Bitcoin Forum

What happened to local bitcoin trading site..do to the sudden implementation of KYC procedure regular traders getting shocked with the limitation of LBC trading... already we facing various issues from government sides, then the sudden KYC implementation gives negativity so the traders are decreases day by day. Finally the KYC procedure not user friendly, If we produce the right id proofs then also getting rejected. If it continues we dont no what happen to LBC next?

Not a surprising thing and sooner or later most exchangers would imply this KYC thing which theres nothing we can do anything about it but to comply
since we are using up their service.Finding new one? You cant yet you would stick out to the best ones therefore you dont have any choice but deal with it.
You would risk on sending out info than on using up unknown platforms.

according to them:


LocalBitcoin Loses Traders After Cash Trading Ban: 'Not Very Local' (https://cointelegraph.com/news/localbitcoin-loses-traders-after-cash-trading-ban-not-very-local)

they have no choice, they should ask their clients to do KYC


yes, now that we are facing governments

Possible it was as a result of complying with government regulations and also to reduce the high rate of scam on the exchange, it triggered the implemention of security measures to at least reduce the effect as scam general can't be eliminated but it can be reduced. Currently the KYC feature is the easiest way to achieving that goal (reducing the rate of scam) that's why it's service has to be employed. We have other alternative P2P exchange that don't require kyc you can used them if you're not comfortable with using Localbitcoin exchange.

Now traders searching for decentralised otc platforms works in escrow method without doing KYC.

From what we are seeing happening now every exchange especially the local one are developing terms and conditions that will allow them to do business under the government laws. I also believe that KYC is one of the ways to prevent scamming, evil people from using the exchange and comply with the government's agencies.

What are you talking about? I myself is still able to trade on LBC despite the fact that I haven't even completed Tier 0 verification yet. Is it something that is specifically on your end where you've exceeded their unspoken threshold?

As far as I know though, you're still able to trade anonymously at least until September, where their tiered verification system will actually come into play.

But the decision to go with extended KYC isn't something that has surprised anyone, in my opinion. It was clear to begin with that they were going to have to start doing this sooner rather than later, with EU (where they are located) regulations tightening as well as G20 talks of global regulations for BTC. Paxful and others will most likely follow suit as a matter of time.

As far as I know, all centralized local exchange are really requiring their clients to submit KYC. And I don't see any wrong with it, unless if the client is using dummy or you are hiding your real identity, well if that's the case there is a problem for Him/Her to submit KYC. And its normal for centralized based system to implement this KYC to prevent scammer and to protect their users too.

I'm using the same id with binance and bittrex exchanges they accepted ...but it is very difficult to do kyc with LBC...its not user friendly

Why do you think this is surprising? I post a topic about it ^[1] several months ago?
This platform is in the European Union and therefore operates in accordance with the restrictions imposed by the EU (thus anti-money laundering laws.)
They set a soft accountting system of imposing KYC restrictions where they are imposed based on accounts levels.
Read more ----> https://localbitcoins.com/blog/aml-features-update/

[1] localbitcoins | AML regulation (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5125018.msg50332375#msg50332375)

When i start trade with Bittrex there is no KYC there and now you have to verify your self before start trading otherwise you are not eligible for trade. And the most important thing is many crypto exchange want now KYC and there is no doubt upcoming exchange also will want KYC. They are doing this many reason and one of the main reason is security. We can't do nothing about it. Just deal with it.

 I think it's been established that protection from fraud and losses due to illegal funds and transaction are the two major issues that KYC is aspiring to solve. But it may also deter participants who are moving away from fiat into cryptocurrency simply because of it's promise to protect privacy and provide ease of transaction. Some folks might see this implementation as a watering down of cryptocurrency's main feature, decentralization and anonymization. :-\ :-\ ::)

Regulatory pressures from all fronts, first and foremost. Even though their platform have waned in volume over the years through the introduction and rise in popularity of centralized exchanges, they still want to keep their business afloat and mind you, in the Asia region they are still getting a pretty nifty customer base all in all. Personally I wasn't so shocked that LBC would be asking more KYC information than it used to in the past because I am somewhat updated in the regulatory status of crypto in some countries, and it's their only way to continue doing business with us.

With time, we just want to accept this decision. Because I am sure there will be more exchanges that will apply KYC to its users. So if we still want to trade, then we have to obey the rules. If we are afraid to do KYC, it is better to make sure we use good and responsible exchanges. Now we are just waiting for time, when this regulation will be implemented in all exchanges. btw actually I also don't want regulations like this, but I can't do anything, I'm just a trader who needs an exchange.

I guess you are new to the system because this is not the first time that Local exchange sites will be requesting for KYC, ever since the whole spirit of KYC came on them all, virtually everyone has been requesting for KYC to the extent that even scammers too are requesting for KYC.

Projects are also requesting KYC from bounty hunters also, so this is what we are already used to and there is nothing we can absolutely do to curtail that for now till further notice. If you say traders are decreasing, how do you know that traders are decreasing because of KYC, because there is nowhere statistics is being generated for that, so I wonder where you got that idea from, if traders are reducing, then who are the people still pumping money into bitcoin then.

I think it is about governments and how much you want to go against them as well. I mean if the government you base your operations in wants your KYC and asks the company to ask for KYC in order to give it to them and then there is nothing the company can do.

What are you expecting them to do tell the government no? That would have big repercussions and they would finally raid the place to get all of the information themselves or close the company down. That is why if a government asks something like that they would have to apply it to their website and follow the rules, otherwise they would have to pay the penalty. These are not anarchy ridden countries we talk about, they are huge and they do not want money laundering to get easier in their nations as well so it is understandable.

It's just because of the moving from one country to the new country and kyc is about the country which they are going to be launch our place their new official Place to run their website. from the coming September local Bitcoin website need new verification system to be completed to continue trading on it and also it still has privacy for the low limit traders and it's good to to save them from involving in money laundering activities.

I don’t know why everyone is just so crazy about the KYC thing has if it is cryptocurrency that first introduced it, just because everyone wants to hide under decentralization does not mean some rules cannot be broken, this decentralization and the fight against KYC is what has made lots of people lost the money to scammers. Everyone just needs to understand that KYC is really a requirement by government for anything that has to do with money, and we have been doing tit with our traditional banks.

For those who are looking for jobs, do they know how many times they have even dropped their credentials with job recruiting agencies without collecting them back, and what have they don’t with them? So nothing serious about KYC and like you said, we just have to ensure that we give it to the right site.

You can't blame them too much. KYC was made mandatory by government across board and it didn't affect just the site
It is a centralized peer-to-peer exchange with a known office... so it is expected they would comply.

Have you tried decentralized peer-to-peer exchange like bisq? I think they do almost thesame thing without KYC.

I bet they got a paper saying this should be done from the government into which country they reside.
This is for their company to keep on going.

Well, they may lose some customers but it may strengthen their security or the security of those who trade here.
I do agree much with KYC for it loses the privacy of one human being.
But if you are doing a lot of transactions specially at that exchange then maybe it could be a good thing.

Anyways, you could go look out for more if you dont like the new rule.

You are correct buddy when there is centralized business they will obviously looks for KYC verification kind of things to exchange cryptocurrencies to cash via Bank or any other online payment mode for fiat.
In my experience I used to exchange all my photo currencies using localbitcoins.com.
I believe none of the payment processor exchanges working like localbitcoins they were really splendid.

Although KYC can't be use to check cheating when its not referral based, traders aren't afraid of any KYC per se but there's the tendencies of the company to sell out traders information to the government without the consent of the trader. Personally am not afraid of KYC because I have nothing to hide as a cryptocurrency enthusiasts and an investors.

Few months from now, we will be seeing and hearing many other big exchanges complying with the government regulations irrespective of either decentralized or centralized exchange platforms, but we should embrace it because it for the good of the industry. Some exchanges will be run as in form of darkweb, till then, let's embrace this offer from them.

Everything that involves bitcoin is somewhat prone to regulatory framework, and that's what happen to LBC. This is just part and parcel of crypto now, governments are really taking a stance and putting pressure to exchanges not just LBC but high tiered exchanges. LBC will continue its services as long as they comply. So it really boils down as to whether you would like to verify yourself and continue using their business.

I saw it coming. All Exchange are beginning to go the way of kyc. Even though we're not happy with it, we have no choice. It has huge volume and so much traders there. They lost funds of recent so they asked for it. Looks like our documents will be everywhere in the next 1 year.

Yes, I think so too, exchanges that apply KYC will not lose their members just like that, because now almost all exchanges apply KYC for security. and in fact most crypto users don't mind it, provided that the exchange can also be trusted.

With this development, we are expecting that they are fully complying with the laws mandated for crypto exchanges, right? There's one benefit in this scenario. Traders or crypto users will be confident that they are dealing with legit traders as well. It is like a protection also for them.

when the technology develops the problems also develops so that they are protecting their customers to be more safe and secured that's why I think they prefer to accept the KYC details before any transactions I think it will be a good implementation for the future also.

The more crypto grows, the more it becomes stricter a little in its operation, and even if such user does not like the issue of the KYC, he has no choice than to abide by it, except he wants to leave the cryptocurrency space completely, because if you take a look at all the companies., all the project s and all the exchanges we have.

They virtually do not joke with that policy and every one of them has implemented it, so even if you run from one exchange, you will definitely meet another exchange, that is how kyc has gone far to the extent of hunters doing kyc too lol. What I have only seen many people advise about this is that we need to just ensure we comply with KYC on a site that will protect the identity and keep the data collected secret as promised.

I though that KYC isn't mandatory in Localbitcoins.It is mandatory only if you want to post buy/sell listings and for lifting some selling limits,AFAIK.
The expansion of KYC policies is something normal for the bigger crypto platforms.They all know want to follow the new crypto regulations in order to keep their business.We have no choice,except verifying our identity on such marketplaces.

Their new KYC implementation will work from September 2019 and still no KYC for smallest limits so people who don't want to complete their KYC an use the low tier option but its mandatory when they pass their low tier limit.I think 20,000 euro will be allowed per year without completing any documents.

Well what maybe  their mode of identify who or who is not from their locality.
A know your customer process would not hurt any one
I would appreciate it if the reason for the need for Kyc is of good and is safe for those who want to apply

Traders decreasing from where? How can that happen because of KYC.

Government regulations is the main reasons why this happened, and it's expected that more trading sites on your locals will be soon implementing this. This is also the big factor why traders nowadays is facing difficulties, and also a reason for them to become hesitant on trading cryptocurrency.

So they stopped the trading in cash first and now they are imposing KYC to everybody ?  ??? WOW It's a blow to Bitcoin.
Localbitcoins allowed to be free with your Bitcoins and to not depend on banks, but now it's just a useless platform.
I hope one alternative will quickly take its place and replace it as lead local exchange.

The authorities are putting pressure on them to comply with AML rules and regulations if not they will need to migrate to other countries where there lenient and if not they will force them to shut the site completely. I have not traded in LBC for sometime now and i am not sure about their policies now but if they are not friendly with the customers then they are bound to loose the customers as there are other ways to make transaction and Paxful is a good alternative.

I don't understand why they don't just sell LocalBitcoins if they don't want to go to a more crypto-friendly country themselves. I'm sure many companies in the business of cryptocurrencies would be interested by this opportunity. LBC is the leader for local exchanges and most of people only knows and relies on it, so by doing that they are hurting bitcoin and bitcoiners from many places in the world.

I think the local bitcoin trading site wants to know who their customer and they want to know from where the money that is deposited to their website. They want to prevent the money laundering that happens in many places, and besides that, I think the government has watched them so they cannot risk their business by not doing that. Maybe they are bond with the regulation from the government, so they need to obey the rule if they want to continue the business.

When I created my account on LBC in the year 2017 they asked me to verify my account with government Identity and still they have same but different limits.We can trade upto $20K per years when we did address verification but if you are the person to trade more then you need to prove some income proof as well.

I dint think so, It is just based on assumption that we think KYC is decreasing the number of users day by day, who caress about KYC from a system that is given one money, is just like me looking for a job now and they ask for KYC, do you think I would reject it, no I won’t do that, I will only ensure that the job is a genuine one.

Some months back, I could hear the sound of many people crying out loud for regulation, if cryptocurrency was to be regulated, do you know that one of the most in the regulation would be KYC, so I really don’t see why we should have issue with it. KYC is something that is beyond our control and there is no amounts of negativity we speak about it that will change it from being required because it is a government own policy.

They started this way back in 2018, though implementing a limited funds transaction for unverified accounts but came fully lately.
Left for them, they probably won't have done have asked for KYC since they know that is what attracted their customers but since the interference of General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which is a European Union decree on data protection and privacy and the other regulation from Finland they had to obey. It is either this or the pressure to shut down  their establishment will always be mounted on them.

This is the exact reason why they are asking for KYC to trade on their website still people got less than one month to submit their KYC or else they can't trade on their LBC account.

The policy is not the problem, but what the sites receiving the information do with the data is what gives people head ache, you get data from people free and then you monetize the data behind them without their knowledge and permission, so if there is going to be any regulations also, there should be a regulation strictly stopping these companies from selling or abusing the data.

I am aware that they have one in place already which is why Facebook was slammed some charges of recent for violating people’s data, but that was just money charge which to me is not a punishment because the company has the money, but they need to make it a little stricter by making defaulters go to jail, and maybe if they have such regulation in place, people would trust KYC at all time.

the policy of requiring a kyc is always a problem . reputable sites like localbitcoins are legit and i dont think that they will use or sell thier users data just to earn a profit because thier platform is already famous and they are already earning lots of money with it  . anyone knows what happened to fb about selling peoples data , so i guess others company learned a lesson from that that selling data's are illegal and have a big penalties  .

With the new kyc hack at the binance front (I think it wasn't binance but still we know something got hacked) we can clearly see that KYC is not as safe as people think it is. I mean I have never given my KYC except one website that I am sure even hackers wouldn't mind and wouldn't care to hack, aside from that I am very anti-kyc. If the website allows me to do 2 btc moves without kyc than I would stay under 2 (not as an option actually, because I do not have 2 btc :D but even if I did I would stay under).

KYC is really just something super dangerous and risky that we try to do and people are not realizing how dangerous it is when trying, yeah you may end up using this good website in the end but at what cost? You are giving your identity to someone else for a chance to be on binance, makes no sense to me.

The government has putting a lot of pressure, everything that involves crypto in general including LBC. And to be fair, there are a lot of exchange platforms who succumbs before LBC does. And in the next coming years, authorities will be more aggressive and will push for KYC implementation.

I don't think it will give negativity though, well it depends on how you look at it, lots of pros and cons. However, if this is one way to really protect us traders then it will be the best solution, win-win for us.

One question I usually do ask that I have not gotten an answer to is what the data that is being sold is for, those who are buying it, what exactly do they use the data for, because all I have been hearing people accused these sites for is selling of data, I would like to know who are the people buying this data and what could they possibly be using those data for.

In my country, I know that people do sell phone numbers, I mean telecommunication companies, they sell numbers to people that needs it for marketing purpose. Today, I heard that Binance database was hacked into to seal data, and I wonder why the hacker went for the data and not the money, which means the data are worth much more that the money that they have on the exchange wallets.

Apparently LocalBitcoins followed the requirements of the regulator and this is a necessary measure. KYC procedure is being introduced everywhere. In addition, as noted above, KYC can help reduce fraud, which is in the interest of honest users.

This is not surprising at all. When decentralized exchange like IDAX planning to ask KYC, So, it is normal for local bitcoin trading sites. I am not sure, but after Trump's tweet about cryptocurrency, most of the trading sites are implementing KYC, and we have nothing to do except following their terms!

Are you people sure if LBC is asking for KYC? I just logged in and checked but there is no pop up like thing for KYC. I am able to do transactions same as earlier. Perhaps KYC procedure may be for some specific countries. If Local Bitcoin is asking for it, there may be some regulatory pressure from local govt.
Local Bitcoin is a trusted website, I do not think there is any issue doing KYC there but there may be govt interference in all the transactions being carried out there and that will a matter of worry for sure.

You won't see any warning if you didn't cross the limits of lower tier,but you can check the verification status under your profile to know the new tier verification.It is for everyone and it is not yet implemented,you need to complete before September because I think from September one is going to be the new tier verification process gets implemented.

The reason for which government is pushing for kyc from these exchanges is already showing, it is just a way for them to be able to regulate the cryptocurrency market and not because they want any form of protection for us. Since, cryptocurrency has its anonymous nature that makes it difficult for transactions to be visible to them, they already know that the easiest way would be for them to go through these exchanges since virtually everyone must transaction on the exchanges.

Therefore, kyc become the only tool for them to identify those that are using cryptocurrency so that they can be tax and I read that majority of these government now are beginning to draft some policy on who crypto currency tax covers and whom it does not.

We can't blame them as they are just following the government mandate per regulation policy in which every crypto users of every exchange should submit to KYC procedure or face the consequence. For me there is nothing wrong with the KYC as long as the exchanges are legit and that we are legit person too.