A Quick Look at Buying STEEM with a Netcoins "Virtual ATM"

in #netcoins6 years ago


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!

 
crimsonclad.png

Hi, I'm Crimmi. I run a top 20 STEEM witness with @followbtcnews. Please reach out on Steem.Chat or Discord any time! If we haven't earned your vote, please consider SteemTipper, our community work, and STEEM.Chatvote for followbtcnews if you feel we're doing a good job.


▶️ DTube
▶️ IPFS
Sort:  

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!

Posted using Partiko Android

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!

Posted using Partiko Android

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.

00100dPORTRAIT_00100_BURST20180525111659395_COVER.jpg

Also, I'd like to see Murphy on Dtube.

I AGREE!!

Looking so #forward
Keep moving 😊

Awesome crimmy... I wonder what is the legal challenge down here for an ATM of this kind.

Posted using Partiko Android

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 can support a local business with my cash, but then go out and spend and invest globally away from bank influence
  • the guy in the store behind me in the video asked if I was into crypto at the counter, and I dropped him my username and told him I'd make him an account... people are curious!
  • the clerk was so impressed with the fact that I could remember my wallet address (thank you Steem username convention) that she said that she was blown away that Steem was some of the most straightforward transactions she was processing

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...

stock337.jpg

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!