Topic: What after localbitcoins.com shutting down (Read 1099 times)

I don't know if you get my point.

Peer to peer trading means there are two parties directly buying and selling amongst themselves without the involvement of central authority in the process, thus this is where decentralization comes in. If a third party is involved, then that is not P2P.

If you still remember how localbitcoins operated, the truth is that once you deposited the funds to their addresses, it was now their Bitcoin and not yours. You simply had figures showing in your account that you have 0.1 or 10 BTC, but the fact was the Bitcoins were lying in their hotwallets, and therefore they were the Central Authority and had complete control over the deposited assets.
Once you carried out the trade to sell the Bitcoins, it was Trader 1 ----> LocalBitcoins ----> Trader 2. Sincelery, how do you still consider that to be Peer (trader 1) to Peer (trader 2)

I don't know how long ago you have used Bisq, but the platform actually has 3 different kinds of disputes available - trader chat, mediation, and arbitration. These methods are ordered from the most usual one (trader chat) to the most rarest (arbitration). In the first level you are just talking with the buyer but if you feel that you are being damaged you can proceed to the next kind of escalation (mediation) which adds another user/person to the discussion. You can learn all about the dispute process here[1] and see the current mediators here[2].

To give you an idea of the different type of problems faced within the mediation fase, here is the latest snipped of current mediations within Bisq from one mediator (from 2 weeks ago[3]):
Albeit this being just a sample (there are more mediators) it gives you an idea of their role and the main problem that they face.

---

[1]https://docs.bisq.network/trading-rules
[2]https://github.com/bisq-network/roles/issues/83
[3]https://github.com/bisq-network/roles/issues/83#issuecomment-1966159832

@logfiles

I've tried BISQ of course, that is decentralized but my point was, Localbitcoins is still P2P, it never claimed to be decentralized. I think people get confused by centralized and decentralized. I like the idea but I don't deny that centralized services are also P2P.

In fact, the whole topic thread is about a localbitcoins alternative, so Bisq is a better, decentralized alternative. For sure. But there are many more that people might feel safer using. Personally, I like for a newbie LBC alternative with actual customer support to become mediator in bad deals.

Not sure if anyone mentioned BISQ. Unlike localbitcoins it is decentralized and without KYC.

I also used LocalBitcoins before they introduced KYC. How was it peer to peer if even the addresses you would deposit the Bitcoins to were owned by them and not you and, worst of it, they would even charge a deposit fee? 

You can't claim to be a peer to peer service, yet you are centralized.

Those are not Dexs. It's all a lie.

It was peer to peer, what are you Savastan0 talking about? It just was not decentralized, but it never claimed to be.

If Localbitcoins is not p2p then absolutely none of the platforms offering p2p trading, p2p marketplace, p2p sharing etc are not p2p.

You are buying and selling directly to another peer. Yes, you use the platform to escrow funds, and to use the platform you have to KYC but remember this was only later years. When I first used Localbitcoins there was no need for KYC at all. And if you are buying, they are not even custodian, you send the money directly to the seller. Only the seller uses escrow but that's for their protection.

I'm not defending Localbitcoins, it's nothing to do with being decentralized.

And "custodial" and non custodial services is ONE aspect of decentralization. 99% of DEX are non custodial but they are so centralized now THEY are not p2p, you don't even know who you're trading with a bot, or some companies' bots, or just a few guys with all the liquidity.

Exactly and this is the same lie Binance, Bybit, Kucoin and all this other centralized exchanges are selling to users claiming that they have p2p service, yet the fact is that for you to use the service;
1. You have to pass KYC verification
2. You let them be the custodians of the funds
Hardly peer to peer in my opinion.

 LocalBitcoins had to close because of government rules and not many people using it anymore. But it wasn't really peer-to-peer or decentralized like it claimed to be. You had to give your personal info before using it, and it held onto your bitcoins for you.

Localbitcoins shutdown probably due to regulatory pressure and a decline in its popularity/trading volumes, but it was far from being anything peer to peer and decentralized in its later stages.
The service was custodial and one need to have their KYC verified before using the exchange.

If you want a serious p2p exchange that is decentralized. Check out Bisq.network

LocalBitcoins started off as a p2p exchange, but along the way they made kyc compulsory, so at the time of shutting down they were not a p2p exchange, and that is the major reason why they shut down. They lost most of their customers as they were using the service because they wanted to trade p2p, but since LocalBitcoins could no longer provide that, they had to look for other services.

Here is a list of p2p exchanges: https://kycnot.me/?t=exchange

There are fewer options for peer-to-peer trading. If a well-known P2P exchange closes, it could be risky for us. Many people prefer P2P trading over centralized exchanges like Binance. While there might be other P2P exchanges opening up, LocalBitcoin was a trusted choice. I'm not sure why a P2P exchange would shut down. Maybe it's just for some temporary rules.

Similar to any online money processor, it would be quite naive to expect that it will stay no KYC forever. Does everyone expect the government would allow criminals to send and receive money freely without imposing anti money laundering laws? This would certainly be head shaking if they left Localbitcoins alone hehehee. This is not the fault of anything or anyone. This is reality.

I also agree with him (BitcoinsGreat) as why do we need to look for the third party P2P for exchanging the coins, when we can use Binance which is by far the most trusted exchange so far.
Also to know the credibility of the platform, you can always check the number of people transacting with the platform. As a rough idea, almost 1.5M users uses the P2P transaction and these numbers tell us that people are happy with the P2P services offered by binance.

Binance P2P by the Numbers: Facts, Figures and Statistics Revealed!



Well, we have binance US which is specifically designed for the people of the US. So we cannot say that Binance is not available in that region. These are the Countries and Regions where binance is operational and this list covers almost 100+ countries.



KYC is not a problem here because almost all the platforms will ask for your KYC for P2P transactions. Local Bitcoin also had the KYC enforced. You can use Binance exchange without the KYC but for the P2P transaction, you will have to do the mandatory KYC. This means that the people who want to do the P2P transaction are already aware that without KYC, they cannot avail this service.

Nevertheless, the advice of @BitcoinsGreat is very much valid as Binance is a better alternative to Localbitcoins and services like it actually killed the business of Localbitcoins.

Also, if there are countries that ban Binance, and not cryptocurrency generally, such will be so few. I can only read of Singapore and a tiny fractional part of Canada. I didn't dig deeper but I know that Binance offers its service to almost every part of the world. But it is a different ballgame if you want to use DEX, the Ts&Cs must be obeyed including the KYC.

Besides, KYC is not what killed Localbitcoin, it's the too-hot competition in the industry that killed it. I can't have Binance and still think of Localbitcoin, this is obvious in all services you may think of.

Not everyone can legally access Binance and not all are fan of centralized exchanges that asks KYC. Besides localbitcoins are famous p2p platform on its prime years not until it asked KYC requirements which started its dooms day.

I think People can easily use the P2P platform available on Binance and other centralized exchanges. Why do they need other sites like localbitcoins etc for this purpose?

Also, I think that these sites have been losing business ever since the biggest exchange Binance has launched their P2P platform and that is very secure too.



Yes, that will be the best option but the problem would be the liquidity plus the escrow system to be deployed in the P2P decentralized ecosystem.

Sure, but then it would be best to use decentralized exchanges that have a fiat interface instead of making an deal with someone online to meet in person and exposing yourself to danger. If you want absolute privacy, then you can swap the bitcoins bought on the decentralized exchange back and forth a couple of time or run them through a mixer and you have the same effect without the risk of personal harm.

Are you kidding me right now? You are not their affiliate and have nothing to them, yet since it is a great idea for you, you will contact the company that is not in any way affiliated with you. C'mon, this is too cheap to pass any sensible radar. Above all, no one is disturbing you as the forum is free and once you obey the rules, you will be fine. Just be sincere and think twice even before you post.

Mind you, just for a piece of advice, hiding under pretence and so much shadow often pisses people off here and we may know/suspect more than what you think we do.

Each to their own anyway, there are so many tx we do with fiat that can also be considered to be as 'risky' as this, like withdrawing money from a fiat atm or directly coming out of a fiat bank, you could be followed because people think you have withdrawn a lot of cash and have it on you, but this does not stop people from using these services.

There are precautions to take in f2f trades, and if you take them, i think it is fine to trade that way. Use a p2p exchange like bisq to connect you to traders who want f2f trade, meet in public, go with a friend and do not trade a large amount of money.

AgoraDesk [1] is the direct competitor to LocalBitcoins. After LocalBitcoins has been shut down this is the service to go.

However, I wonder why people still exchange Bitcoin in face-to-face meetings today. That would be far too dangerous for me given the value of Bitcoin. Personally, I wouldn't meet up with a stranger to exchange Bitcoin, as it can be assumed that you are carrying a lot of money with you. Even in public places, such an exchange is no longer safe these days.

[1] https://agoradesk.com/

I'm new here and not affiliated with the project, but that's a great idea, I didn't realise it was an option. I'll mention it to their team and see if they want to do that. Thanks for the advice!

By the look of things and based on your posting history, something tells me that you are the promoter of basicswapdex.com, which is OK. But why don't you just create a new announcement thread in the Exchanges board about your service for proper visibility instead of bumping old topics about LocalBitcoins shutting down?

You could also use the same thread to post about new updates and contests.

And now the main litecoin account is tweeting about the competition too:
https://twitter.com/litecoin/status/1754527804165873684

About five or six localbitcoin sellers have migrated to ParticlMarketplace as it effectively adds an enforced trustless layer to transfers of funds. particl.store shows a portal view of current offers and pricing.

You can access the marketplace from particl's default wallet at particl.io. Shortly you'll be able to pay in most major cryptos directly, so it should end up having better swap options than the old local bitcoins.

The decebtrlaosed exchange particl launched two years ago now also supports Litecoin MWEB (mimblewimble). The Litecoin and Particl forundatios have also just announced a partnership because of this, as it finally gives privacy coin users a place to trade. It seems to eBay the safest, cheapest and most anonymous option for privacy coin users.

Both foundations agave also announced a competition where they are giving away five first edition Lealana 1LTC physicals over the coming weeks to celebrate, see here for more info:

https://twitter.com/BasicSwapDEX/status/1753482630622798198

https://twitter.com/BasicSwapDEX/status/1753481499356401731

So Mr EarnOnVictor, what were you saying again?

It's even barely 2 months lol - https://twitter.com/callebtc/status/1643249783824437252
Paxful - Deposits are not being credited



Maybe the business records you were referring to were those of starting to scam their users right after localbitcoins announced that they would exit the market 

The entire point of people using these kind of platforms is specifically because they are not operating on this type of model. Many people want to trade peer-to-peer, and they certainly don't want their peer-to-peer exchange to turn themselves in to a central order book type of exchange. If users wanted that kind of platform, then why would they not just have abandoned all their privacy and security and signed up on one of the many such platforms already?

Still, there is no real reason to trade peer-to-peer if you are going to do it via a centralized platform which requires you to submit KYC and deposit your coins to their centralized wallets before you can trade. You are sacrificing all the benefits of trading peer-to-peer by doing so, and instead gaining the huge disadvantages of zero privacy and zero security that you get by using a centralized exchange. Most serious peer-to-peer traders abandoned LBC a long time ago when they first started requiring KYC. Paxful will be no different.

If you want to trade truly decentralized, then use Bisq.

I believe I was saying it in this topic, or another one: These platforms will all have to follow the same pattern sooner or later. There is no reason why the rules on money laundering should be different depending on the type of exchange. P2P marketplaces or a CEX, it will make no difference. There is a myth with people thinking that sites like LocalBitcoins or Paxful are decentralized because they are P2P. This is not true.

Anyway, who can believe a company can operate by saying "I don't care about laws".

It will come little by little because each platform operates in a different country (with different laws and different speed to apply them).
You can compare with the number of countries considered as tax havens. Look at the list of countries 30 years ago and compare it with the current list.
It's the same: soon or later they follow the same rules.

Changing the business model from Paxful to Binance doesn't change much in the end. The same laws and the same earning potential for the company. It's just a matter of the customer's base. Not to mention the CEX industry is already quite saturated and it's not easy to be competitive

Do you think other similar sites like Paxful will also meet the same fate because of same KYC reasons ?

Paxful was also spreading fast as they spent good money in promotions.

Another doubt I have is that why are these platforms not moving to an exchange type of business. They already have good customer base and the required tech to handle crypto transactions. They just have to redesign as a crypto exchange and become profitable like Binance.

There does not have to be any form of compromise when it comes to your data and more importantly, you do not have to trust anyone with your data, you do not have to trust any system at all. There is already enough decentralized options to avoid KYcs.

Do not ever actually risk personal information, phone numbers, email addresses, etc. If you need to use any of this, then use a throw away address or phone number, which does not provide a privacy risk.

- Jay -

They say on their landing page that they will be keeping all data for 5 years, which is pretty standard for various KYC/AML requirements around the world. You should use the link they provide to delete your account to set the 5 year timer ticking as soon as possible to get your data deleted.

You don't. There are a number of properly decentralized exchanges out there (not exchanges like LBC which used "DEX" or "P2P" as marketing while being completely centralized) which do not require KYC or indeed any personal information at all. Seek them out and use them - https://kycnot.me/

Exactly. They survived for years when bitcoin was worth a few hundred dollars, but now a price of ~$24k is too low for them? This is because every serious peer to peer trade abandoned the platform when they became just another centralized data farm.

Yeah, I understand they aren't hacked neither running away without concerning about their long term build reputation but we can't sure about that the documents will be safer anymore as the business is running after they shutdown so in case if a hacker manage to pull those data and wanted to abuse them then most people will be in danger anyway I hope they will keep them safe or burn them completely.

Localbitcoins are not shutting down because they were hacked, or that there was a data breach, neither are they filing for bankruptcy at this very time, according to them they are shutting down because of the "crypto winter", though that's not totally true as their trading volume began to drop when they started requesting KYC, and that could be the true reason why they are shutting down. The good thing is they are giving a 12 month period for everyone to withdraw their funds.

As for your documents you mentioned, the risk would be higher if they were breached or hacked, but as they are terminating the operation of their business, i don't know what they would do with their users documents, it doesn't specify it in their terms of service under the section of "Termination of business":
Probably the "lawful closure of the business" has something to do with what would happen to the documents that their users provided to them.

I owe you some merits for this fact, I never thought that LBC is shutting down but now they did and now I am afraid that what will happen to the documents I provided there for high trading limit.

Data is the new way of making money but at some point we have to trust someone with the current system for the progression or just being the holder until the system turns into decentralized which prioritize the anonymity over the money.

It's on the back of a larger decline. 2 months ago BUSD had a market cap of $22 billion. Today it is only $12 billion.

These are the risks you take if you decide to use a centralized exchange. Centralized coins, centralized tokens, centralized wallets, centralized KYC. You are risking your coins, your data, your money.

Maybe not, but they can be sure to face months of stress, paperwork, and legal costs, in order to clear their name and prove it wasn't them that withdrew a few hundred thousand dollars worth of stolen money. Or maybe instead of laundering money in their name, the criminals just open some credit cards or take out some loan in their name, and wrack up a few hundred thousand dollars worth of debt, which again will take months and a lot of legal costs in order to clear.

Having your identity stolen can literally ruin your life. KYC should not be taken lightly, especially when centralized exchanges have proven time and time again that they are incapable of keeping your data secure.

Yes, recently read the dispute the BUSD is facing after Paxos announced they won't mint the stable coin again, over 17.7% of BUSD has been redeemed, which amounts to about 3 Billion BUSD taken away from the market. This will affect the strength of BUSD given time as this just happened few days after the Paxos announcement.


The high risk involved in KYC is so nefarious to the customers that submit their documents to third party platforms. Satoshi didn't wish for this, but the market has gone astray from the initial plan of Satoshi. Somehow, I think the investigators of crime would know that the documents used to launder money doesn't belong to the launderer. So, innocent victims may not get penalized for what they didn't do, however staying clear from illicit activities is what matters. 

People said the same thing about FTX, Celsius, Voyager, BlockFi, and all the other collapsed exchanges. And all these collapsed exchanges were telling their users that everything was just fine right up until the minute they suspended all activities and froze all their users' coins. Any centralized exchange is only ever one bad decision, one hack, one piece of legislation or regulation away from the same fate.

Sure, but my point is that it remains incredibly cheap for a criminal to buy your KYC documents and open an account in your name in order to launder money. KYC does very little to prevent money laundering; all it achieves is shifting the blame on to some innocent person who had all their KYC documents leaked/shared/stolen/sold from some centralized exchange.

Most of the disputes binance is facing didn't happen now and they're still running their business or trying to put things on the right track. It's possible they'll face more troubles soon, if they don't settle all the pipelined issues in the company. Looking at CZ's last letter to his employees that leaked some weeks back after they experienced the huge decline in customers. He tried to pass a unique message, that he doesn't need customer's funds to run his business. He may be wrong or right, but it seems his team is strong and they could witstand whatever problem that may come their way.

For the kyc documents that's been sold on the dark web, it's certain that documents can be gotten cheaper on their marketplace, due to the competition, yet, multiplied by the number of KYC documents in stock, they'll make a good amount of money, (1000 into 1000 is a million file) and these hackers could be getting these files in tens of millions. That aside, the buyers of these files can be considered account sellers; okx, cloud accounts, bank accounts etc, they don't sell the end products of these files for peanuts, an account could go for 60 to 100 dollars depending on the platform. Even local Bitcoin accounts sold for around $50 in the market. So, despite the cheap documents in the market it still yields more money when processed; utilized to create accounts. It's a huge market.

Binance are currently "in negotiations" with regulators about their illegal activities and secret transfers, so expect some kind of punishment and fall out from that. They experienced the largest single day outflow of money since the collapse of FTX earlier this week. Their stablecoin, BUSD, is struggling to maintain its peg under regulatory pressure and some users are not able to cash out. I wouldn't call that flourishing. I would call that a warning sign to get your money off their exchange and in to your own wallet.

Hacked/stolen KYC data is very cheap, and money launderers do not have to spend much at all. The hacker who stole KYC data from Binance for example was selling it on the dark net for a rate of between 1 and 5 USD per 1,000 documents. 5 bucks for 1,000 identities.

I agree with most of what you expressed here, and it has affirmed my view that KYC is not the reason why crypto businesses are dying like some would let you believe. If anyone looks around, if a customer leaves a KYC-demanding establishment, there is a very higher tendency that such is moving to another one that would demand the same, but with a better service.

I've done that many times, and in this present dispensation, no one can tell me that a decentralized operation has more customers and volumes than the centralised one that demands KYC. This is obvious, and thank you for mentioning Binance, that's one of the crypto-related companies that are demanding it and is doing well. What about casinos to say the least?

However, it would be wrong to depend on social media for your P2P, this is one of the reasons why many people are easily swindled.

Binance is one company that still flourishes after the KYC, even the gateio exchange is facing downside too and laying off employees, but the KYC rule increased the rate of hacking on the cryptocurrency market. Looking at the high rate of data marketing or even same KYC rule. Hackers and money launderers would invest a lot on using other people's documents to sign up on different sites that requires KYC. The last hack on FTX, what happened to people's documents and files? These are the risks involved in KYC why most people had to move away from a very promising trading venture like localbitcoin. I could remember how long it took me to get an account approved on localbitcoin 2 years ago. These flaws are not conducive anymore especially for traders that saw LB as an intermediary between traders and buyers. What's the essence of KYC for such a platform? I think the best p2p is p2p trading. Working with a trusted trader directly on social media or any other platform.

Use the advice to better yourself. It looks like you need it more than I do.

I gave you links to help you analyse what went wrong and when problems started with Localbitcoins, but it seems you are even too lazy to do anything like checking them out. Maybe you could learn a thing or two and avoid groaning the "You of all people with your rank on the forum shouldn't..." lines

Of course, I read your lame example. Now you think am blind?

Show us the data and records. If they are not there, then stop speculating.

Which services which demand KYC are flourishing? In terms of centralized exchanges we've seen dozens collapse with insolvency, bankruptcy, or outright scams over the last few months, and those which haven't collapsed laying off huge chunks of their employees. And in terms of fake peer-to-peer exchanges which demand KYC, we've seen LBC shutdown and Paxful volume falling.

If you want to actually trade peer-to-peer, then you can use an exchange like Bisq which gives you complete privacy and complete security over your coins, does not require any KYC, and does not require you to deposit any money to a centralized wallet. I see no reason to use something like LBCs which provides you with zero privacy, zero security, frozen accounts, seized coins, and leaked/shared/sold data.

You of all people with your rank on the forum shouldn't have replied in a hurry and based on just a context without reading the full story. If you read the post again, you would know that I rebuffed the claim of the all-time high of Localbitcoins against Paxul using Google and Yahoo as an example, as not an indication of their present and future successes in my reply, which borne what you quoted.

This is business (crypto or not), and records are being broken yearly, so you are so wrong that history will repeat itself because it's crypto-related as no one will ever be able to break business records.

You're totally wrong!

History always repeats itself, especially when it comes to crypto exchanges. Don't tell me you don't know this.

Did you ever have an account on localbitcoins before the mandatory KYC requirements came in? Trust me, their new KYC requirement were too strict and asking for too much personal information before one could get verified.

Even Binance and likes of OKX have KYC verification but have not yet reached that level of KYC where you have to state how much you earn yearly, what kind of business you do and where your grandmother was born etc 

You can look at the charts and interpret from the time KYC verification became mandatory on the platform - https://coin.dance/volume/localbitcoins

or this can help - LocalBitcoins: volumes down because of KYC

Don't dwell in the past glory, you can't use all-time success to judge the stability and suitability of any business. The all-time high I even read was in 2017 and it's $130M but that is not the case here. Yahoo was doing better than Google some time ago, but can you compare the two in earnings now? Paxful was a better competitor and traffic trackers ranked it #16,947 while Localbitcoins ranked #42,159. That should mean something to you.

I don't think so, if they lost due to KYC, why are the others with the same KYC flourishing in the business? What I have noticed is that businesses with their model accepting all manner of payment systems for P2P need due process to protect themselves and their customers because fraudsters are everywhere.

I don't know about Paxful's KYC policy, but their volumes seem to be starting to decline too, according to coindance and the current weekily of $30M is nowhere near Localbitcoin's all-time high of over $120M weekly trading volume.

We will see how it goes, maybe they will benefit from the closure of Localcryptos and Localbitcoins.

The lost the volumes so quickly because of their strict KYC policy and they suffocated so fast.

There are many centralised exchanges that have helped the crypto space so much in the past, and people often look for ways to cheat their services such as P2P services. This is a big challenge but I still do not believe that it's the main reason why Localbitcoins decided to stop their service. Paxful and other rivals are doing well and recording regular yearly gains to buttress my point.

What I believe is that they (Localbitcoins) are short of partonge compared to cost of running their service, hence the need to shutdown.

A centralized exchange is just a platform like eBay where the seller and buyer set their own price and when it matches the trade will execute on an exchange whereas in p2p when someone posts a price and if you feel its okay then you will proceed further and that is the difference if you don't realize it in case.

Secondly, I can give thousands of examples of scams that happened in p2p which means the fiat sender gives false payment receipt and give some excuses for the trade to be released so the risk exists everywhere and not really exchange like Binance runs out of liquidity.

I think you need to do more reading about what "peer to peer" means. Stop focusing on member's ranks and feeling insulted.

These exchanges and marketplaces keep confusing you by mentioning p2p because it feels more attractive, but in actual sense they are not p2p exchanges. I don't know about the first years, but LocalBitcoins was far from being a p2p exchange in the later years. They would hold user funds, set deposit and withdrawal fees at their will, they would never reveal any private keys of the accounts to the users, block funds and ask for KYC.

The same applies to "Binance p2p". In fact, Binance gives even a clue in the link that they are not a p2p platform.

Look closely
Do you see that c2c right before binance.com? It means Customer to Customer or consumer to consumer, which makes more sense because c2c involves a third party, unlike p2p.


Wooooow. Just wow!!!

Is that a joke?
A centralized exchange doesn't set a price per se. It is based on the supply and demand, as well the trading volume.

Additionnaly, a CEX also acts as an escrow service. It connects buyers and sellers and is the middleman between both.


Everthing is clear. The difference is know and understood.

Reading at the replies one thing is concluded , we are still in early stages of crypto space where the difference is still unknown,.. Let me just give you a scenario for better understanding..

In a centralized exchange the price of crypto is set by exchange itself, which is a monopolistic practice which is not in the case of p2p as people set their own margins for buying or selling, there is competetiveness..

2ndly for a crypto to be cashed out, either you choose to go centralized exchange or you use p2p exchange which provides an escrow service,
We see many scenarios where cex falls out of liquidity because they have to cash out funds for users, which is not the case in p2p as people trade among themselves..

Though there are "n" number of scenarios i can still but its better for anyone to go DYOR as i mentioned in my thread...

If you want safety, privacy, or reasonable fees, then Binance shouldn't even be on your list, and certainly nowhere near the top. Binance P2P is completely centralized and simply uses the P2P tag as marketing slogan. It is about as far from true P2P as you can get.

My account status is irrelevant. There are plenty of actually decentralized exchanges out there which never request KYC and do not require that you hand over control of your coins by depositing them in a centralized wallet under control of the exchange, such as Bisq, AgoraDesk, RoboSats. The site you are shilling is completely centralized and therefore a very poor choice.

If you have to give up the custody of your coins to an exchange before you trade it, then that is 'fake' p2p, p2p involves trading crypto without any third party, so every centralized exchange isn't really a p2p exchange because you have to give up the custody of your funds to the exchange before they would allow you trade. A good example of a p2p exchange is Bisq.
You do not even have to be a bad actor for a centralized exchange to ban or freeze your money. They will do that for many reasons, if they don't like you or where your money is coming from, if they think your money is "tainted", if the government says they should, heck, they don't even have to ban or freeze you, they can just take your money and put it in another investment and lose it, or they get hacked and lose your money. There are so many ways you can lose your money in a centralized exchange.
FTX, Voyager, Celsius, 3AC, Genesis...all didn't pop out 'yesterday', they have been in the market for sometime, it doesn't matter how long a centralized exchange has been in the market, it can collapse at anytime, even Binance isn't safe from collapse, so do not trust any exchange.

 Though you have a legendary account but i wish you would simply understand the difference between a peer-to-peer crypto exchange to a centralized exchange, moreover every exchange in the world will protect its right when it comes to fraud, so every exchange or platform have the right to ban/freeze bad actors... though chances are very negligible but one has to mention ... This exchange does not popped out yesterday or day before..its been there for more than 2 years now ...and still going good

People are really not in a dilemma as you see it because they will transfer their assets from LocalBitcoins to any of the other exchange platforms. Yes, LocalBitcoins was one of the platforms that lived a long time to provide P2P services, but the matter is not catastrophic because there are many other alternatives that are characterized by safety, reliability, reasonable fees, and privacy, and this is often missing on centralized exchanges, for me, I recommend Binance P2P and Bisq in the first place. Also, the names of the BITKAN and PAXFUL platforms top the headlines of most blogs as being good alternatives to LocalBitcoins; although I have never used them, I found them in search engines, so everyone who leaves Localbitcoins should do his own research and know the appropriate platform for him in terms of features, security, ease of use, and in terms of KYC procedures, and he must never deposit his assets in a P2P platform that he does not know it before.

You can see from OP's post history that he heavily shills that site. He is most likely affiliated with it.

I have not used it, and I would recommend avoiding it. It requires that you deposit your coins to a wallet that they control, so is completely centralized and your coins are not yours. Their Terms of Service say they require full KYC, and reserve the right to freeze your account and your funds while they demand "upgraded" KYC, for any reason. And of course their Privacy Policy gives them the right to share all your data with anyone they want.

So pretty much all the worst parts of a centralized exchange.

I have been checking Bisq regularly and still no offers, let's see if really people are moving towards real p2p which is decentralized. Paxful seems a temporary replacement cause the only trade limit is 1000$ for no address verified accounts, reading about their customer support is poor as many said so if anyone really moving to beware of scammers and read the terms of their trade before initiating the trade.

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About the platform shared by OP which I never heard about, has anyone really used it and if yes please share how was your experience.

From what I read, they were supposed to give compensations in BTC, instead of giving Bitcoin Cash. So, they didn't made it? It's not about just LocalBitcoins, but there is much more centralised platforms which followed their path and didn't gave BCH. It's another examplewhy keeping your coins there isn't best idea in cases like this. Not your keys - not your coins.

If you want to use a P2P service that operates on Bitcoin, then support the bisq ecosystem. If you don't want to use bisq, you really do not have many options for P2P trading other than platforms that cost you your data and/or privacy. The best solution for P2P trading after Bitcoin are ones that are based on Monero. There are one or two with the trusted "local" prefix around. While there is a drought for BTC P2P solutions for the moment, I predict a new revolution for private and unstoppable P2P Bitcoin trading will come soon now that such a big market has just opened following Local-bitcoin's closure. It is possible that due to over-regulation of this company, the devs here might even be re-structuring for this very with better legal foundation. That would make sense, but that is only speculation.

The marketplaces will follow the same path the centralized exchanges followed.

Both will have the same laws to follow. There is no reason a CEX has to be strict with KYC-KYT-EDD and a marketplace doesn't have to be.
Otherwise, CEXs wouldn't exist, and companies would make a marketplace instead, to be less bothered.

And don'y worry. If there are still some marketplaces without ID verification, they will soon or later join the group.
Including HodlHodl or LocalMonero... It's just a matter of time, trust me.

They won't all die because there are always people who have no problem with the KYC but for sure the DEXs will become the only way to trade without to be bothered.


If you really want bitcoining, you have to use bitcoinized tools 

Paxful is a poor replacement for LBC. I've never used them, but my understanding is their KYC requirements are even more invasive than those of LBC, and they will regularly lock and freeze accounts and coins while demanding even more KYC info. And as I mentioned above, if regulatory pressure is enough to shut down a centralized not-really-P2P platform like LBC, then it's enough to shut down a second centralized not-really-P2P platform like Paxful, which means you would be back at square one again looking for a new platform.

I don't see why people wouldn't just go for the best option out there (Bisq), which is immune to being regulated out of existence given that it is software which is run locally and not a centralized entity.

For privacy reason I can't expose my nativity but its supported and I can list the offer there if I want and I will give it a try in the next week and let's see with the suspension of trading from LBC can bring p2p traders to Bisq.

I have been contacted by few of my clients who I am regularly trading via LBC for years and I am yet to reply which platform I am going to choose and their reply is Paxful where liquidity for my fiat is high but many new accounts with attractive prices like 10 to 15% over market price is listed there and from my assumption they can bring issues sooner or later cause we have chance of receiving funds from hacked bank account so anyone switching to Paxful beware of this issue and pick trader with long trading history and high positive feedbacks.

I stopped using them after they kept all my fork funds in 2017.
They pretended to be accommodating but I never saw my fork money.

What is your local currency, if you don't mind me asking? Is it supported and there is just no volume, or is it not supported at all? If it's a lack of volume, then you should feel free to create your own offers! Every market starts somewhere, and you might be able to earn yourself a couple of percentage points over the market rate since you are the only maker.

If it's not supported then you could open an issue on their GitHub (if there isn't one already) about getting it listed. Alternatively, can you swap your local currency to USD, EUR, or something else, and then trade with them instead?

With the closure of LocalCryptos and now LBC, there could well be a higher demand for Bisq to start supporting other currencies. People aren't going to want to move to a new exchange which might also close down in a few months, whereas by moving to Bisq, there is very little chance of that happening due to its decentralized nature.

Localbitcoins bought me into contact with many good traders in the earlier days of bitcoin.It was a safe way to buy and sell before all of the exchanges. It will be missed, although we have used it much less in the past few years.

I didn't see that coming even a few days ago I completed a trade there.

Now it is going to be the happy days for the many scammers out there in Paxful platform because the trade limit of paxful is high even with email verification compared to LBC so scammers can simply throwaway their account once they scammed someone and starts with new email.

Bisq is completely decentralized p2p but I never saw any trade was created there for my fiat currency.

This. LBC was a shadow of its former self. Anyone who actually cared about privacy or security left LBC years ago. I know I did. They were little more than a CEX using "P2P" as a buzzword for advertising reasons.

This is different. If you want to use a CEX to trade fiat, then you must complete KYC. If you want to use a DEX to trade fiat, then there is absolutely no reason to choose one which mandates KYC.

I don't have any concerns about LBC closing. It was peer to peer in name only, and completely centralized in practice. If even a tiny proportion of its remaining users transition to a real peer to peer platform like Bisq or AgoraDesk (like many did when LBC first introduced KYC years ago), then that will be a net positive for the peer to peer marketplace.

This, guys. They blamed the crypto winter, economic outlook, etc., and yes, there's a truth to it. But the winter did not strike the first blow, it only slammed in the final nail.

Before they enforced strict KYC (they actually always had it, but it was either optional or very minimal, IIRC a phone number was enough to get by for most people), I would get trade offers almost as soon as I put mine live. Selling was over in minutes (literally, because of my location and mode of buying).

It was after KYC + the removal of face-to-face that they lost their niche. I took most of my trades off-site, so did most traders I knew. LBC simply became an additional listing site.

Survival of the fittest eh?

Especially with all the regulatory uncertainties. These days you have to watch the regulators all the time. One day they are ok with what you're doing the other day they attack you, like the SEC did with staking in the US.

It's not the crypto system that is broken and uncertain, it's the politics and the corrupt financial system that is making crypto volatile. I wouldn't want to run a crypto company if they could raid my house at any time claiming my site accepted coins from a hack or I don't have a money transmitting license or something else.

Binance started as a no KYC exchange, it was a year or two years ago that Binance made KYC mandatory. You can still use Kucoin with just your email and password, though it is a centralized exchange and any Kucoin user can be force to provide KYC.

Paxful is also a centralized exchange with KYC mandatory.

I hope no one will use the platform mentioned by @OP because it's a custodial P2P platform similar like localbitcoins where they will ask you to submit KYC.

Both Binance and Kucoin are become very popular because they're centralized exchange and have mandatory KYC rule, so everyone already know if they will get asked to provide KYC at the worst case. While localbitcoins, they're start from zero KYC P2P platform, but they now require KYC and the clients are not happy because of this rule.

Paxful is also KYC P2P platform, they didn't disappointed their clients.

Agreed. Also, there are other peer to peer marketplaces with more traders that began offering better conversion prices than Locabitcoins in Paxful, Binance and Kucoin. I have only learned about Binance and Kucoin peer to peer marketplaces last year. I was shocked that they have become very popular.

Yes, I do agree I know LocalBitcoin when the price was still hundred dollars, I know their strong this is not their first crypto winter  But it is very sad when saw news like this

On the other hand back a couple of years ago there is a bunch of Centralized exchanges who don't do KYC but now almost all need KYC. I know that some people hate this but they don't pretty much have a choice.

and also bybit or binance offer P2P service but still to use it you need KYC first  . I think like it or not when the platform gets bigger and get more user the government will approach them and talk about "Regulation or I gonna shut down your business" Tornado Cash is one of the example even tho is not an exchange

Man, I don't even think what localbitcoins was offering was anything to do with p2p. Well it may have seemed like two parties were involved in direct trade, but then there was a third party which was localbitcoins

They could choose to freeze the funds any time they wanted, since the customer wallets were custodial. To be honest, they were more like Binance, especially when they made KYC verification mandatory.

I've used them years ago and then never used them anymore when I've seen that my needs can be found in the popular exchanges these days.

It's sad to see that some big known P2P will have to go. I'm now having the idea that the other of the same service might also announce their official closure soon.

Yeah, every time there's a closure it's all about the bear market that seems to be the big catalyst and where the blame is being point to.

Damn, that's really sad news. I don't use their platform, but I remember them from my early days in crypto and how big they were back then. Basically, everyone who was in crypto, knew their platform. What I can say, end of another era.
Probably crypto winter is main reason behind closure, their volumems went down significantly. But regulations didn't helped them either. Introducing KYC had direct impact why their trading volums went down and platform stopped giving profit.

It appears that peer-to-peer trading opportunities are decreasing. It constitutes a risk to us if a well-known P2P exchange closes. Because peer-to-peer trade is replacing centralized exchange like Binance is currently conducting significant p2p trade. There would be other exchanges opening up for peer to peer trading. However, LocalBitcoin was a realizable P2P exchange. I don't see why a peer-to-peer exchange would shut down. I'm not certain, but I'll guess it's just for a little enforcement.

It is not very logical to compare LB, which was a Bitcoin exchange, with that CEX, which achieves its trading volume thanks to countless shitcoins, its own token and the fact that CZ, like all Chinese, has learned very well how to fake trading volume. If some kind of internal audit entered their system, I wouldn't be surprised if their actual numbers are at least 30% less than what we see in public - but when you buy CMC as one of the most popular crypto sites, then you can very easily build an image that you are best.

---

After 10 years, I wouldn't be surprised if the man decided that he had enough money to end the whole thing and maybe devote himself to some new challenges. Some are surprised by this, as if a person has committed to providing a service for life, and how many people have been active on this forum for 10 or more years - or how many will be there in 10 years?

Exactly what I'm doing, not acting as a spectator and reminding people what kind of hyena is now spamming around here


LB was an exchange, not a marketplace, the two are completely different.
LB was used exactly because it was easy to deal with it, you would just look at the prices, decide from who to buy and which method, and at least here in EU with instant national transfers you could get your coins or funds in minutes and finish the trade.
That's why some don't get why other solutions are not getting traction, as the situation is now fewer people care more about privacy than about how fast and easy things can be done, that's why Bisq has dozens of traders and Biance p2p thousands.


Most likely.
https://coin.dance/volume/localbitcoins/ALL
Their volume went down as BTC went down, from the 45 mils a week to 6 mils a week, at some point maybe the profit from it simply doesn't make sense anymore and you're better off just quitting. Assuming they are getting 1% of all that volume it would be $3 mil a year, with 50-100 highly paid employees in Europe as they claim just the wages and taxes and rent would drive that to almost zero. If he's an early adopter probably he has 100x more than what would be left over a year stashed in BTC already.

Anyone who needs a replacement for LBC can go to: https://kycnot.me/ and pick the one that works for them.

I have been off LBC for a while, but as I pointed out elsewhere, a lot (most?) people who had regular trading partners know how to contact them in other ways.
It's just a bit more newsworthy because it's the 2nd one in a short period of time. But, as with many things others will take it's place if they can figure out how to make a profit on it.

-Dave

There is a KYC free alternative to local bitcoins. It's called Particl marketplace. It's an anonymous yet trustless marketplace (particl.io). You can pay for any goods or services there including bank transfers, there is someone listing monero for sale there currently, but you can also get bullion, cash in the post and bank transfers.

Particl also has a fully decentralised and trustless cross blockchain atomic swap exchange (basicswapdex.com). The developers are currently integrating the exchange directly into the marketplace so that you can pay in pretty much any cypto. So it's not so much a local bitcoins replacement as an "any crypto" to fiat, bullion and cash in the post replacement.

The exchange is proving very popular with the monero community who have been extensively testing it and are considering including it as a plugin with their default wallet so any monero user can access the exchange as well.

Here is a neat video on it: https://youtu.be/1gYNX4ue_O4

That's it! I have a friend who used to be a trader there and you could even request him to drive to your home and exchange at your place. He was making decent money, but resigned in 2019 after they've aded KYC. He said the number of clients dropped by 50% after that and he wasn't making enough.
He ended up putting his own ATM in a nearby shopping center where you could withdraw without limits and no KYC.

It's funny they're blaming market conditions where really the condition of their own company is the source of the problem.

Nevertheless, it is still a platform with good trading volumes, it provides flexible payment options in many countries that do not use well-known payment methods, or at least they cannot buy in traditional ways.

I do not have charts for trading volumes, but the platform seems profitable, perhaps their profits decreased and therefore they preferred to stop rather than the platform dying, but the advertisement is somewhat strange.

I don't know about you, but yes i can presume its far better than exchanges like FTX and others ... Moreover about the videos i seriously dont care ... 2ndly they have been there since long ... its not that they popped out overnightly.. so before you can misguide someone.. with your negative comments, rather than giving a try urself ... dont act as a spectator, be a player than probably your comment would matter..

Here's their annoucement^[1] and a forum thread discussion^[2]

Never heard that this is a reputable site, but the way it is recommended might be need a try.
Checked it but didn't see if they required kyc or not.

[1] https://blog.localcryptos.com/after-5-years-localcryptos-is-saying-goodbye/
[2] https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5418010.new

I've once read that hyenas are very patient, seems like the humanoid type can't even half a day before trying to get a bone, even if the victim is still moving.
I knew the name looks familiar, no surprise:


The exchange with sockpuppets bumping a dead topic, a Fiverr presentation, and photoshopped pictures did I forget something?


It's not about exposure, is dying volume overall,  far more competition and getting things even more complicated is the fact that they were dealing in BTC only, buttimes have changed and more users with a ton of coins want to swap in every kind of token, not something they built their business for.

Does it matter? Well it doesn't matter to me because I stopped trading with them when they went full KYC

You couldn't wait for this moment to shill your coinbaazar exchange, could you?

If you think some of us have forgotten, then you are wrong... Your very first posts say a lot about your intentions here

Perfect!

I am one of the people who abandoned my high trading volume account on localbitcoins after their dicky KYC rules

It's been several years since I last used them but I'm sad to see such an advertisement, they don't give any details about the reason for the shutdown and blaming Crypto Winter seems like a nonsensical argument.
Does anyone know more details and whether it is related to a regulator or exposure to bankrupt platforms?

for those who will search for alternative you can try ---> https://localcoinswap.com/

Never saw the localcryptos news closure, but localbitcoins shutting down is throwing away so much history right here, and I kind of blame them here because their business concept has never evolved with changing times. With so many cryptos on the market they heavy relied on serving bitcoin traders which become Obsolete with the coming of a Dex and many other centralized exchanges.

I guess localbitcoins has run its race and its time for others to continue were they left... Whose next to go, paxful

Well this is what i was about to say... that only KYC could not be the only reason and even the crypto winters... The only reason i could find valid is they never made changes but then again they have been doing business all this while,... so possibly i think the owners have been fed up of the things going on... they have been legit all the time ... and that could be the only reason they have left the crypto space...

You can trade on Binance before without KYC, but Binance had no option than to make KYC mandatory. Yet, Binance remain as the exchange with the highest trading volume. Although, some people that are concerned about KYC left the exchange at the time. Jeremias Kangas founded Localbitcoins in mid 2012. 2022 crypto winter wasn't the first, that makes your post valid, but regardless of what happened, it is still about the survival of the fittest, but not necessarily about KYC as well if other things has been in place. Although, I am not disputing the fact that KYC could have been the reason for the start of Localbitcoins collapse.

Blaming the crypto winter.... great job!

The truth is that they started to die when they were forced to introduce KYC rules.
Since it was one of the reasons people traded there, they moved to another place
The same goes for localcrypto and a regulatory development that can take place when your company grow up.

It's called the Darwin's theory. Only the best survives  

After localcryptos now localbitcoins, that's sad to hear, most p2p users need to find and new platform where to trade well at least new reputed one. Although LBC become shitty due its KYC regulation it will not replace how reputed the site is. Now i hope more users will embrace bisq and hodl hodl for p2p purposes.

Here's the direct link of the closure anouncement^[1]

[1] https://localbitcoins.com/service_closure/

So today we have a news that localbitcoins.com is shutting down

Source https://decrypt.co/120933/localbitcoins-shut-down-10-years-operation

Now people are in dilemma that how they can continue their trading, as localbitcoins is one of the exchange which set a benchmark in crypto space,

So i just wanted to tell you that you guys can use/try coinbaazar.com , which is indeed there and is one of the most reliable and secure crypto marketplace in the world.

Before pouring your comments i would really recommend please take a look at it ...

https://coinbaazar.com

Bitcoin Miami22 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEcKE6DzwvE&t=203s

https://twitter.com/coin_baazar



you can always DYOR...