How to sell Bitcoin and withdraw the money

Selling Bitcoin -what is known as offramp– is usually about as simple or complicated as buying it. Depending on the route you chose, converting it back into fiat money involves roughly the same steps in reverse.

If you read the previous articles on how to buy Bitcoin or where to buy it, you'll know there are three main routes:

• Centralized exchanges.
• Decentralized exchanges and similar platforms (which require you to already have other cryptocurrencies).
• Brokers where you can buy Bitcoin ETFs.

Selling through any of those routes to get fiat money back into your bank account is following the same path in reverse.

Important: when I say sell, I always mean converting Bitcoin into fiat money, not swapping it for another cryptocurrency such as USDC, USDT, Ethereum or Solana.

How to sell Bitcoin on a centralized exchange

If your bitcoins are on a centralized exchange (CEX), these are the steps:

1. Log in to your account.
2. Go to the BTC/EUR market and choose how much you want to sell.
3. There you can use a simple market order to sell immediately at the available price, or a limit order specifying the minimum price you are willing to accept, so the sale only happens if the price reaches that level.
4. Once the amount is sold, the balance will appear in euros in your account on the platform.
5. To move it to your bank account, request a withdrawal, normally by SEPA transfer. Check the account holder name, IBAN, fee and expected time. Some platforms only allow withdrawals to accounts that previously made a deposit.
6. Keep the sale and withdrawal receipts. Your bank -or the Spanish Tax Agency- may ask for information about the origin of the funds, especially if the amount is large or unusual compared with your normal transactions.
7. Remember that if you made a profit between buying and selling, you will need to report it on your Spanish income tax return the following year. How Bitcoin is taxed in Spain.

How to sell Bitcoin if it is in a wallet

If you use your own wallet, the usual route is to send the BTC to a centralized exchange and convert it into fiat money. The steps are:

1. Create an account on the CEX if you do not already have one.
2. Wait for any required verification or activation period before you can trade with the account.
3. Get a deposit address from the exchange. Since we are talking about BTC, make sure the address is for Bitcoin and not another network.
4. Send a small test amount, wait for the confirmations and, once you see the balance, transfer the rest. It is better to do it in two or three transfers without making a mistake than all at once, even if that means paying an extra fee. Moving BTC from your wallet to the exchange is not a sale by itself, but keep the transaction so you can show it was a transfer between addresses you control.
5. Once the BTC arrives, you can sell it and withdraw the euros by following the previous process.

How to sell a Bitcoin ETF

If your exposure is through an ETF, ETP or similar product, you are not selling bitcoins but capital invested in a financial asset. The process is therefore the usual and very simple one:

1. Place a sell order with your broker as you would for a stock.
2. The cash will appear in your account.
3. You can transfer it to your bank.

As you can see, there are no Bitcoin networks, blockchain or wallets here, only a traditional financial platform. Everything is much simpler, but it also means this financial asset can only be traded on its market and during the broker’s trading hours.

Next steps

Below are the next articles in the series. If you do not know much about Bitcoin, they are designed to be read in order, but each one stands on its own, so you can jump straight to the one that interests you most:

1. What is Bitcoin
2. What is Bitcoin used for
3. Why Bitcoin is important
4. How Bitcoin works
5. Why Bitcoin has value
6. Advantages of Bitcoin
7. Disadvantages of Bitcoin
8. Does it make sense to buy Bitcoin?
9. How to buy Bitcoin
10. Where to buy Bitcoin
11. How to store or custody Bitcoin
12. What is a Bitcoin wallet: hot and cold wallets
13. What are the risks of buying Bitcoin
14. How to sell Bitcoin and withdraw the money
15. How Bitcoin is taxed in Spain