How to Sell Bitcoins — A Beginner’s Guide

6 min readJul 21, 2021

This guide shows you all the best ways to sell any amount of Bitcoin quickly, cheaply, and easily. If you don’t want to pay an arm and a leg in fees, but want to cash out of Bitcoin, this is the guide for you!

How to Sell Bitcoins Summary

If you want to convert your Bitcoins back to “normal” money you’ll need to do the following:

Find an exchange (e.g. CEX.io, Bitpanda, Coinbase)
Send your Bitcoins to that exchange
Trade your Bitcoins for fiat
Withdraw the fiat to your account

That’s how to sell Bitcoins in a nutshell. If you want a more detailed explanation about how to sell Bitcoins and to know about a variety of other methods available keep on reading. Here’s what I’ll cover:

1. How Do You Sell Bitcoins?

When you feel like it’s time to trade those precious Bitcoins back to fiat money there are a few things you’ll need to think about.

Do you want the easiest method, or the cheapest method?
Do you want the money deposited into your bank account or PayPal?
How long do you want to wait to receive your cash?
Which currency do you need to change your Bitcoin in to?

These are some of the questions that you will need to ask yourself. So, read through the following methods on how to cash out bitcoin and then decide which is best for you.

2. Selling Bitcoin with PayPal

Do you want to sell your Bitcoins and receive funds via PayPal?

If your answer is yes, then here I’m sharing some of the best and working methods to sell your Bitcoins for Paypal money. You can Convert your Bitcoin to USD and receive the funds via PayPal.

Here are some of the supported and tested platforms that you can use today:

>>How to Buy Bitcoin in 2021 — A Beginner’s Guide<<

1. Coinbase

Coinbase is the world’s most popular cryptocurrency broker that let you withdraw funds via PayPal. You can either withdraw cash to PayPal or sell crypto to your PayPal account. This feature is available in the selected region, and if your region is supported for PayPal payouts, you will see an option to connect your PayPal account to Coinbase account.

To get started,

Head over to Coinbase.com
Create an account and complete all identity verification steps
Go to Settings > Linked Account and click on the link an account
Select Paypal (If you see it) and connect with your PayPal account

At this moment, the supported regions are mostly from USA, Canada, UK, Europe, and a few other countries. If Coinbase doesn’t work for you, no need to lose your heart. Other websites let you sell Bitcoin for PayPal money. Let’s have a look at the second best option.

2.LocalBitcoins

If you’re not eligible to use Coinbase, you can still find buyers who will accept your Bitcoins for PayPal through LocalBitcoins.

LocalBitcoins is a marketplace where buyers and sellers meet and trade Bitcoins for a variety of payment methods, including PayPal.

Keep in mind that if you’re selling Bitcoin for PayPal credits, you’re risking getting scammed by a buyer that will file a complaint to PayPal saying that you never sent him the Bitcoins he paid for. You can read my complete LocalBitcoins review here.

Here’s how to sell Bitcoins for PayPal on LocalBitcoins:

Open a LocalBitcoins account
Go to “Sell Bitcoins”
Choose a country — since you’re not meeting in person it doesn’t really matter which country you choose so personally I’d go with countries that have more probability to have sellers like USA, UK, etc.
Choose “PayPal” as the payment method
Select a buyer

3. Paxful

Paxful is a popular digital currency exchange website. Here you can sell your Bitcoin for Paypal to other interested buyers. There is no minimum or maximum limit on Paxful.

To use the Bitcoin to PayPal feature, here is what you need to do.

Head over to Paxful website
Click on register and create an account
Select “Sell bitcoin” and select PayPal as medium.
Select your country.

Pay attention to the buyer reputation, and click on sell.

On the next page, select the amount, and you will be able to chat with person who is willing to be your buyer.

Now, on the next page, you will see the order details:

Make the Bitcoin deposit, and within some time, you will receive funds to your mentioned PayPal address.

Paxful is one of the best ways to cash out your Bitcoins to PayPal.

3. Selling Bitcoin with a Credit Card

Some exchanges allow you to withdraw funds straight to your credit card. This method is usually faster than a wire transfer but it’s also a bit more expensive.

CEX.io

CEX.io launched its operations in 2013, registering and establishing offices in London, UK. The company still maintains a physical address in the country. Originally, it offered cloud mining services under the then powerful GHash.IO mining pool.

In 2014, the company abandoned the cloud mining venture and focused on Bitcoin trading, with its pioneering deposit with debit and credit card allowing users to easily buy cryptocurrency.

Expansion saw the team release a Mobile app in 2015, which boasts an intuitive, user-friendly interface. Withdrawals to debit/credit cards were added in 2016 following regulatory approval in the UK. As Bitcoin began to rally in 2017, CEX.io became FinCEN regulated after successful auditing for anti-money laundering and terrorism financing.

Visa/MasterCard withdrawals cost 3%+$1.20 and 1.8%+$1.20 in fees respectively. Commissions for these payment methods go up to a maximum of $3.80.

4. Selling Bitcoins with a Bank Account

Probably the most common method for selling your Bitcoins would be via a wire transfer or some other form of transfer to your bank account (e.g. SEPA, ACH, etc.). Almost all Bitcoin exchanges support this method, including Coinbase, CEX.io, and LocalBitcoins which I’ve reviewed before and many other crypto exchanges

5. How Do I Sell Bitcoins for Cash?

Services like Paxful allow you to arrange in-person trades for cash. A secure location, such as a bank or police station lobby, is recommended.

If you intend to do many such cash trades, you might want to invest in an ultra-violet counterfeit bill detector or a counterfeit detection pen.

Also, if your buyer indicates any intention of using purchased bitcoins for illegal activities, cancel the trade immediately.

Bitcoin ATMs

Certain Bitcoin ATMs around the world enable you to sell as well as buy bitcoins. Check out our Bitcoin ATM Map for locations.

It’s best to enquire in advance as to what form of identification is required to use a Bitcoin ATM; some have rather invasive information requirements, such as fingerprint or ID book scans.

6. Frequently Asked Questions

Is it Illegal to Sell Bitcoins for Cash?

It depends on the rules of your country. Most countries haven’t banned Bitcoin but several few have (e.g. China). You can view the legal status of Bitcoin here.

How Long Does it Take to Sell a Bitcoin?

Depending on your payment method it can take anywhere from 2 seconds to several days. When using methods like PayPal and credit cards the transaction is usually instant (although it can take some time to show up on your account). Wire transfers usually take longer since the money has to go through several intermediary banks until it reaches your account.

Can Bitcoins Be Traced?

Yes. Bitcoin is actually 100% traceable, however it’s hard to know who the person holding the Bitcoins is. Simply put, Bitcoin is pseudonymous.

7. Conclusion

We’ve shown you the best methods and platforms to sell Bitcoin in 2021.

We chose these methods because They are:

Easy to do
Don’t cost a lot in fees
Can be done quickly

So you really can’t go wrong with any of them.