Stackers,
An older Russian man my wife and I care for mentioned at breakfast today that his ability to support his 90 year old mother financially has been severed by sanctions. I of course wanted to jump onto the table and shout “of course you can!!” Thankfully I resisted. I did however subtly mention that I may be able to help him. I didn’t want to make any guarantees because I know nothing of bitcoin in Moscow. His brother lives in Golayanovo, 107065.
it would be simple to set them up to send some on chain sats to each other but I’m worried about what can be done with bitcoin in Moscow. Can anyone tell me:
The nature of bitcoin atms in Moscow Are there services like bitrefil or the bitcoin company in Russia? What are the options for turning bitcoin into cash?
Please keep in mind everyone involved is tech illiterate. I will guide them well through obtaining, sending, and receiving non KYC sats, but unfortunately that’s all I can offer. I’ve come to you for help.
P.S. I have never posted a bounty before so bear with me if I mess it up. Sats will be rewarded though. And the bounty will be delivered one way or another.
5,000 sats paid
Bitcoinisawesome's bounties
341 sats \ 3 replies \ @OT 5 Dec 2023
Not that I would know. But surely a sanctioned people would start to understand bitcoin pretty fast.
Set them up with a lightning wallet & they can try spending it where they need. I'm sure it won't take much persuasion
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Yes the use case is especially obvious here and like I said, I have no issues showing them how to safely send bitcoin to each other—using lightning or otherwise. But he is attempting to fund his 90 year old Mother here. I am attempting to find out if there is a necessarily simple and safe way to translate bitcoin into real life need in Moscow: Food, bills, cash, etc.
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10 sats \ 1 reply \ @OT 5 Dec 2023
Orry, thats what I meant. The vendors wouldn't take much convincing to accept bitcoin via LN.
Yes, it will be difficult for a 90 year old to learn what's needed. Does she have any family around to help with that?
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No vendors will take any btc for any purchase here. Only extremely rare exceptions. This has to be done as I suggested above via fiat payments by selling p2p
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Hello! Im a bitcoiner in moscow, ... Im about to start a work session so I cant write long but I wanted to confirm I read this and that Id like to help... I think that the best way to perhaps do something about this is to have an online meeting about this! I suggest perhaps to connect via NOSTR?
Lets start that way perhaps ???
Ill come back to this thread a bit later to write my thoughts on the matter
Ill start by one comment :: those ATMS that have been posted here are only for buying mostly, its not going to be so easy that way!
But yeah, I hope we can collectively find a solution!
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So! Hello! I'm back online.
As a certified Muscovite bitcoiner :) my proposal is this ::: In my opiniom Your friend needs to open an account in commex -- https://www.commex.com/en -- ((commex is the replacement of binance Russia as binance Russia sold their business to this new exchange))... There are nuances on how you pass through the KYC remotely but I'm assuming that your friend can do the kyc in the name of the elder person they are trying to help by getting their passport and a letter from the bank that shows the address of the elder person in question... Then your friend can upload the files them him/herself and take are of the thechical details from then onwards. Once your friend has access remotely to a commex account they can sell btc P2P and put as the recipient bank the account of the family member they are trying to help... And Voila! This will make the p2p transfer for fiat to arrive to the elder person in question.
I would happily connect via google meet with you to explain my thoughts, but if you rather keeping it in text / anonymous, I respect that of course.
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Feel free to contact me here or via nostr if you want more help. I'm convinced as a person who is here on the ground that the option I present above is the only viable.
No merchant will take lightning payments OE BTC and the only way to help is via p2p sales that arrive to the fiat account of the elder person
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I would love to meet via Google meet or otherwise !!
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Hello! Sorry I just read this! somehow i missed this message! Are you on Nostr?
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I just woke up and have to prepare myself for work but… bounty paid. Thank you so much. Personally I have never used nostr but I’ve always wanted to learn so maybe now is the time. I would love to get in contact and work with you. Thank you so much. Man bitcoin is so cool
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Yes bitcoin is very cool indeed! Its a great culture / community! I read about going to work... Take your time! Thanks for the bounty! i would love to help further and im ready to offer assistance! You can choose how you contact me, either here or nostr! Maybe this is a good reason to get you into nostr... its pretty cool!
I reccomend you to acces nostr either via Iris.to or primal.net ... once youre in there, search me with my Public Key (NPUB) by putting this into the search ::: npub1rq37zvfmk0puz5sm9cykhkl7u70ld8p40ldg9atqstsgx4905u9qrlp4fu
Once in there, you can write me a message and we can connect for a video call and further this process of getting help to your friend!
I wish you a great day!
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ok, i have finally messaged you on primal.net. I'm officially on NOSTR
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What are the options for turning bitcoin into cash?
are there bitcoin meetups in your region? sometimes, you may find people there willing to accept bitcoin for cash. sending sats to the mother shouldn't be the difficult part; converting to cash probably is.
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First. He would need some other family member or friend to help her out. Way too much trouble for a 90-year-old who probably doesn't even have a mobile phone. Second. Why convert? If you get into trouble sending it I'm pretty sure someone who will receive the sats for her can buy food or services for sats in Moscow. Just an idea....
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Hope I can be of assistance:
Yes, there are plenty of Bitcoin ATMs in Russia, this will be the most simple solution, they could simply pay the high fee and get the cash quickly:
Yes, there is BItrefill in Russia, although not many options for things to buy locally, but online services, VoIP, games and flight tickets
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Another possible solution would be a Centralized Exchange that operates in Russia, I did a quick search and found https://www.bynex.io
This exchange is Belarusian and most probably accepts Russian citizens to open accounts, in their web page explains that they support wire transfers in USD, EUR, BYN and RUB among other currencies. They have an android app
I will suggest his brother opens an account in that centralized exchange with his mobile as it will do with a bank account but easier, pass the KYC, using your guidance to do so. Once that is done, the money can be wired in USD or deposited in USDT and keep the balance in USDT and exchange it (trade it) for RUB when needed and once that is done, perform a withdraw to their Russian Bank account using a wire transfer with IBAN.
The web site of bynex has contact address with email and telegram, I will suggest you get in touch with them and explain them the situation, they will tell you better than I can what you can and cant do with their exchange,
Best of luck!
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Thank you for the link. It seems like every atm is buy only, which isn’t surprising. Perhaps an atm won’t be the solution here.
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There was a service developed by a developer with a Russian sounding names who was taking payments in bitcoin over the lightning network and would then get it delivered within his network in Russia or Ukraine as a regular bank transfer. The website had a very minimalistic style, but I can't remember the name...
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