In countries like China and Vietnam, where at the moment online exchanges are banned by their governments, how do their citizens sell their Bitcoins? It seems to me only peer-to-peer, no? And if this is true, wouldn't they be incentivised to sell at a cheaper rate for cash? Since this may be the only (?) way they can sell their BTCs at the moment?

Are there other countries in the WESTERN world where online exchanges are not allowed at the moment?

What are your thoughts on this, or any experience buying BTCs in China or Vietnam P2P?

Thank you!

Hello,
If  am buying BTC from a private seller, for cash, meeting him in person, what would be "best practice", to conduct transaction safely and protecting myself against fraud?

For example, these are the steps that I see:

1. I have my hardware wallet (KeepKey) connected to my Android phone, with a wallet app on the phone
2. We meet in a public place or in a notary office or law office, and maybe for a fee or a % ask the office to be our one time escrow company?
3. I show that I have the cash, and seller shows on his device that he does hold agreed amount of BTC
4. As soon as I see this amount landing in my KeepKey, I give him cash, minus % to escrow company, if using one

Did I miss any steps?
Any other suggestions?
Any additional ways to make sure seller is not going to cheat at step #3?
Do people even do this, or am I dreaming and any such offer is a 99% probability of possible fraud?

THANK YOU!!

Hello,
Thanks for your reply, but I wasn't asking about exchange rates.

Should user FIRST make sure destination wallet / address supports desired altcoin?

For example: converting BTC to Ripple and entering a Blockchain.info destination address will probably result in a failed transaction.
But BTC to Ripple and entering Jaxx wallet address should go through?

Correct?

Hello,
From ShapeShift's FAQ page: https://shapeshift.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/115001620310-How-to-exchange-coins-on-ShapeShift

"...Next you will get a screen with the fields to enter where you would like your funds to be sent to and a field to input your refund address for the coin you deposited - in the event the exchange failed."

MY QUESTION: Shouldn't user FIRST make sure destination wallet / address supports desired altcoin?
Because if it does not, transaction will not go through?

Correct?

Perffect! Thanks for your DETAILED answer.

Danny Hamilton,
You wrote above: "Private key can be used to sign bitcoin transactions" - HOW, manually? Or the wallet does it for you?

On my KeepKey, there is a PHYSICAL BUTTON that I have to press to confirm each SEND transaction.
Nowhere in Chrome KeepKey client do I see a field where I need to enter my private key manually!

Am I understanding it correctly that KeepKey (or ANY "cold" wallet) uses private key IN THE BACKGROUND to sign transactions when I press that button?

Hello, when using a cold wallet like KeepKey, for example, do I need to use a private key(s) to sign every SEND transaction?
If not, is there a situation where private key MUST be used and 12-word recovery phrase won't be sufficient?

I mean if a 12-word phrase is compromised, so can be the private key!
But then simply from functional (not security) point of view, what can private key do that a 12-phrase can't?

Hello, can you give an example of a situation when BTC owner MUST have private keys? In other words, a situation when 12-word recovery phrase won't be sufficient?