I knew eventually they would shut down the meet and trade thing. Honestly, I was surprised it was even there meeting to trade lots of money worth of bitcoins looks dodgy I guess. I wouldn't want to deal with all that money like that. Then if not safety the money laundering thing. I'm not really surprised but I am surprised it remained for so long.
Crypto is privately issued anyway so government must go play with their fiat. There is nothing they can do. Nothing.
Topic: Localbitcoins removes face to face cash trades - page 2. (Read 572 times)
I guess the local section in this forum will be often used by now to request for meet up and buying cash and face to face. This isn't the safest but still works to avoid the KYC which most services require. I haven't done this before though. Is buying bitcoin outside these services legal or should be expect some agents pretending to be some buyers to get us busted?
if any platform gets big enough (lots of traders, high volumes) it will attract the attention of law enforcement. that's why undercover cops have been operating on localbitcoins for years already. in most jurisdictions, there's nothing illegal about buying/selling bitcoin. the legal problems arise if you operate a business exchange bitcoins without registering as an MSB and complying with AML/KYC laws.
not many listings for cash here on the forums either. slim pickings these days!
I guess the local section in this forum will be often used by now to request for meet up and buying cash and face to face. This isn't the safest but still works to avoid the KYC which most services require. I haven't done this before though. Is buying bitcoin outside these services legal or should be expect some agents pretending to be some buyers to get us busted?
I don't think it's going to affect many people.
True. People are making a big deal out of nothing in this case. Majority of the transactions on LBC are most likely done online anyway which is why this does not really bother. Personally, I haven't completed a single transaction offline so far.When you're dealing with a person with cash face to face you need a lot of trust and people who dealt over long periods of times over LB already know each other and have ways of contacting and dealing outside lb. The escrow is gone but if this is when trust plays a major role.
It will still be really risky. This is money and people do crazy things for money which is why I would the no escrow option screws the minority portion who are dependent on face to face transactions royally.
Hi All,
Paxful still supports cash trading. If you have a profile on LocalBitcoins I can help you port your trading statistics over!
Paxful still supports cash trading. If you have a profile on LocalBitcoins I can help you port your trading statistics over!
Are there other face to face trading for cash websites for bitcoin or other cryptocoins? Share them in this thread. We must protect our privacy, we must protect our freedom to trade physically, we must not let our oppressors win.
The authorities might have forced them to close down face to face trade because it does not have any transaction trail and money laundering might be the reason they are forced to shut down, i have never done face to face trade because of the lack of security if you are dealing with a huge amount of money. Norwegian man killed after face to face trade this horrific incident comes to mind when it comes to face to face trade
Other than face to face trading there are other good platforms you can try
1)bitquick
2)Bitcoin OTC
I don't think it's going to affect many people.
When you're dealing with a person with cash face to face you need a lot of trust and people who dealt over long periods of times over LB already know each other and have ways of contacting and dealing outside lb. The escrow is gone but if this is when trust plays a major role.
Besides, I don't know how many new users were dealing in cash f2f on Lb anyhow.
In my case, there were only two sellers and one of them was a representative for an exchange that also owns two ATMs here in the capital. Other than those two I would have to drive 300 km to the next one or cross the border: PPP
When you're dealing with a person with cash face to face you need a lot of trust and people who dealt over long periods of times over LB already know each other and have ways of contacting and dealing outside lb. The escrow is gone but if this is when trust plays a major role.
Besides, I don't know how many new users were dealing in cash f2f on Lb anyhow.
In my case, there were only two sellers and one of them was a representative for an exchange that also owns two ATMs here in the capital. Other than those two I would have to drive 300 km to the next one or cross the border: PPP
Oh well, i dont think its that bad, face to face trades arent too safe and regulation is needed eventually.
Isn't it up to the users of LBC themselves to figure out what's safe and what isn't? I mean, sure, it's not the safest option to use, but it certainly is an effective option when you meet up in crowded areas.I know of enough face to face trades that have gone well because the right measures have been taken. It's impossible to eliminate the risk of facing an ill minded individual, but that's the risk you're willing to take in that case.
I am sure that the government is behind this with their silly regulations. They want to narrow down people's options when it comes to dealing in a peer to peer manner. This might dent the local market for a while, but that's about it.
Oh well, i dont think its that bad, face to face trades arent too safe and regulation is needed eventually. Look I know people here like their privacy and what not but we still have to pay taxes, if everyone stopped paying taxes, countries would go to shit.
there has always been a war against bitcoin's decentralization and privacy for as long as bitcoin existed. the fact that localbitcoins has lasted this long is still surprising. all of these other services that offer any kind of privacy will be under severe attacks from governments and this year they have been targeting a lot of them, like mixers they closed down or scared to shut down on their own. and it won't stop there either.
what we need is full decentralization of everything that involves bitcoin and stop mixing it with anything that is centralized. unfortunately this is not going to be an easy task.
what we need is full decentralization of everything that involves bitcoin and stop mixing it with anything that is centralized. unfortunately this is not going to be an easy task.
i think localbitcoins.com have been under pressure from the government specially since their headquarters is located in Finland and in February Finland’s president approved a law for regulation of all these services. They have been closing their doors to certain countries like Iran too. Whenever a service starts doing this, usually a new one starts up and replaces it though. There already are a couple of them although they are not as popular, we should wait and see which one rises up to do the replacement.
The best for LocalBitcoins to do is to relocate their headquarters somewhere maybe like Malta where Binance is now. However, pressures from governmental authorities can follow anywhere they want to. We are already living in the time when regulations are beginning to change the face of cryptocurrency especially on areas of privacy and anonymity s the government is using the concern on money laundering as the basis for some crackdowns. I am sure that the people behind LocalBitcoins are also sad with this development but they know what are their choices are. Competition will surely step in for this market...let's see how things will transpire on this niche of an industry.
there's a lot of alternatives but hardly anyone uses them: https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/b2wj6k/p2p_exchanges_eg_localbitcoins_bisq_hodlhodl/
the biggest platform that still offers p2p cash trades is paxful, and there are a pitifully small number of offers there. they enforce KYC there as well. it's a sad state of affairs for p2p traders.
the biggest platform that still offers p2p cash trades is paxful, and there are a pitifully small number of offers there. they enforce KYC there as well. it's a sad state of affairs for p2p traders.
I will have to think twice before I use Localbitcoins again.There's too much regulations going on in Finland.
Removing face to face trades is a step in the right direction,but scammers will continue to get their victims by posting on other websites like Paxful.
Removing face to face trades is a step in the right direction,but scammers will continue to get their victims by posting on other websites like Paxful.
You cannot avoid scammers from scamming but atleast you can avoid them to scam the users from localbitcoins.com site so that the exchange users are safe from scammer. I think this move not a bad one. but now they are going to share the personal information and trading details with government is one concern as in our country bitcoin is illegal so now i cannot use this site as my trading details will be shared and if i get caught then i will get punish.
So for country where bitcoin is illegal to use have to be more safe in using localbitcoins exchange.
Well, probably the face to face trades didn't make profit anyway, at least not directly. It was a good advertising though for the platform.
However, the mix of regulators pushing from one side and no direct profit to make up for the hassle may have been the mix for this coming and .. it's not a shockingly unexpected move.
Yeah, I'm sorry for the users from certain countries. Depending how the company goes along with the regulators, ditching Iran and such is indeed an obvious next step (although giving users' details may come first).
However, the mix of regulators pushing from one side and no direct profit to make up for the hassle may have been the mix for this coming and .. it's not a shockingly unexpected move.
Yeah, I'm sorry for the users from certain countries. Depending how the company goes along with the regulators, ditching Iran and such is indeed an obvious next step (although giving users' details may come first).
I will have to think twice before I use Localbitcoins again.There's too much regulations going on in Finland.
Removing face to face trades is a step in the right direction,but scammers will continue to get their victims by posting on other websites like Paxful.
Removing face to face trades is a step in the right direction,but scammers will continue to get their victims by posting on other websites like Paxful.
That's bad news from local bitcoins. Moat traders these days want to protect their privacy and they're trying to hide their identity by getting rid of exchanges which require KYC.
It's hard to find a face to face trading these days. Most of us rely on localbitcoins so it's a big disadvantage that they remove face to face trading.
It's hard to find a face to face trading these days. Most of us rely on localbitcoins so it's a big disadvantage that they remove face to face trading.
There are few disadvantages for the traders with this decision.
One disadvantage is buyers who really want to buy bitcoin in person to avoid from scams will loose that opportunity by removing this option. May be we can expect an increase of victims of scammers in localbitcoins because of this.
The other one is that, there are lot of people who don't have even a bank account. Now, there is a barrier to those traders as they cannot find buyers and sellers who sell or buy BTC in person.
One disadvantage is buyers who really want to buy bitcoin in person to avoid from scams will loose that opportunity by removing this option. May be we can expect an increase of victims of scammers in localbitcoins because of this.
The other one is that, there are lot of people who don't have even a bank account. Now, there is a barrier to those traders as they cannot find buyers and sellers who sell or buy BTC in person.
In my opinion them removing face to face trades for cash to bitcoin deal is actually quite good.For buyers/sellers security purposes its hard to risk yourself dealing with meet ups even if its in a secure place anything can happen.Me personaly i dont really do face to face trades in any thing i sell online,everything must be done online
Yes, Localbitcoins has closed it's door to physical trades and I am happy that it happened. Polices all around the world are using this feature to catch people who are dealing on bitcoin. Recently 3 students from Bangladesh got arrested for trading in bitcoin and this is how the Police of Bangladesh had trapped them. So I am glad that it has been stopped! It was well assumed that governments will be pushing such kind of p2p platforms to comply with KYC norms someday or later, that was well envisaged!
I don't have any issues in complying with KYC if the government wants to. Achieving absolute privacy is not possible anywhere in the world unless dark web is used! However, to accelerate the adoption of bitcoin and other cryptos, it needs to be regulated at some point of time. This way we can ensure fairer transactions and less chance of fraud. That's the reason why I always prefer to have trades with only 2-3 traders over and over again!
I don't have any issues in complying with KYC if the government wants to. Achieving absolute privacy is not possible anywhere in the world unless dark web is used! However, to accelerate the adoption of bitcoin and other cryptos, it needs to be regulated at some point of time. This way we can ensure fairer transactions and less chance of fraud. That's the reason why I always prefer to have trades with only 2-3 traders over and over again!
One way of looking at this is that the fact that draconian measures are being put into place shows that governments are now taking cryptocurrencies very seriously, showing that the industry has matured. If the spirit of crypto is still alive, more likely than not privacy countermeasures will be developed in response, so there is no need to be alarmed by these developments. The developers have already anticipated these moves.
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