This is a beginner’s guide

on how to turn your STEEM in to cold hard CASH. Everyone talks about how you can earn money on STEEMIT but no one ever tells you how you can touch it. I had the steepest learning curve when I started on steemit, I didn't even have a bitcoin wallet. I had heard of cryptocurrency, but had no experience with it at all. I still associated cryptocurrency with the silk road and government scrutiny (thanks media). I kept blogging on steemit because I enjoyed the community and I saw my account value increase. As I preached the steemit gospel to others, they always asked if I've ever taken any money out. The answer was no. That put me on a mission. So, I read several how-to and tutorials on turning steem to cash, but they all assumed some level of experience and I was not successful. One time when trying to convert, I conveniently sent my 1387 of steem directly to @openledger.

After 11 days of back and forth I was able to get my money back and try again. I even went so far as to pull money out of steem to PAY MY RENT. This time I compiled my series of steps and decided to share it with you.

Create a Bitcoin Wallet

Go to BITPAY and create a bitcoin wallet. You have the option of choosing Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, or iOS.
You are given an auto generated back up password that you MUST SAVE prior to proceeding. The concept is very similar to saving your 1st steemit password.
You can create more than one wallet. It's like having multiple accounts.

Create a Blocktrades Account

go to BLOCKTRADES.US and choose the sign up option at the top right.

Send Bitcoin From Steem to Blocktrades

Log in to your STEEMIT account and open your wallet.
You must have either STEEM or SDB available in order to transfer. I suggest that you send $25 for this tutorial
Log into your BLOCKTRADES account.
On the "SEND" side you will need to choose either STEEM or STEEM DOLLAR(sbd).
On the "SEND" side make sure you put in enough STEEM or STEEM DOLLARS to cover $25 usd.
On the "RECEIVE" side you will need to choose Bitcoin.
Log in to your BITPAY wallet.
In your BITPAY wallet choose receive.
You will be given a Bitcoin receive address that you need to copy to your clipboard.
Go back to BLOCKTRADES and paste the bitcoin receive address in the "RECEIVE ADDRESS" field.
Now press the "GET DEPOSIT ADDRESS" option and you will get an auto-generated memo key.
Copy the auto-generated memo key and then open your STEEMIT WALLET
Click either STEEM or SBD and choose"TRANSFER" on the drop down menu.
Transfer to "BLOCKTRADES" - "$25 sbd" - paste the auto-generated memo key in the memo field and click submit.

The waiting game

Within a minute or so you should receive a notification from bitpay that you received an incoming payment. You will see the transaction pending. Bitcoins are notorious for taking a while to confirm. My very first successful, confirmed transfer took 3 hours. After you receive confirmation that your bitcoin transaction has confirmed, lets continue.

Order Bitpay Visa

Open your Bitpay application and go to the home screen.
Under "Next Steps" choose "Add Bitpay Visa" and then "Order the Bitpay Card"
You will be sent to a browser to create a log in. *it's important to note that your wallet is separate from your Bitpay Visa.
Follow through with the sign up process.
You will be given an invoice for $9.95 to purchase your pre-paid card. This must be paid in bitcoin. You can pay directly from your wallet because you have already transferred $25 sbd from steem via blocktrades.
After payment, You should get an immediate notification that your card is on the way. If you have any doubts or questions, you can email support@bitpay.com. They were pretty quick to answer me. Their response time was 15 minutes.
Your card will arrive in 7 to 10 business days if you are in the US. Mine arrived in 5 days.
After your card arrives you have to add it to your bitpay wallet to activate it. Your ATM pin will be enclosed with the card. There is not an option to change your pin.
As long as you have bitcoin in your bitpay wallet, you can easily transfer to your Visa by pressing "+add funds."

There are many different options when dealing with cryptocurrency. I still have a @bitshares and @openledger account that I use for other purposes. I have found using @Blocktrades with Bitpay to be the easiest way for me to turn my crypto into fiat.

Having trouble? Reach out to me on Discordapp.com @xtrodinarypilot Google Hangouts @XtrodinaryPilot and I will see if I can help or point you in the correct direction. STEEM ON!