I head out to a Netcoins Virtual ATM in a local mall to try buying STEEM instantly using some cash I have on hand, with a burner email address and very shoddily review the process.
I recognize that for most of you who might follow me or keep an eye on my regular content, this is quite the departure! This is a quick and dirty little video made of cell phone clips of an adventure I took today. Now, despite doing animation and video production for clients, I didn't spend a long time on editing or creating fancy graphics or a bunch of flash — that's just not the point here. What I want to hammer home with this is how easy and fast the process of buying STEEM with the Netcoins Virtual ATM network is, and just how convenient it is to use cash or debit without signing up for anything, needing an exchange account, or any identification or verification of any sort.
Some key points I bring up here in case you don't want to actually listen to me or watch me wander around a mall (and trust me, I won't be offended) :
- it took about 90 seconds start to finish
- I gave a name, a burner email, and some cash
- the STEEM was transferred anonymously to my wallet from Binance inside an hour
- the fees were fairly high, working out to 15ish%; the trade off being I can buy STEEM at any time with paper fiat of any amount
Would I use this system again? Was it easy? Does it have advantages to balance the cost?
Yes, yes, and yes. For me, the ability to take some leftover cash I have in my wallet and turn it into STEEM is a pretty great thing. It's something I can do while running errands. I don't have to do anything special or worry about ID or my bank being concerned. It may not be the most cut-throat competitive option, but it serves a number of purposes: it makes buying STEEM easier because there's no waiting for funding to hit exchanges, it gives us more freedom of choice in how we buy STEEM since many banks block debit purchases, it gets the Steem name out and into the public, it shows local retailers they can earn a bit just for facilitating crypto adoption, and if anonymity is important to you, the ability to use cash and a burner email account is a really nice option to keep tucked away in your back pocket.
Here's to seeing Netcoins bring STEEM to more retailers worldwide, so we have more and more exchanges and services bringing our blockchain to the masses.
Using the Netcoins service may not be right for you; now... I don't want to sound like a bad Viagra ad, or read you a list of side effects really fast that you barely get a chance to understand that may or may not include things like "blood farts." If you're in this for the very best rates, this won't be for you, and that's okay. This listing is a pretty good step in the direction of more places and ways for STEEM to be available. It's always good to have options, and you don't have to take them.
Thanks for watching my terrible late afternoon, thrown together cell phone debacle. If you have any questions for me that the video doesn't cover off, let me know in the comments below!
▶️ DTube
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Noo you should do more vlogs, this was great. :D
Yes Please @crimsonclad!!
You'll be an awesome Vlogger and I can certainly feel that when I watched this vlog:)
Happy Sunday and I look forward to more Dtube :)
hahah, I will think it over! I've never really considered putting my skills towards video content. Right now the big thing is time, but this was a fun little outing and I appreciate your kind words~
Fit vlogging in when you can. Diversification of content can help out a lot. Excellent job and what a great way to purchase STEEM!
i absolutely agree with all those sentiments. more vlogging! :) -- i've got a new project i'd love you to be on too.
you're the boss, boss!
UGH. no, your the boss.
this video made my Day!!!
Probably mine too!!
See you in Poland 🇵🇱:)
We'll see! you know how hard it is for me to make content that I feel is worthy~ I'm hoping to shift a bit of my time dedicated to other businesses so I can put as much effort as I wish I could in content creation to match my witness commitments 🖤
I agree. All her experience speaking in the radio makes her a great vlogger too.
thank you for saying so! I will definitely say that it helped me with articulation and not being embarrassed that I looked like a wacked out Elon smelling the money. 😂
Fully agreed, she's a natural. I was just going to tell her the same thing!
100% agreed! Amazing piece of content, great learnings packed in an entertaining vlog - loved watching the whole thing. Leverage that #vlog tag, @crimsonclad!!! :-)
Loved and resteemed
I really appreciate that! I am now regretting just propping up my camera on my dusty dashboard and not doing any slick editing, but it means the bar is now set low 🤗
I don't think you should change a thing about it - autenticity rules and as you can see from our comments, the communtiy totally loved it the way it is. No need to aim for high gloss if you can be naturally awesome :-)
Looking forward to meeting you in Krákow!
Hey Marly! See you see Krákow!
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See ya! :-)
😄
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Oh you're Sida!! Haha
I didn't realize it at first impression - sorry for my dry response 😆
Looking forward to meeting you in person!!
Haha you are totally fine! See you in person soon!
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I concur.
It was really nice to see all the different communities come together around the Netcoins listing. Encouraging that culture is really great, because it enables collaboration. Welcome to DTube!
Thanks! I'm hoping to speak more with their team; I think it will be really great when this hits more retailers across the US!
We'll see if I do a few more videos in the future 🖤
This Netcoins is fantastic. Fees are high, but that's to be expected from live services like that. I remember buying bitcoin when it started was a huge pain in the ass with insane fees that were up to 20% in some places. That was the main reason I didn't buy much of it back then.
P.S. Unfortunately that's not maple scented paper, they changed the currency to some lifeless polymer (that recovers its shape when you fold or crease it). It has become literally plastic money.
Also, I'd like to see Murphy on Dtube.
hahah, I was trying to be a smart ass~ now I just look like a dumb ass 😂
In any case, I agree. I wouldn't use this all the time, but I would definitely do it again, if even to see the clerks in the stores and the people around me get excited and interested in crypto. It was fun, and embarrassing!! (story of my life~)
Also, you would not believe how many people are latching on to Murphy content. I need about 14 more hours in a day, and then he could get more time on the computer.
I AGREE!!
Looking so #forward
Keep moving 😊
Awesome crimmy... I wonder what is the legal challenge down here for an ATM of this kind.
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As I mentioned to Qua up above, I've actually reached out to them, since we're located in the same city. I'd love to hear more about expansion plans or the challenges they might be facing going forward~
They mentioned that it was coming to 42 States in the US.
I'm a lil' grumpy about whatever the hold up is. merp.
Surely Portland will get one?!? It's got to be crazy high on the list...
we can only hope...
That was interesting. I didn't realise that there was another person between you and the machine. A bit expensive though
I don't do kyc but 15% is a bit expensive for that privileged.
Definitely expensive, but I can also see why since the retailer gets a cut as well for facilitating. Considering how easy it was and that I could use cash, if I had a need to take advantage of buying some Steem and was out and about already, I would still absolutely do it again!
The clerk was a really good sport about it all, but she squealed when I suggested I film her too, LOL, so sadly you only get my goober face
At least it was entertaining plus i got to see how it works in practice :-)
A bad Viagra add means bad performance laugh out loud
😁 I'm not sure if pharmaceuticals would make the video any better, but it's the first thing I think of when I read, "this product may not be right for you"
I'm very excited that we won this contest! now we are reaping the rewards! Thanks for putting this together.
Looks like they are only in Canada. Ah, Shucks!
So here's the thing: they are actually based out of Vancouver here. I've reached out to them in the hopes I can chat a bit more with them about offering the ATMs in more locations, and not just the OTC service that they offer for bigger spends worldwide.
I'd love to know if it is legality, infrastructure prep, or that it's in the works for new virtual ATMs, in the US especially, and I'd love to hear that and other ideas from the Netcoins team. We'll see if they want to chat!
Yep, I entered "Berlin, Germany" in the search and the closest Netcoins ATM I got was located in Orléans ... not the one in France though, but what appears to be a suburb of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada :-)
Right. I found this 42 U.S States To Add Netcoins. Maybe, someone was reading my message!
unacceptable fees but a step forward... I guess... in buying steem directly.
I agree, they definitely are high. This would not be my main way of buying Steem, but it's a great way to leverage some cash that I might have in my pockets that I would have wasted on something stupid while I was out and about anyways. I like the idea that the retailer gets a cut for facilitating the transaction. I was just saying in another chat, there are some benefits to that....
I'm hoping that as they expand to more ATM services instead of only OTC, that the fees will come down simply because there will be many many more transactions occurring.
This is all well and good – and awesome info – but rather useless to those of us in the fuckin' U.S.ofA. ain't no 'virtual ATM's anywhere near me. I was stoked about the Netcoins listing, until I read the fine print – no luck for us yanks. :/
Nice to see your face, anyway. You're pretty damn adorable...
It's okay, things are moving!
Since these guys are in Vancouver, I've reached out to them to see if they'd like to sit down for a coffee some time and discuss world domination! As to the rest, thanks a lot. If I realized the traction this would get I would probably have done a bit more about the face part... 😬🤗
What are you talkin’ ‘bout?! Your face is the most adorable part! 😘
Hell yeh!
Super cool. Definitely not a stupid video 😉😜
seriously appreciated coming from many of the big guns! You guys in the dtube community are so supportive and professional in your content, so now I'm thinking, "oh lord I need to step it up!!"
Wow, this was awesome, and you are VERY good at vlogging.
This is quality, and exactly the kind of content that the Steem Blockchain needs for mass adoption.
You are brilliant @crimsonclad
Job, very well done! 👏
hey, I really appreciate the encouragement. This isn't my normal style of content, but I certainly enjoyed the process. I might just give it another shot when I'm able to devote some proper time to it 🤗
This was your first experience with vlogging? If so, you are more of a natural at it than you may think. You seemed very comfortable in front of the camera, and kept an upbeat nature. It was great. I hope we see more!
Thank You @crimsonclad for Taking the 15% hit for all of US so we can find out what Netcoins is doing for our Beloved STEEM.................
At the end of the day, I ended up with more steem in my account to power up, so it wasn't as hard a hit as it could have been. 😉 I'm looking forward to seeing if this kind of fast and simple cash service can be implemented more places worldwide!
Thanks for this. I honestly was not sure if anyone would claim the bounty I put out in the end. I'm very surprised the cashier knew what you were talking about immediately, it doesn't always work out that way.
The high fees may be paying for convenience but it also puts it behind other options for most purposes, if you're planning to use Steem to buy something or to send money to someone abroad there are invariably better options at that price. If you just want to buy a little Steem to power up for a slightly bigger vote, it works for that.
Also kind of funny that the transfer in the end just comes from Binance.
no, thank you for sending me the bounty. You didn't have to, so I appreciate that you got people excited about this! I could definitely see how the early stages of retailers supporting this would be hard to coordinate. You might only get one employee at a location even knowing how to log in to the portal. I feel bad that that guy had such a hard time with it!
I've said in a few other places in this thread, I don't think I would make this my main route to buying with the fees as they are, but I imagine that with more and more ATMs and therefore transactions, the costs will come down a bit. I'm okay with it coming from Binance, though I'll be curious to see if they create their own wallet to hold Steem if enough ATMs and demand grows. It gets me around having to sign up and be verified for the exchange, which right now can be a real pain for some people. Any way you look at it, this is a pretty fascinating step forward~
Suggestion: Advertise STEEM, things like Steemit, and the fact one can join a community and earn back some of those fees simply by posting and curating. A one page flyer would be sufficient, some tape, and permission to 'post' it the old fashioned way near one of these ATM's, of course.
It's great people can buy STEEM in our country like this now, but who's going to buy it if they don't know what they can do with it?
I look forward to seeing a reverse exchange as well. STEEM to loonies and twonies.
This is a great idea. I'm going to ruminate a bit more on it when I get home from Steemfest~ not shown in my video, the Tim Hortons line up out and around the corner, LOL! Maybe that's where I should flyer...
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5a6f5ef8f14aa1736cdeee62/t/5bcf92227817f79dd1ebefb8/1540330019119/Steem+Basics+Infographic.pdf
I found that at: https://www.gonetcoins.com/newsblog/2018/10/23/netcoins-lists-steem-token
Sweet!! Can’t wait till we get them here!! 😊👍🏾
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Alright that went fairly well. It looked really handy from the video. Obviously you have a lot of experience with crypto and steem accounts are simple to use. I'm just wondering if it would be any tricker for a total noob and a different coin. It will be interesting to see how it develops going forward.
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This is a really good point! The clerk was blown away that I could just "remember" my wallet address. With Steem usernames functioning as wallets, it sure is easier than wandering in and trying to recite a Bitcoin address.
It's just the first thought that I had watching the video. I know you can just pull up an address on your phone if you need to but a total newcomer might not even have one. Will they print off a paper wallet? Or how does the system work. Just curious....
Apparently for BTC and others, the service will actually create you a wallet if you don't have one. I know very little about what happens with something aside from Steem, but ideally, I'd love to see these guys maybe do so something with account creation as well. That would require either Netcoins holding and leveraging, or else taking three STEEM out of the purchase to burn for an account, and then emailing a temp password to the user with instructions on how to change and how to retrieve all keys. It could definitely be done, but would need some real work on their end to facilitate.
Awesome video, I'm curious how much the fees are to transact the other way, but I assume it's similar. They probably make you send in the funds and wait to get your cash. Thanks for the guide.
Truth be told, I never even looked into it! GIB ME ALL DA STEEM. I would be surprised if that were an easy thing... I imagine taking money is much less complicated than giving it.
For NETCOINS ;)
((added clarity))
GIB ME ALL DA STEEM.
Anyone thought about printing mapple-scented steem or SBD denominated bills ? I bet they'd make a killing
Maybe "up-nort"
(maple scented steem) LOL
Man that's amazing how technology is progressing thank you crimsonclad, for the video. Keep giving us great content. :^)
Thanks! If this kind of easy portal were spread to more physical retailers, buying crypto would be incredibly simplified (albeit for a price) and I think adoption would really pick up the pace!
GREAT post and GREAT video about a GREAT way to change fiat into steem and vica versa.
It surely would be huge if they can place this service in other currency change shops all over the world and I would absolutely like to pay that fees for this cool and fast service.
if I would be in that situation because:
It is a bit strange to me to change paper money into steem because I almost never get paper money for my work.
Except christmas / birthday presents. But right now I need to put the money of my grandma first into my bank account and then over several services I am able to change into steem.
But: I am looking forward to see this here in germany!
I would love also to see shops where I can pay with steem or other cryptos. There are a way too less her everywhere. How is this in canada ?
I think the steps are made for shops to accept cryptos with this service and I hope netcoins try to achieve this market as well.
Thanks for this video! I loved it and would like to see more of you in form of videos. Really cool and interesting :)
Fun to watch and exciting how well it went. Can you withdraw steem to fiat cash there too?
Hahaha - you're an awesome vlogger! :D
That was a cool trip with some nice results. I'm thinking... Is this a 'perfect' (anonymous) way to play some secret santa? It seems you can gift anyone STEEM like this and they wouldn't be able to trace it.
Thanks for sharing this fun process, I don't think they have these machines in Europe yet, but who knows! Times are changing :D
So this is why we were all voting like mad, a couple of weeks ago!? This is very, very cool!
What a crazy world this is. Over there you have a Virtual ATM to buy STEEM. Over here, my little town had no ATM for 10 months, after some crooks blew up the only one we had! 😂😂😂
Great video. I rarely see DTube videos but this one is really worth it! Thanks for sharing! 😃
Obviously what we need now is for everyone with this facility available to go and buy some Steem now! We are lacking in netcoins terminals in the UK but I'm quite happy to add a few hundred extra Steem to my account via Coinbase LTC purchase and sending that to Blocktrades. Another method not great on Fees but it works, I could do with some extra spare planning on running another counting beans contest this week.
#thealliance #witness
Your balance is below $0.3. Your account is running low and should be replenished. You have roughly 10 more @dustsweeper votes. Check out the Dustsweeper FAQ here: https://steemit.com/dustsweeper/@dustsweeper/dustsweeper-faq
And the Oscar goes to CrimsonClad for the most informative and adorable yet kick ass vlog of all time 🖤🖤🖤
I’m excited about this. I live out past Chilliwack still though so going to have to convince someone this far out to become one of their atm systems.
15% fees is kinda crazy, but nice to see the campaign is real!
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Crim this is fantastic, I love this so much and Yay Netcoins came through. See not such a farce after all, I came across many doubters. The video was great, whatcha mean no editing? You did great at that and added the receipts as well, which is awesome. You look good (I love the necklace and nailpolish), you were educational, everything you said was easy to understand and background was perfect. Great job!
I am still learning so all of this is very helpful as I continue to venture into the dtube world. How did it post to steempeak too? Agh!!
Yours,
Eagle Spirit
Dtube is an alternate interface to the Steem blockchain~ so anything you post from Dtube will be visible through any other front end (like Steemit.com or Steempeak) that doesn't screen out posts from other apps! It's the beauty of the blockchain, baby~
also, thank you for all your kind words. Black nails and my little choker are two things I can't live without. I'm a pretty basic, spoopy girl 🖤
Thank you so much @crimsonclad for showing us this quick demo and sharing your thoughts on why this whole process of buying STEEM is gamechanging for us. Netcoins' Contest win was a huge stepping stone towards the moon we all want STEEM to reach. We were blown away by looking at how the community reacted and came together to make this win possible. We probably need 1000 more of these wins in the future to top the world but all in due time. Also, recently Netcoins got the green light to launch its services in 42 US States so that would really help!
Great chopstick skills and the video is just perfect. [Not even close to "Stupid"]. Please do more of these. Team @Oracle-D loves @followbtcnews (You and the real "JEFF") and keep buying Steem with all that paper. ;) Cheers!
i am so happy to hear about the approval for US !! thank you for that info. :)
hahah exactly how I feel ever since I realized its potential.
Getting together as a cocmmunity to win this contest was a great experience, proving how strong we can be and how we can shift tides in our favour. If the right intention/incentive is set in place.
Awesome video @crimsonclad! Enjoyed every single second of it. it's a shame you don't usually vlog. You should definitely do them more often. I would like seeing more of you on Dtube.
Dear @crimsonclad, thanks so much for this :-) You're a natural and should do more vlogs (I think that's been mentioned here and there already ;-))! 😍
The process as you showed it is so simple and doesn't even require identification of any sort... that's just perfect! Mainstream money in a mainstream place anonymously being exchanged into our cryptocurrency of choice is like a dream come true. If this is really implemented everywhere, Coinbase will meet it's demise ;-)
I think you really did us all a great service by doing this @crimsonclad; you mentioned how the community came together around this netcoin election and I think it's great that you show us how valuable our participation has been. You make our victory taste that much sweeter; thank you! 💚
so good to see you here, hope to see you around here a lot, you are amazing amazing amazing...and amazing and made my day to see you here. Seeing a top 20 steemit witness posting and seeing the value in the dtube platform is really important to me and the community as a whole. I can't want to meet you in Poland, we are gonna have some FuUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNN!!!!
That was an awesome vlog!
I need to learn how to speak that easily with the flow that you have. :-)
Yes @crimsonclad - more videos please - nicely put together as an entertaining vlog - would like to see more in the future when you find the right topic for you. Say hi to the number one Jeff.
sweet. it did seem very easy. i wonder if the US spots have the same hidden identity option. if not, might make an idea to try on a future trip to Canada. while it was lovely to see your face live, truth is I was kinda hoping for a Murph appearance. Since you have tried this media, and it seemed to be easier than writing a huge post... just a thought. Five minutes in the life of Murph. it would be such joy...🐶
You definitely gotta vlog more often, @crimsonclad!
Great information here wrapped in a super entertaining video - that's definitely the post of the day.
I fully agree with you that the comfort even justifies the fees in this case.
Now we only need those ATMs worldwide plus a nice internet-wide marketing campaign in order to promote them (Santa Claus, can you here me?) :-)
Hi
Thanks for this article.
I wrote 3-4 blogs cheerleading the get out the vote efforts and wrote a bit on Netcoins but I have never used one of the machines, so I was very happy to see your blog. It sounds like it works just like the website says it would. I have a question? How did you find out what stores nearby have the Netcoins Kiosk ( for lack of another name).
Thanks
@shortsegments
You got a 66.67% upvote from @voteme courtesy of @shortsegments! For next round, send minimum 0.01 SBD to bid for upvote.
Do you know, you can also earn daily passive income simply by delegating your Steem Power to voteme by clicking following links: 10SP, 25SP, 50SP, 100SP, 250SP, 500SP, 1000SP, 5000SP.
Nice Crimmi. A little jealous as I have nothing here yet. Hope they come soon.
Nice explanation.
Moot for me though - @ 15% no way!
Although at least it's a way off Wonga territory.
If you buy steem via @steemmonsters it's 0%!
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This is absolutely fantastic news!
Hearing this report confirms for me that it was worth all the effort we put in to get Steem listed with Netcoins.
Thank you so much, @crimsonclad, for making this effort and for reporting your results. Woot! Another gateway to Steem! Let's hope the man in the street starts catching on. ;)
😄😇😄
"The proof is in the pudding " is what they say in English correct? And an upvote for the effort. Nice to see they - Netcoins - hold their promise. I in Europe transfer money from my bank account to coinbase-europe bitcoin wallet and to blocktrades to get me steem.
Uhm.. This is still on the high side of fees. As you said: "Fees are high everywhere in crypto"... but still. Steem has a potential to get rid of that all together.
Maybe if @blocktrades figured out how to do what Netcoins is doing and eliminated fees, financing themselves through cross blockchain token exchange only.
That could make Steem the preferred crypto gateway by far.... and thats a huge step towards mainstream adoption.
why buy Bitcoin when Steem is superior in tech and costs nothing to buy and make purchases with? Might as well keep my money here
This was a really good video. I'm happy to see this Netcoins contest actually producing a result. I was actually a little nervous that this would be nothing but a publicity stunt or something. I'm happy we won fair and square and that you were able to buy steem almost instantly. When I go back to Canada, I'll have to try this thing out.
Do more vids Crimmi! You have a great way of explaining the process and even though I wasn't really interested in the netcoins things (blasphemy, I know) I stuck through the whole vid.
Did you end up eating the thai food and was it good? Anticipation was killing me.
girl is vlogging now?!? AWESOME.
Mallrats 4: coins for the mofos
Now I need stores that get my steem :) hahah we don't have any of the sorts here at all, but looks fancy and convenient... I just wanted to tell you how sweet is to see your face on video, maybe because I'm soooooo very used to listen to your voice and it was like strange (but sweet) to see it on vlog. More!
Most excellent, Crimmie. Hope they make it over to Wales.
Two questions :
MSP Waves radio show host.
Editor of the weekly listing of steem radio shows, podcasts & open space broadcast.
Founder of the A Dollar A Day charitable giving project.
Great that you included a short written version :) also does it work in reverse, i.e. steem to cash ?
you are a great vlogger, I love watching this great content