My biggest worry about moving to Benin is how to convert Hive to the local currency CFA since I am [currently](https://leofinance.io/@leoglossary/leoglossary-currency) fully dependent on Hive until a [job](https://leofinance.io/@leoglossary/leoglossary-job) comes up. 

Before departing South Africa I made a research on Hive conversion to CFA without success, which further increased my worry. 
 
Last week I found a way and made Hive withdrawals, it was a simple process, though some might find it cumbersome process, so in this article, I take us through the process. 

#### PAXFUL

My search for a means to convert Hive to CFA led me to Paxful, not wasn't an easy find, I found others that had scams written all over them, one being Symlix which I wasn't comfortable with. 

Paxful is a [peer-to-peer](https://leofinance.io/@leoglossary/leoglossary-p2p) [cryptocurrency](https://leofinance.io/@leoglossary/cryptocurrency) [marketplace](https://leofinance.io/@leoglossary/leoglossary-market), available in most parts of the world, and claims to have over 300 payment methods. That is a lot of payment methods, I am happy that the one I can use MTN Mobile Money (MOMO) is available for payment. 

![cfa.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/joetunex/23t7DYsxSXHqnKZRwCmkHNaXK8s1TK8s7tWQRhsbhMabm6oeoP92W3iFrZs77N1U2yt4j.png)

#### MTN Mobile Money (MOMO)

Interestingly [banks](https://leofinance.io/@leoglossary/leoglossary-bank) are rarely used here in Benin, I have not seen an ATM since I arrived in the country, unlike South Africa where there are ATMs every +- 5km. 

I notice they use mobile [money](https://leofinance.io/@leoglossary/leoglossary-money) [payment](https://leofinance.io/@leoglossary/leoglossary-payment) here known as MOMO, powered by MTN the country's biggest Telecom network provider. 

All one needs to open a MOMO account is an MTN phone number and ID. So with everything being French and having to deal with translation often, I opened an account but don't know my password so I went to the MTN outlet for help and I was assisted. I was all set to use MOMO and couldn't wait to try it out. 

#### Hive To CFA

Following the discovery of Paxful and MOMO, it was time for Hive to CFA conversion. 

Firstly I withdrew [Hive](https://leofinance.io/@leoglossary/leoglossary-what-is-hive) to Binance where I sold it for USDT. 

Paxful supports [Bitcoin](https://leofinance.io/@leoglossary/leoglossary-bitcoin), [USDT](https://leofinance.io/@leoglossary/leoglossary-tether), and USD Coin so I opted for USDT. I created a Paxful account, had my [account](https://leofinance.io/@leoglossary/leoglossary-account) verified, and sent my USDT from Binance to Paxful. 

Since I can't withdraw less than $50 from Binance, I tested the process with just about $50. On Paxful I sold $20 worth of USDT for a trial. I chose the payment method I want which was MOMO.

After I initiated sell off my 20 USDT for CFA. I provided the [buyer](https://leofinance.io/@leoglossary/leoglossary-buy) with my MOMO number (phone number). 

In less than five minutes I receive an SMS confirmation for payment, in return I released the 20 USDT from [Escrow](https://leofinance.io/@leoglossary/leoglossary-escrow) for payment.  

MOMO charges 2.33% for [transaction fee](https://leofinance.io/@leoglossary/leoglossary-transaction-fee), the charges on Paxful from experience varies, my first [trade](https://leofinance.io/@leoglossary/leoglossary-trade) incurred $0.2 while the second trade was $0.51. 

The process turned out to be simple, though I am going to be on the lookout for another means. 

[What Is Hive](https://leofinance.io/@leoglossary/leoglossary-what-is-hive)

![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/joetunex/EoprsdYtii9JCCfCJF1jHesZch4eqtwHcMKC5SB8uuK7nGQbb2hRLSo7uEpbj6ujwPu.png) 

***[We owe it to ourselves to make Hive great]()***

![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/joetunex/KvZG9M7z-image.png)
*Image by @doze*

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