It has been nearly six months since we started implementing our DCAing Out Strategy.
A heck of a lot has happened along the way. There were a few extremely valuable lessons learned. And met some interesting people, some helpful, others just trying their best to steal ya crypto.
This post will mostly be updating our experiences using the Peer2Peer Crypto Marketplace called localcoinswap.com .
Reputational Score
One of the first things we had to do was attempt to transfer our trading activity from the previous platforms we had used in the past. Unfortunately the LocalCryptos website was no longer active. But we were able to get the LocalMonero trading stats uploaded.
This may not be very impressive stats but it was just enough for traders to trust us and give us a start.
Note: there are Vendors on the LCS platform who have a couple million USD in trading volume.
But more importantly it allowed LCS to grant us authorisation to become a Vendor in our own right and create our own Buy/Sell offers. Then we didn't have to rely on other Vendors offers.
An extreme example: School12345 is selling Bitcoin for 32% above market value.
and buying it back at 14% below market value.
Your mark up/down all depends on your market (local or international), payment options and risk appetite.
Milestones
First 10 trades was a biggie.
Then came 100.
The Reputational Score is made up:
- number of completed trades
- total trading volume
- feedback %, there is option of giving written feedback and score out of 5
- number of different traders used (encourages to give new traders a chance)
- trade completion rate
- number of traders blocked by
- number of traders trusted by
Your Reputational Score is measured in XP and leads to your LCS Ranking. Highest being Legendary with 10,000+XP, which there are only 13 on the LCS P2P Marketplace.
We have reached the Expert Rank but don't see us making Veteran in the near future. We will have completed DCAing Out 2025 very soon
The Strategy Evolved
It was always a pretty loose strategy or plan. Based on what we had done with LocalCryptos in 2021.
We started with the idea to sell the USDT in the 3 countries we had multiple bank accounts.
- Brasil
- New Zealand
- Australia
We started by accepting other Vendors offers until we had a few trades under our belts to run our own offers. The Vendors needed to have a good Reputational Score and offer Bank Transfers (interbank, no international transfers) at a reasonable rate.
Brasil
We found a very good trader who used PIX to transfer to 3 of my wife's 4 Brasilian bank accounts. Left one account unused in case something went wrong and we could use that account for the international transfers.
AEBTC was buying USDT 4% under market value.
Tried our own offer selling USDT 2% above market value. Just got a scammer wanting to do a zoom meeting.
Found out that Remitly only does transfers AUD to R$. Tried Wise but had severe limits per transactions and was expensive compared to Remitly. Did a couple of remittances then Wise wanted a tax summary for the year. That was the end of that. Looked at using other means but decided to leave it there in Brasil for our next holiday.
New Zealand
We had 2 New Zealand bank accounts we could use.
No NZ based venders offering to buy USDT. New Zealand is a very small and beautiful country.
Tried our own offer selling USDT 2% above market value. Got a few bites but they all seemed dodgy as fuck, so did not go through with any. One thing to watch was despite insisting on a local bank to local bank transfer in the terms, they would try using Wise or some other international remittance company. Then there would be some delay, would produce a fake receipt and then try to get you to release USDT from escrow.
So gave up on that idea for awhile at least.
Just happened to be in New Zealand, was in bed checking LCS. Cause the VPN is always set on Auckland, New Zealand, LCS defaults to the New Zealand offers.
There was Tokenut wanting to buy USDT 1% under market value with cash deposit to Smart ATM.
Initiated the trade but Tokenut let it expire. When a vendor creates an offer they can determine a expiry time or use the 240 minute default. Once the offer expires, it shows in your past trades and one can still use the message facility to communicate.
Tokenut then contacted through messages and sent us a hidden (private) link to a new offer to buy USDT 1% under market value with cash deposit to Westpac (via Smart ATM).
Tokenut came under the category of very helpful. Suggested that it was best to limit to one cash deposit per week and needed to be under their daily limit of $2,500 NZD. The bank had recently announced their intention of phasing out "cardless" cash deposits via the Smart ATMs.
We have 9 trades so far with Tokenut. Not a huge volume but every bit helps.
The funds get transferred to our other NZ account and then send via Remitly to Australia.
Australia
This is where all the fun and excitement has been happening.
Luckily USDT is in demand here.
Eventually found 3 Vendors who are wanting to buy USDT at market value with "cardless" cash deposit via Smart ATMs.
In the process found a few trying their best to steal ya crypto.
Bitcoinboy420
This one was a classic (responding to our offer). Kept the wife and I entertained for a few days.
First red flag was Bitcoinboy420 had 6 unsuccessful trades in a couple of days. His answer was no one was getting back to him. Fair enough when it is your first trade, it can be hard getting across the line.
Was asked to upload copy of deposit receipt when completed.
Second red flag Bitcoinboy4 thumb is covering the part that shows what was deposited.
Third red flag is there are 3 subtotal entries where there would normally only be 2 if it was just notes. Indicating a cheque or coins.
Fourth red flag was bank account showed the ATM deposit but did not update balance. Noted that it may take up to 7 days for a cheque to clear.
Asked twice to upload deposit receipt without the thumb but said he had taken into bank to query balance and left it there. They are busy looking for it. Then it just got weirder and weirder.
Bitcoinboy420 even brought his mum into the conversation. This was earlier when was still trying to build rapport (trust).
Turns out his mum was right all along, it was a scam. Her Bitcoinboy had tried to deposit a cheque, which of course was eventually dishonoured.
Contacted Support to let them know what was happening and they joined the conversation. Then when the cheque was finally dishonoured by the bank, an official dispute was raised. The dispute was settled in our favour and the USDT returned from escrow.
Other honourable mentions go to:
Saveplace
who used a stolen bank account. Thats what the serious lady from the bank's fraud department said.
For some reason she did not believe my story that I had sold some collectables on Gumtree (online auction).
Lost that bank account plus the account from the parent bank and a third bank that some money had been transferred to. All the banks advised that they did not like the way I was using the account.
Also the stolen funds had to be returned to it's rightful owner. But got back all the funds in cash and closed the accounts before they could.
Lessons learned
- stick to cash deposits (trusted Vendors)
- release USDT once receipt uploaded and bank account balance updated
- no inter bank transfers between burner and keeper accounts (keep accounts isolated from each other, containing any fallout)
- new daily crypto grind involves, withdraw cash from ATM (burner accounts) and deposit into our main bank (keeper)
Random thought: The new daily grind reminds me of the first Karate Kid movie, "wipe on wipe off" or "money out money in"
Ledger Wallet Dusting
This is indirectly related.
Over the last week or so small amounts of USDT have been turning up in Ledger Nano wallet. Just thought it was LCS returning unspent amounts. At first glance the from address matches the LCS address we have been sending to regularly for nearly 6 months.
Or at least the Ox59B7.....7A99F does. What was concerning was the fees spent, it would have been coming out of our LCS ETH wallet. Thats when had a closer look.
Luckily we have always practised good wallet hygiene when sending to LCS.
- copy address from LCS wallet
- visually check LCS wallet and address on Ledger Nano matches
Downside is the dust will eventually stop, when we stop sending USDT to LCS.
That Empty Feeling In The Gut
It dawned on me yesterday that we are coming to the end of an era.
- lived through 3 cycles
- had my faucet phase
- survived numerous scams, some are more memorable than others (the Ledger hack is still giving)
- avoided DeFi, memecoins
- sold altcoins in 2021
- sold the rest 2025
- sold 80% Bitcoin 2025
Crypto has consumed me for nearly 9 years. What am I going to do with myself moving forward. What am I going to do for that excitement and thrill that crypto provided.
DCAing Out or 2025 Exit Strategy - Part Two
DCAing Out or 2025 Exit Strategy - Part One
Support Your Local Paranoid Psychopathic Crypto Anarchist's Grandson Stacking Sats
Tip, like, follow and use the referral links below, as all the crypto dust goes to supporting and helping our 6 year old Grandson become a future OG.
Click on the images or if you prefer the corresponding URL link.
Bitcoin (BTC)
FreeBitco.in has the title of Longest Running BTC Faucet (since 2013). Earn sats, Reward Points and Lottery Tickets every hour with the longest running Bitcoin faucet.
Use the reward points for 1000% 500% 100% and 50% BTC Bonuses, Wheel of Fortune tickets or more Lottery Tickets. Get daily compound interest on BTC deposits, over 30,000 sats.
Currently paying 2 sats every hour and 4 Reward Points per roll or with the 1000% BTC Bonus 22 sats for a day. It has paid briefly 3 sats in the deep dips
The Grandson has already withdrawn 150,000 sats, so we have to start all over and the new balance is 19,500 sats.
You also have the option of purchasing their native FUN. But have not explored their FUN tokens, as we draw the line at paying for free stuff.
https://freebitco.in/?r=51015545&tag=pb0x
Earn coins from hourly faucet roll, games, surveys, watch PTC ads, multipliers, earn interest etc.
Minimum withdrawal 50,000 coins direct to your Bitcoin wallet ($5 BTC), no withdrawal fees. Or redeem coins direct to your DOGE, DASH or LTC wallets (minimum $3).
Can use PTC ads and surveys to get a payout within a week or quicker.
12 BTC payouts so far to FreeBitco.in, but currently withdrawing LTC to MexC to add to Grandson’s USDT stash. Getting ready for the Crypto Winter.
Solana (SOL)
As Solana made up 20% of the Grandsons portfolio, getting free SOL was of great interest.
This is more of a community notice for the like minded SOL collectors. As it is run by the devs, there is no referral program.
Been using solfaucet regularly for over a couple years. Earn 0.00001 SOL per day, regardless of SOL value at the time. The SOL is instantly paid to your Solana address. Note the earnings get paid out monthly but show up in your wallet as individual transactions.
There is a catch. All new addresses must maintain the minimum rent-exempt balance of 0.00089088 SOL to be able to claim from the faucet.
The faucet is supported in part by the Shinobi Systems validator.
https://solfaucet.togatech.org/
You get 2x Bonus rewards and 10 free rolls for the 1st 24 hours on registering. Minimum withdrawal is 0.00250000 SOL and transaction fee is 0.000100000 SOL.
Also has Surveys, Games and Contests to earn more. Minimum faucet roll is 0.000001000 SOL at Stone Level, playing games/surveys will help you reach higher levels.
Master Level pays 0.010000000 SOL per roll.
Had 2 payouts so far.
https://solpick.io/?ref=VEH2024
