10 sats \ 3 replies \ @xanny 26 Mar 2023 \ on: 8 basic facts about RoboSats and Bisq bitcoin
There's a third option too. The Orange Pill app has some bitcoiners who are happy to sell BTC for cash. I found a few around me on there.
Obviously I can't vouch for everyone on that app, and there's no reputation system, so there's an element of risk and you should start small and meet in a public place, but since it provides an easy way to meet local bitcoiners you could just hit up a bitcoiner event and mention you're interested in buying some for cash and most likely someone will help you out.
Don't get me wrong, Bisq in particular is a great platform (can't vouch for Robosats yet as I've not used it so far, but I like that it makes it more convenient to buy BTC without KYC) just throwing out more options for buying BTC without having to KYC or even leave any trail on your bank statements at all.
(I'm applying for a mortgage soon so I'm especially conscious of this. Banks look over six months of statements and can ask about certain transactions. With Bisq I sent a bank transfer to a stranger. Amazon gift cards bypass this, yes, but it limits your sellers. If I withdraw some cash, well I just needed some cash, no way to link that to any type of Bitcoin anything.)
I love how "needed the cash" is socially acceptable now. It may change
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Unfortunately I fear you are right. And the number of ATMs is rapidly shrinking. And the existing ones increasingly charge fees to withdraw your own money.
But for the time being at least, there exist plenty of small businesses IRL that simply don't accept card payments. Doing so often requires a long contract on top of the transaction fees they take, so for a small local business it often doesn't make financial sense.
To state the obvious, Bitcoin fixes this, but try telling your local barber shop to accept Bitcoin... maybe others can be more convincing, but I offered to setup all the software and show them how it works and explained the benefits, even demonstrated how fast and easy LN is to use by sending them some sats and they were impressed, but ultimately they were mostly put off by the volatility.
Hopefully I planted a seed still though, now they see how it's actually more efficient than card payments and with no middleman. Especially since I also let them know there's multiple sites for finding businesses that accept BTC they could list their business on for free advertising and new customers.
Anyway, until CBDCs become mandatory and the real Orwellian nightmare truly begins, there's plenty of "legit" reasons to need cash thankfully.
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Most barber shops seem to be cash-only but I don’t remember seeing an ATM inside many barber shops. I am definitely not the first person to realize that, so the economics must not make sense for shop owners to have them onsite. I know ATM fees are much higher when buying Bitcoin vs. withdrawing cash from a checking account, so I’m curious what the standard fee split %’s are for the shop owner and the ATM owner/operator in a Bitcoin ATM transaction vs. a standard ATM withdrawal transaction.
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