Coinbase is the biggest way for US residents to exchange cryptocurrency with the American dollar.

This guide will walk you through moving your Steemit earnings (or other cryptocurrency) to your local US bank as well as using your local bank to buy crypto (Bitcoin, Ethereum, or Litecoin.)

NOTE: If you're not in the United States (or another country Coinbase supports), you'll need to find the crypto-wallet that exchanges with your local (fiat) currency. But the general ideas should be the same.

Q: How do I get by Steem or Steem Dollars on Steemit to Coinbase?

Since Coinbase only has wallets for Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash, you'll have to use a service or exchange to change the Steem/Steem Dollars into one of these.

An example going through an exchange: Blocktrades

Step 1: Open up the website Blocktrades.us website [NOTE: There are other options for this step available.]

Set the left dropdown to Steem Dollars (or Steem) and enter the number of Steem Dollars (or Steem) you are going to transfer. Next set the right dropdown to Bitcoin.

See that field at the bottom that says "Your receive address"? We're going to get what goes into there in the next step.

Step 2: Getting your Receive Address. Goto your Coinbase wallet and get logged in.
(I still use Coinbase though there are other options that change depending on the country you live in.) First you'll want to click on "Accounts."

Click the Receive button for the type of crypto you want to exchange your Steem/Steem Dollars into. Copy the long alpha-numeric code they provide you (which were going to copy into the form on Blocktrades.) {NOTE: I've removed amounts, codes and parts of the QR code from the pictures.)

Step 3: Go back to the blocktrades.us page and paste your Bitcoin address into the field at the bottom titled "Your receive address" and hit the"Get Deposit Address" button.

You'll now see a box telling you how to send the Steem/Steem Power to the @blocktrades account on Steemit. You'll need the memo code provided for you in a moment, so leave this open.

Step 4: Now goto you're STEEMIT wallet. You'll just click the down arrow next to Steem Dollars (or Steem) and select transfer. (Steps shown in top section of this guide.) In the top field, enter blocktrades. In the second field, enter how many Steem Dollars (or Steem) you wish to transfer. And finally in the bottom 'memo' field...paste that code you copied from the Blocktrades website. (Never put a password or key into this memo field!!) Double check everything looks good and hit "Submit."

NOTE: Make sure to check the fees BEFORE completing the transfer. Fees have been high especially for Bitcoin, so don't let yourself get surprised!

NOTE 2: Make sure you have the blocktrades form set to the currency you get the Receive code for (i.e. Bitcoin Address for Bitcoin, Ethereum Address for Ether(eum), etc.)

Step 5: Wait for the transactions to complete and the funds show up on your Coinbase.

An example going through an exchange: Poloniex

Step 1: Rather that rewriting this section, simply follow THIS GUIDE which will walk you through moving your funds from Steemit to Poloniex.

❓Answering Common Questions: How do I transfer money between Steemit and Poloniex? 👛

Step 2: Moving money from Poloniex to Coinbase

Login to Poloniex
Hover over Balances (near the top right of the screen) and click Deposits & Withdrawls

Enter the currency your moving to Coinbase (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin or Bitcoin Cash) into the Search Box and click the Withdraw button for it (which ever you are transferring.)

Fill out the form:

Address: This will be copied from your Coinbase Ethereum Receive address (see the section above for steps to get this)
Amount: How much to transfer (the fee will be deducted from this amount)

NOTE: Make sure to look at the fee BEFORE submitting to make sure it's worth it for you!

Q: How do I send my money on Coinbase to my local bank account?

NOTE: Before transferring to or from Coinbase and your local bank account, you will need to go through the verification process. Two deposits of less than one dollar are put into your local bank account and you'll need to enter these amounts on Coinbase when they show up. Typically these take 2-3 days to arrive.

Step 1: Goto Coinbase and get logged in and click the Buy/Sell button:

Step 2: Click the Sell tab, select which currency you want to sell (bitcoin, ethereum, etc) from the drop down list and select the bank account you want the funds to be deposited into. (The bank account showing here is an old, closed account. Nobody worry that I'm giving my information away.) Set the amount to send and check the fees!

Step 3: Verify all the information is correct and click the Sell button at the bottom. On the right side of the page you'll be provided with an estimated arrival date.

Q: How do I use money from my local bank to buy cryptocurrency on Coinbase?