Topic: Best way to turn lots of BTC into USD? (Read 581 times)

Sell your BTC in this forum... look for trusted member

I've tried to figure out what might cause the fraud detection on orders just out of academic interest but have been unable to make any real inferences.  Naturally the details are generally lite from those who have made complaints.

For my part, I set up a different checking account which is associated with my main one at my bank.  This was free in my case.  This allows me to easily and quickly transfer funds out to my primary accounts so as to keep only a minimum balance for what I need.  I think it unlikely that Coinbase would exploit my bank account, but there is no reason not to be safe about things.

I do have some concern that WF would just shut me down completely due to some new policy or some such.  I have a good relationship with my personal banker and we've chatted extensively about Bitcoin and other things, so if I do get flagged somehow I would expect her to deal with the situation and generally let me know though I don't actually understand how internal banking policies tend to work.  She may or may not be in the loop on such things.  I would not expect that if my accounts got shut down WF would keep my money.  If they do shut me down and give me my cash, I'll turn around and put it in my safe deposit box at a different bank.

You speak as though you are dealing with fair amounts of money so I would expect that you can get decent service from mainstream financial institutions if you wish.  Unless you have philosophical difference or fraudulent/criminal concerns which preclude it.

Why you going fiat? Never go fiat.

It seems like Coinbase is the right choice and their website looks simple.  Is it a real exchange though?  It markets itself as an online wallet.  I have heard of people getting their order cancelled and such due to "fraud detection".  What can I do to prevent this?

What about bank accounts?  I have heard of people having their bank accounts frozen/cancelled after a big payment came through.  Should I use my current Bank of America account?  I really don't want that locked down or cancelled.  Should I get a new bank account just for this?  That way if it gets locked down for a month or two I will still be able to pay my bills.

Don't trade all your coins at once, split them up and use localbitcoins to trade at 1:1 rate over time, or trusted people on IRC. You'll need passport copies and multiple ID verification for any exchange, expect them to seize your coins and hold them for a month pending investigation if it's a huge amount.

If you get coins on a regular basis make your own online business and slap on Bitpay. Pay yourself out unlimited funds

Another nod to Coinbase which solved a similar problem in my case.  So far at least.

I thought I was going to have to supply identity document scans to some flaky exchange operator so I put some effort into trying to arrange larger private sales for a while.  There are people who will perform such transactions, but at a rate and through mechanisms (cash in mail, no escrow, etc) that did not appeal to me.  Turns out that I didn't have to supply an identity theft kit to Coinbase to do simple sales.  By default on can sell only 50 BTC per day, but that is a fair amount of money, and I rather prefer to do my sales piece-wise while watching the markets anyway.  It's worked out well lately

I think for Coinbase you better have a pretty ligitimate bank account and plan on paying taxes and what-not.  I've not been burnt, but I see complaints that other's have not had transactions go through due to fraud detection.  Or at least what Coinbase claims to be fraud detection.  Seems that this is more prevalent on the buy side of the equation though.

I used to use GOX/Dwolla.

Now all CoinBase. 

But my amounts are smaller (power recovery).

I used to use MtGox to buy BTC and I have had only good experiences with them.  However I hear that their USD wire transfers are very slow now.  Is bitstamp the best alternative?

There is no way that I am doing some sort of local bitcoins thing.  The amount of money involved is too much.