I heard that some people have been arrested and charged with "transmitting money without a license" for selling Bitcoins.
Does this mean it is illegal for me to sell my Bitcoins?
In the USA:
It is perfectly legal. However you have to be careful since even though legal it is an activity the government does not like unless they get their share of Bitcoins ( theft by the government).
My personal commendation would be to keep a "low profle".
if you live near the border in Mexico tijuana they have "user friendly ATMs", however they are only good for small transactions and they are often empty especially in cases when Bitcoin is going down in value.
In the USA, there are also ATMs but definetly not user friendly due to legal requirements.
There is also localbitcoins, and craigslist, be extremely distrustful, the people dealing with bitcoin today are no the same ones that where using the currency 4 years ago.
Most people arrested for selling Bitcoins have been charge for a serious of financial crimes but not for selling bitcoins, but selling bitcoins has been the trigger to all the other financial crimes like "tax fraud", "money laundering", "drug trade", etc., things that have happen to all this people in common the buyer was an undercover cop and told the seller that we was going to commit some sort of crime (entrapment), the seller thinking it is his money I am not babysitting what he does with his money ignores what he says, if you are the seller do not ignore since it is most likely a setup, simple back off and refuse to do the transaction at that point and walk away the average buyer will not tell you he is going to commit a crime even if he is, most people are honest, so most of the transactions are legit.
second point to consider, all the people arrested have been doing large transactions, with bitcoin the money is on the blockchain you are not doing any money transferring, you are technically transferring the ownership of that money, so authorities bully anyone with large amounts of cash. There are many laws in regards traveling with large amounts of money, it is complicated since some laws vary from state to state. At the federal level that amount seems to be $10000.
So to play it safe with people that you do not know, stay well below the $10000 amount, for safety purposes since bitcoins varies in value stay well below $6000, now for extra safety since at the state level they also have rules. most likely under $1000 will keep you out of trouble.
if you follow this rules, you will most likely be safe:
1. use localbitcoins, or craigslist
2. deal in small amounts of cash, under $1000 for extreme safety, avoid going over $10k by all means.
3. take a friend with you, if something goes wrong he is a witness.
4. be anonymous, governments are known to make retroactive laws, so even if you do something legal today that same activity could be illegal tomorrow.
another option, use btc-e is very reliable, but they have high fees for getting the money out.
As a personal preference anonymity is a good thing and in the good old days there used to be anonymous bitcoin exchanges in the USA, the fight by the government to have control of your bitcoins has led for "all" anonymous bitcoin exchanges to be shutdown, some have moved overseas, but the fact that something as "an anonymous exchange" has been made illegal is a sign of bad faith on the governments part, most of the USA anonymous exchanges have been shutdown by force.
so in conclusion selling bitcoins is perfectly legal, but play it safe, playing by the rules is not enough.
many well known bitcoin exchangers have played by the rules and have gotten in trouble due to retroactive laws, entrapment, and other things, so playing by the rules is insufficient, play it safe, have your own rules to protect your safety.
