Localmonero or Localbitcoins?

Cashing out crypto has a lot of drawbacks.

Trust in the counterparty: Firstly, you have to trust the person (at least to some extent) from whom you are cashing out. It helps getting info from people who you know, as well as from friends who have already cashed out. There also are a lot of honeypots around, so make sure to spread the info if you encounter something fishy.

Minimize the amount you “take” with you: Secondly, you have to be protected in terms of how much crypto you are actually “taking” with you. This means having a mobile phone wallet with you with the actual amount of BTC (or other crypto) on it, else you are risking getting shot or worse, if your long-term HODL-stash is discovered.

Coin Anonymity: Usually people would have their Bitcoin wallets with them, on mobile phones. But don’t forget that BTC or most other coins are traceable, and Bitcoin is a large data storage for prying eyes of all sorts of bad actors. After all, Bitcoin is not anonymous.

Tainted Coins: if you are in bad luck, you might have some tainted Bitcoin, which are not accepted by the localbitcoins dealer.

Suggested protocol

Monero

Make sure to own some Monero already. If you don’t have it yet, you can anonymously convert smaller values of other crypto through shapeshift or alternatively use exchanges like Bisq (decentralised exchange) or Binance (which doesn’t have KYC for small amounts).

A rooted Android phone with Lineage OS

Install Lineage OS and make sure to check the supported devices section. If you don’t already have a supported device you can get one via ebay or craigslist, or any other classifieds. Recommendable phones are the older Google Nexus devices, or (as they are very widespread in Asia) older Samsung or Xiaomi devices. There are a lot of install instructions out there, so you should be fine.

Monerujo Android Wallet and XMR.TO

Use the Monerujo Android Wallet, and get it via F-Droid. Make sure to check the fingerprint of the downloaded file. Monerujo comes with integrated xmr.to support, where you can make instant anonymous Bitcoin payments using Monero.

Monerujo since version 1.6.3 has Ledger Nano S support so you can separate your private key from your phone (in case it gets stolen).

Localbitcoins

I suggest going through ‘regular’ localbitcoins buyers, as more people are exchanging BTC and you are on the safer side in my opinion compared to localmonero or any other more ‘niche’ context. Pay with the XMR you have on the device and instantly convert it to BTC.

Voila!