware wallet and sweeping the keys.
as for selling, he can sell anywhere. there is no limit on how much you sell, we all love it when someone with a large stash sells it all because it helps with a more fair distribution of bitcoin.
the limit is always on how much you can withdraw from the exchanges. although to be sure of what i said you must check the exchange rules for yourself i may be wrong or they may change it at any moment. and also it depends on your verification level. if you are fully verified you can easily cash out a much larger amount.
as for taxes you must consult a professional.
Topic: 500 bitcoin - best method of selling from paper storage (Read 372 times)
Make sure he does his taxes correctly (and let's face it, he'll have no shortage of money left even after paying them).
He should get a hardware wallet first, and put his BTC on there.
Then I'd pick three good exchanges, and send 2 bitcoins at a time on each (so 6 total).
Sell the 3*2=6 bitcoins, initiate the withdraws the cash to his bank accounts. WAIT for cash to get there.
Upon completion start the process again. Sure it will take a while, but he doesn't have to worry about an exchange hack/fold/theft costing him a vast amount (his maximum loss in such a case would be 2 BTC or FIAT equivalent)
He should get a hardware wallet first, and put his BTC on there.
Then I'd pick three good exchanges, and send 2 bitcoins at a time on each (so 6 total).
Sell the 3*2=6 bitcoins, initiate the withdraws the cash to his bank accounts. WAIT for cash to get there.
Upon completion start the process again. Sure it will take a while, but he doesn't have to worry about an exchange hack/fold/theft costing him a vast amount (his maximum loss in such a case would be 2 BTC or FIAT equivalent)
A friend of mine (really is) thinks they have 500 bitcoins currently in paper storage. What is the best way forward to sell the bitcoins for USD and declare for tax purposes etc?. I've read online that if he was to store with such as coinbase, there are limits to how much he can sell in any one day.
Wow, your friends must have been one of the first people to invest in bitcoin becaues 500 is currently like 40 blocks worth of bitcoin.
To answer his question though, if he wants to get the best rates, then go through a big exchange. I suggest either Bitstamp or Kraken depending on where your friend lives, but it will mean that you have to supply all your docs to the exchange. If you want a private trade you could go through localbitcoins, there are a lot of traders dealing with thousands of bitcoin on a weekly basis on there. However you should expect the tax department to be on you for capital gains taxes, so depending on where you live you should probably fill out the forms though it is improbable that they can track you down especially if you are doing p2p trades.
A friend of mine (really is) thinks they have 500 bitcoins currently in paper storage. What is the best way forward to sell the bitcoins for USD and declare for tax purposes etc?. I've read online that if he was to store with such as coinbase, there are limits to how much he can sell in any one day.
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