Congratulations!
Firstly, we assume you are reading this guide because you managed to win one of the monthly prizes in the virtual trading game and now you have some real crypto of your own
This guide will take you through the various options you have and walkthrough the various steps
Keep Funds on the Site
The first option is of course to do nothing for now. You can keep your balance for as long as you want, and we arent going anywhere
its easy and your dollars are safe- no risk of you making a mistake and losing the money
- allows you to wait until you have a reasonable balance before withdrawing so that you arent loosing too much in fees
you are going to have to withdraw the money at some stage- your balance remains in dollars so if bitcoin goes up you won't benefit
- while we are keeping the money safe for you, its not 100% yours like it would be if you withdrew it
Withdraw to a Wallet to Keep as a crypto Investment
If you don't have a wallet then you are going to need to set one up.
A wallet is basically as bit of software that gives you access your bitcoin so that you, and only you have access. It will have a password to prevent anyone accessing it and also a recovery key to allow you to restore on another device. The wallet doesn't actually store your bitcoin, that is stored on the blockchain, it merely gives you access to it. Think of it a bit like an app that gives you access to your bank account, only in the crypto world there is no bank controlling your money.
We recommend the following wallets:
- For Iota there is a custom wallet Firefly which is specific to the Iota coin and very well made. Its a safe place to store your Iota and as there are no transaction fees with Iota you wont lose any sending it on to an exchange at a later date. Firefly also will soon have the option to use it with a Ledger device for added security.
- For Bitcoin and other major cryptos like Ethereum, the Ledger Nano wallet is by far the most secure. Its a hardware wallet meaning that it is impossible for anyone to move your funds without you physically verifying this by pressing a button on the ledger device (which is password protected too). Its a little more effort but its the safest.
- Thirdly for most coins (although not Iota at this time) the Exodus Wallet is a very user-friendly and nice looking app that is available to use on your desktop computer or as a mobile app. Exodus also has an option to use it with a Trezor device for increased security should your crypto holdings become very valuable!
Once you have setup a wallet:
- Navigate to the coin you are withdrawing (if applicable) and find the RECEIVE option
- Copy the receive address (a long string of characters). Usually there is a button to copy the full address - this is the safest option as you don't want to miss a character etc. If you get the address wrong then the money will be lost!
- Go back to the Claim Payment section of Traders of Crypto and paste the address into the address box. Be sure you also select the correct coin (e.g. Bitcoin) that your address relates to. Mess that up and again your money will be lost!
- Click on the Request Crypto button
At this point the dollars you won will be converted into the crypto you chose at the price at that time, and the transfer will be added to a queue for processing. In the next few days we will manually send the crypto to the address you gave us and then it should typically arrive within an hour or two after that for Bitcoin, or a matter of seconds for Iota.
Note that there can be transaction fees for sending crypto. This is nothing to do with Traders of Crypto but is the blockchain fee for making the transfer and so is unavoidable. Bitcoin has one of the highest fees and can be $10 or more at times and its very hard to know what it will be from week to week. Ethereum is a bit less, and Iota has no fees ever, so that is probably the best choice. If you dont want to take Iota then It may make sense to wait until you have a larger balance before making the withdrawal so that you don't loose most of it in fees. However you may decide that given how pathetic these other currencies are for payments, maybe it makes sense the take the Iota and hold it as an investment as its better!
Withdraw it to Sell it
If you are wanting to sell the crypto either for your local currency or to convert to a different crypto then you want to withdraw your crypto to a cryptocurrency exchange. These are sites that work a bit like banks and allow the conversion of money between traditional "FIAT" currencies and digital cryptocurrencies.
If you are doing this we suggest you review our cryptocurrency exchanges page which details the main exchanges and the countries and deposit/withdrawal methods they support. Be aware that if you are wanting to withdraw to a FIAT currency the crypto exchange will most likely need you to submit verification documents such as your passport.
Also note that not all exchanges have all coins. They all have Bitcoin, but for Iota for example the main ones are Binance, Bitpanda and Bitfinex. None of these accept US users however, but for other countries they should be fine in most cases
