I have a friend in Argentina who wants to bring about $15,000 from Argentina to the United States.  Currently, he is looking at paying 35% for the transfer, which is unacceptable.

I've been buying and using bitcoin for some time now, so I suggested it to my friend.  However, I've never had to sell any bitcoin, and certainly not $15,000 worth at one time.  Assuming my friend can get his money into bitcoin, can anyone suggest the best option I have for helping him convert it back to dollars?  Right now I have a Coinbase account, but I don't know if I trust them to do that large of an exchange.

So, is this idea dead in the water?  Does Kansas City not want to have local Bitcoin meetups?

Would the purpose of this meetup to be a Buttonwood-style face to face exchange, or simply a gathering of interested people from the community?  I, for one, would like to see a face to face exchange, although I am not against other ideas.

If the purpose is an exchange, I think River Market would be the perfect location.  It is already a time-honored marketplace in Kansas City, that accommodates participants in the local economy.  Where better to buy and sell Bitcoin in Kansas City?  There are plenty of people around for security's sake, and already a large amount of cash from all the produce sales going on.  Perhaps some of the existing vendors would like to immediately exchange their profits into BTC before they head home (to avoid carrying large amounts of cash), and maybe some will even consider accepting BTC at their stands.  Also, those of us selling BTC at the exchange can use the cash to buy produce and other goods before we leave, giving us one more excuse for going to such a meetup and one more way to spend BTC locally.  I just think that if we are going to have a local face to face marketplace, there's no reason to have it separate from Kansas City's existing face to face marketplace.

If, however, the purpose of the meetup is more of a conference than an exchange, there's probably a better venue.