Bitcoin Forum

What are the pros and cons of buying bitcoins in person in a physical meet up as opposed to using an exchange.

Pro -> Anonymity. Well you have to show your face, but not your POR and bank account details.
Con -> Robbery risk. It happend in the past and it will happen again. If you meet with someone in person you might get lured into a trap, hit on the head and have your money and/or coins stolen.

An exchange might rob you as well, but at least you dont get hit on the head.

You get to actually physically meet somebody who's interested in Bitcoin?  Maybe you sit down with them and have a coffee... discuss your experiences with BTC... share stories... maybe you negotiate a different price with them... heck, maybe your local seller is the man/woman of your dreams and when you two meet up sparks fly.

You gonna find the love of your life by posting an order on an exchange? :P

This has always confused me. If you buy coins from an exchange, won't the exchange link your Bitcoin address with your ID and therefore track every transaction thereafter? In effect, can't exchanges completely de-anonymise transactions if it starts from them?

There are differences in exchanges. For example, if you use Coinbase which is very legal and legitimate they will ask for all your identity information. If they suspect any connection to anything illegal with your account you are at risk of account being disabled and your info turned over to authorities, even if you didn't do anything, maybe you were just curious and visited some sites that sold illegal goods.

Alternatively you can use an established exchange like BTC-e.com. They are one of the oldest Bitcoin exchanges, but since they operate anonymously (the govt doesn't really know who they are) they can relax rules about how much info they collect and what they by law must track or report.

If you buy in person of course that's a different story. You don't give any identification, but you should still be careful not to get robbed. Use a very public place and meet inside, like a Starbucks so if you yell Help the person can't easily escape. There was a guy that met in a public place, but it was outside so he got robbed and the thief just ran away.

So there appears to be a scale between anonymity and security. There is Coinbase on the one hand with high security and then physical meetups with high anonymity.

Yes, a neat thing about Bitcoin is people can use it however they want.

For example, I have no interest in using or selling drugs, but that's one of the biggest markets for Bitcoin because people can actually do it in a much safer way than meeting in some dark alley. So even though I don't use Bitcoin for that I don't necessarily want to give Coinbase access to everything I do with my bitcoins, because it's none of their business, even if it's totally legal. I have a coinbase account, but it's just for buying bitcoin conveniently. If I then want to use bitcoins to gamble for example I probably would send those coins from coinbase to some other site, like an exchange, then withdraw those coins to another exchange then maybe one of my other wallets like with blockchain.info. That way Coinbase can't accurately track where I sent the coins I bought from them. Hope that makes sense.

Find an ATM with realistic fees. Best of both worlds. There are some out there that have less of a premium than localbitcoins.

you may also end to be arrested as it has happened with burst, if police caught you off guard, there are i think some spy searching for those guys doing trading in RL

anyway in the usa is more severe, in other country you should do face to face trade more easily with less worry

some atm's require you walk through a very annoying verification process. and beside that, you don't know what or who is saving your data.

Arrested? No, they would need to establish that I am a flight risk (which I am not). Besides the fact that I did not break any laws I find the idea hilarious that the police is waiting at a local McDonalds to catch some bitcoin traders.

The main problem of online is that you move money in banks and that leaves a path but it is easy and you can do from your home
The point of doing it phisicaly is anonimity,but it is most difficult and less comfortable

Yup. It's a lottery. Some require you to smear your glans across the screen, others don't give a shit who or what you are. That's what you need to research.

Technically if in US you could be seen as money launder.   But they don't seem to enforce this much on individuals.  They go for the exchanges it seems.

Biggest time was around silk road take down they did go after people on money laundering.  Look up Charlie Shrem, he did get some serious trouble for what they considered money laundering.

Nope. If you tell me you got the bitcoin by hacking or selling drugs, Ill just get a coffee and head out. Deal is off. Besides 10k USD is a bit out of my range.


https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1957


http://s3.amazonaws.com/rapgenius/filepicker%2FsgEhQPYIS5eJCUX7ynid_Apples-and-Oranges.png

One runs a big company and failed to report substantial transactions that knowingly came from drugs deals, the other is just two people meeting for a private exchange of a reasonable small amount. I would think that in person exchanges rarely involve over 10k USD or the regional equivalent.

It's perfectly legal for individuals to buy bitcoins from other individuals. Just like it's legal for me to meet you and sell some old newspapers, or jewelry, or whatever. The problem comes up when people start talking about anything illegal. If you meet somebody and they say anything illegal just say no thank you and call off the deal.

Also, if you're doing small amounts it's not a big deal. If you're doing high amounts, like over say $5-10K, especially if you do this repeatedly then yes that could be a concern.



Charlie Shrem ran a business that exchanged bitcoins for fiat currency without proper licenses, and also when knowing they were likely to be used on the Silk Road drug marketplace. That's a no no.

All current BTMs (as far as I can tell) require some sort of extended verification.  localbitcoins and current bitcoin ATMs all have pretty high fees and value bitcoin at a lower price when they buy, and at a higher price when they sell.  Physical meetups - other than what the other users mentioned, you also get to meet some pretty cool bitcoin people. 

Can you cite your source for small amounts are always ok?  Because I don't read it that way.  If you are in US and did a trade on localbitcoins from BTC to USD, technically you could be charged with laundering depending on location.  It depends on local and state laws aswell - http://www.coindesk.com/will-floridas-money-laundering-laws-apply-bitcoin/

Will you get charged?  No... chances are they are looking for the big fish such as Charlie Shrem was.

Can you guys explain to me a standard "protocol" for a physical meetup. As in, do you pay in cash? Do you offer the cash first and then undergo the Bitcoin transaction? Basically how do you actually go about the exchange?

You first post in Currency Exchange sub-forum (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=53.0) or in LocalBitcoins (popular) (https://localbitcoins.com/) and will meet up at a mutually agreed place.

Exchanging cash or Bitcoin first depends on the users. Some send Bitcoin first and some give cash first.

I have not done it personally.  But I would suggest meeting in a public place with internet Starbucks, Mc Donalds,  etc etc(even better if your phone has wifi capability that can be used with laptop to connect to) .   I pick these places as you could stay there a bit.  You will be waiting for at least one conformation, unless buyer want's more.

But as always with something of value be careful. Make sure not to do anything like bring all your BTC, leave cold storage at home.  Also I would invest in a pen that shows if cash is fake.  

It's better to do the deal in a public but not too crowded place. The place you suggested will be far less crowded and it will be hard for you to escape if trader or his/her acquaintances/friends attack you. A building or room with less people is dangerous. You should also make sure distance between you and trader is at least far enough for him not able to snatch anything from you or attack you. Distance of a common hotel/coffee shop table is probably enough.


Waiting for 1 confirmation isn't really needed but 10 minutes is enough for a good talk. ;)


I highly recommend to send Bitcoins you are selling to a new address and come only with that.


For INR, there are few ways to check without counterfeit detector pen but I don't know about other currencies. Still a counterfeit detector is a good choice.

To avoid possible risks, I suggest you to trade with trusted people.

These exchanges are hectic my man, apart from a anal probe, they have all my other information. ^Sob^
At a meetup, I can talk to someone and find out more about them. I always bring a friend for safety and they normally double as a witness.
I love people, and I have met incredible characters at these meetups. <From Fans to Fanatics>

Very nice suggestions added on to it.  Well done.

One thing I should have suggested  is encryption.  Assuming you have the btc on computer and not online, make sure you encrypt or 2FA.  Makes where if they did grab the laptop they would not get the btc at least.

I agree meeting in person can be great. I've met up at Starbucks and had great conversation after the trade, and also did a Satoshi Square gathering which was cool too (and at night). Remember though that BTC-e doesn't require anything other than an email to set up an account.

BTC-e requires verification only if you are depositing from a bank account. If the exchange is reputable, you would most probably have to verify your account at some point of time. Localbitcoins is the only way to be truly anonymous to get Bitcoins via bank deposits.

I've never sold anything, I'm a perma hodler (until moon time).
I think if I was going to sell though I'd look into a physical, face to face meet up.
I don't really like the thought of signing up to an exchange with my card details etc.
I'm confident enough to look after myself in a face to face meet up.
I'm not a typical tech nerd so I'd be ok.

If they're real pros there'll be snipers and tranquiliser darts. You'd probably want to arrive at least three days before to scout out the city and neutralise threats and wear an armoured cardigan on the day.

I didn't even know you could deposit at BTC-e from a bank account, but I haven't used them in  a long time :)

BTC-e is not going ot be my first choice.  A lot of it depends on what country you are from.

In my case it's US so I think coinbase is a great option.

You can indeed but you have to dick around with all sorts of third party money transfer places that require extra verification and some hefty fees. That would be my last choice to deposit money with. It's enough of a grind waiting for one straightforward bank wire to go through.

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