Steemit is Real, Here is How to Prove it to Yourself

Those of us that have been around for a while know how real Steemit is. This article is not really for them, rather I am writing this for the new members. The ones that are not quite sure if this is real. It is easy to be overwhelmed when you see your account earning money from your content. It is easy to think this is a scam somehow.

Steemit is real

You are earning money from your content. No worries there. Maybe it is a few cents per article. Maybe you have had a decent upvote count on an article and now you are seeing money pile up in your account. What do you do with that money?

Before you power up, do this

Cash out whatever you feel is a "decent amount" of your earnings. Whether this equals $5 or $50, if you earned it and want to cash it out, go for it. No one can stop you. In fact, I encourage it.

You will know it is real with one cash out

Cashing out is easy. There are plenty of guides to do it, I am including one at the bottom of this article for your convenience.

Cash out whatever your "decent amount" is and do something you have always wanted to do. Maybe you have not seen a movie at a theater in years due to the costs being so high (I go during the day on Saturday or Sunday when it is usually half off or so). Maybe you have been fretting over being late on a bill or just want to take a road trip. Whatever you cash out to do, make sure it is something you want to do.

This proves Steemit is real

There is no better way than cashing out to do something you otherwise may not have been able to do to prove that Steemit is real. After you prove to yourself it is real, it is time to get real about Steemit. For that, I suggest reading @Whatageek's recent article

How to cash out

There are many ways to cash out your Steem or Steem Dollars. Some use Blocktrades or Changelly. Before you do that though you need somewhere for your desired currency to go. I personally use Coinbase (please note, this is a referral link and I will eventually receive a bonus if you use it). Coinbase is good if you are planning on exchanging for Ethereum, Litecoin or Bitcoin.

Why Coinbase?

You can connect your Paypal account with Coinbase and then cash out to Paypal and use "fiat" currency, the local money to your country.

Don't want to use Paypal?

Sign up for a Shift card and connect it to Coinbase and you can spend your Bitcoin where ever Visa is accepted. The cool thing is, the only fees are the initial $10 to get the card and a low ATM fee (there are some other fees but 99% of users won't encounter them). The Shift card will save you on Paypal fees too, allowing you to keep more of your money.

Back to Changelly and Blocktrades

I am going to assume you are using Coinbase, or a Bitcoin wallet of your choice, here. Visit either site (Blocktrades or Changelly) and pick Steem or Steem Dollars on the left.

Then on the right pick Bitcoin and enter the values for each. Click the exchange button and then you will be given a chance to put in your wallet address (on Coinbase click Accounts then "get address" for Bitcoin).

You will also receive some information for Steemit so you can get your Steem or Steem Dollars to the right account here and your money to your wallet outside of Steemit.

The information is entered in your wallet here on Steemit (visit your account by clicking your image in the upper right then clicking wallet). Pick Steem or Steem Dollars that you are sending then click "transfer".

Here you will enter the name of the account either site above told you to enter. The amount you want to send then in the memo section you will copy/paste the long code you were given. The memo tells the exchange here on Steemit what account sent the money and what Bitcoin address you want money sent to. This verifies that you are who you say you are.

It sounds complicated but it is not. Trust me. If you have any questions, just ask either here or in another "cashing out" article. There are many here, myself included, that will help if possible.