Bitcoin Forum

you can buy btc now with a lot cheaper and quicker ways!
the cryptocurrency liqutity all over the world been improved a lot so now you can exchnge crypto just with ur bank card

how is this possible that localbitcoins still have customers?  ::)

Localbitcoin still have customers because some people are very acquainted with the exchange, users privacy has been reduced significantly with their strict kyc that was implemented on the site, now it is like even using credit cards to buy and sell bitcoin if talking about kyc. Like me, I do not think localbitcoins should even be used if privacy is of concern now, I prefer HoldHold and mycelium local traders.

Localbitcoins is famous. There was perhaps even a time when LBC is the number one site for P2P exchanges. So even if the policies of the site have changed greatly the loyal customers and those who have already trusted the site and became comfortable with it remained there. But if you are after privacy, you would really end up leaving the site you already learned to appreciate over the years. And rightly so.

What's surprising about localbitcoins? they have been existing and one of the most accessible places to trade bitcoins. Don't be surprised as if you're thinking that they'll ever be phased out just because you have thought so. But in case you have missed this. Read the article.
(https://decrypt.co/44902/russia-blocks-p2p-crypto-exchange-localbitcoins)

It is illegal in some countries to buy/sell bitcoin. Some banks bans accounts that try to transfer to crypto exchanges or block transfers. For them localbitcoins is the only place to find seller/buyer.

You are also able to buy/sell without KYC, and without any trace. Anonymity is a tier 1 thing for some.

Some people prefer to buy/sell bitcoin through peer-to-peer platforms(such as LocalBitcoins) for privacy purposes, for some reasons like preventing your local bank from knowing that you're an active buyer/seller of bitcoin or something similar.

it comes down more to the point that the big excangers would prefer traders would use stable coins with them and every buy and sell order will have impact on cryptocurrecny prices.

by trading localbitcoins its likely otc type of exchnger and tradign there it does not have impact over the global market price.

That's in the past. Just last year, LBC has already deprived a good deal of privacy from its users when they started implementing KYC/AML. That is why the services of Bisq and Hodl Hodl have become more popular. There's probably a lot of migrations that happened from LBC to either of the two alternatives mentioned.

That is totally understandable because most of the customers of LBC must have privacy in their minds as the primary factor for choosing them. And now that they have removed it with the KYC/AML implementation, it is just logical that people would just look for other sites.

In countries where cryptocurrency is illegal, people have to go to direct tradings with trusted people in their communities as same as in the forum. The trusted people will not go first. Then, P2P marketplaces are one of best options for locals.

In my nation, people can choose Remitano (https://remitano.com/btc/vn), Paxful (https://paxful.com/) or Bitcoinvn.io (https://www.bitcoinvn.io/mua?crypto=BTC). There are a few others but they are smaller.

It is wrong. If you have to open account on P2P marketplaces, and have to leave your bank details in trade chat, you don't have anonymous trades. Another contributor to destroy your privacy and anonymity is KYC.

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What you said is true when people believe they will be totally safe on P2P marketplaces. In fact, it is not correct all the time especially in nations where buying/ selling bitcoin or cryptocurrency are illegal.

In such nations, if you have trade with a payment method is bank transfer and the trade partner has bad flow of money (from money laundering, ie.) when the victims of those guys report issues to local police, and police steps in, you will get troubles. Police simply contact you and retrieve fiat money for the victims. Bitcoin trading is illegal so you don't have rights to ask for refund in BTC. You will lose your BTC and you will never want to get troubles with police.

On P2P marketplaces, choosing good trade partners is the most important skill.

You're right. But buying and selling bitcoin on P2P platforms in a country where bitcoin is illegal is very different with using P2P platforms for simply just wanting more privacy(in contrast to using the typical Coinbase-like exchange).

So you are saying some people use it to break the laws? If it is illegal in their country, then they should not buy or use crypto currencies. The risks aren't worth it at all. There are chances that you will get caught eventually. After you buy bitcoin, at one point you might want to convert it to fiat, but there is no way you can use your banks to transfer those money you get after selling your coins (unless you plan to receive cash money and stash it somewhere).
As far as I know, they added KYC. And as long as you are connected to the internet you CAN be traced!

Maybe in some places it's still a good option. If we consider major exchanges, Bitcoin can be bought and sold with USD/EUR or a couple of other major fiat currencies. But most of us actually don't live in places where this kind of money can be used directly (without exchanging it for local fiat). So with localbitcoins one can pass the double exchange thing. As an alternative, there are local exchanges where you can exchange Bitcoin for local fiat on your debit card, but maybe such industries are more people at some places but almost absent at others. So localbitcoins is probably still popular at some places where there isn't much alternative.

It used to be a good place for people around here to deal with crypto using cash but their recent changes and policy and stricter stance have made every of the dealers disappear. With a large number of people being involved in crypto now, most of the trading happen through facebook and telegram groups as its nearly the same as local bitcoins with dealers with better rates and reviews getting most customers. There are still on real life OTCs here as the legal instance of the government is still not clear. Restaurants and shops putting on the bitcoin accepted here labels were forced to remove them. Localbitcoin is not as popular here as they used to be.

In some other places where there is limited or no crypto exchange ,the other way they can buy and sell crypto is to find a trusted person on their area to trade in. Many people still using localbitcoins but I personally don't want to use local bitcoins because it too risky ,unless you know the person you are going to trade. Much better to trade in some exchanges like binance and OkeX ,etc...More safer.

See there are certain things that we have to consider here , not everyone have choices and therefore local bitcoins is well known all around the world , therefore people just try and use their services instead of trying something new that might cause problems or might be a fraud.

But I have seen that even exchanges are giving better rates than local bitcoins now plus most of the times it's really hard to pin point where you would buy/sell because of so many choices and restrictions.

Some have very specific values that they can deal with but with exchanges it's really easy to sell/buy and people should use P2P trading and make a local community this is very easier to deal with and you do have more options there.

But government limitations and limitations with lack of information about fellow crypto users , some have to use local btc in the end.

Because not every country has good exchanges? And I still like to trade with the guys I found on localcryptos, who you can whatsapp and ask if they're available. With exchanges you just hope it comes through. With LBC it's escrow protected and you can repeat trades with people you trust, and actually, prices are very competitive.

People still prefer it till date ;D. Localbitcoin has played big role to cryptocurrency exchange. Many people have trusted on it around the world above some exchanges. This trust has been built a long time so they should still have followers

Why anyone should be surprised by localbitcoins? ??? This is one the oldest p2p markets where you can find people near by you to by or sell bitcoins. However, they had some changes and improved the website for a little bit still I prefer hodlhodl. Since I hate doing the KYC/AML in any condition, never tried that recently. In my own idea adding the KYC was the worst decision they made.

I'm as surprised as you are although not in the same context. I'm surprised because we now have far better P2P platforms (not mentioning names to avoid unnecessary promotions) that obviously don't force kyc verification on their users, why then is localbitcoin still having huge patronage and not the new platforms with high level of decentralized transaction. Considering the rumors are this P2P exchanges are use for privacy reasons.

Excluding the first mover advantage been in favor of localbitcoin, these results only shows majority of the community, careless about their privacy. Doubt my assumptions? then do some research and you'll observe more individuals will likely make use of this centralized sensitive information stealing platform to those that'll put their privacy above other benefits.

^ The reason is just that not all countries can able be to buy crypto by their own bank account because their government was probably banned bitcoin due to the law that they implemented. Most of the localbitcoin users are those in the country of the US which bitcoin has a restriction upon using on it since Trump and crypto are not friends and the localbitcoin existence that makes their community becomes larger. Nevertheless, it is probably localbitcoin has a terrible trading history but not all of them have the same experience.

Finding a good exchange in my country is no easy at all, with the help of local bitcoin it is a big help for some users, especially in the past years.

But this day I think these days there is some platform that is more reliable than this. Depending on your country I think in my country this platform is not gonna be used by a lot of users. Because you could pretty much do everything in some other platform available like buying, transaction, withdraw, convert, etc. But their are still some places here where this platform is preferred or some just want to try it for the experience.

Localbitcoins have customers because they are an old exchange system who operates in multiple countries, remember that poor countries don't have many options in exchanges, and localbitcoin is a good option because they don't operate with their own money they are a service who allow sellers and buyers to make the transactions.

We've got more and more number of trusted P2P Exchanges, but localbitcoins have kept its reputation strong in the market. For the strict KYC people started to avoid using localbitcoins. Even now it is the one contributing large volume of cryptocurrency to cash trading. There'll be difference in the price of bitcoin, compared to other exchanges, but due to its accessibility and different traders giving more transaction option makes people go for it.

It's still good to use especially if we use it before as it makes the transaction easier those times that there are no exchange to trust since most of them were just starting and those who still want escrowed service or much more a p2p transactions than exchanges will eventually still use it even there are plenty of exchanges available. It was just due to KYC that it's popularity lose like in other exchanges now. And we only opt to choose exchange now that already built their reputation too.

There is privacy and there are safety and convenience.
I've used localbitcoins in the past and never used bisq, you know why? Because I trust more a seller with 6 years of activity on localbitoins that they're so-called decentralized escrow and arbitrage solution on bisq. Simple! Besides how would I even protect my privacy, I already hand over my bank account, I already hand my name to a stranger, oh, they don't have a picture of my id, I feel safe now.
Oh, and if something goes wrong a stranger appointed by another stranger will get access to my bank account details and name, and this guy will decide if I'm wrong or not. Yup, the pinnacle of decentralization and safety

On localbitcoins I know the people that deal there I have their phone number, I can choose the bank, the transfer is instant, 2 minutes and they have the coins I have the money. Simple!

Unlike most exchanges, LBC offers different methods of payment (60+ method according to their FAQ) which makes it the favored platform for users from some countries, like mine, where it's impossible to use an international credit card or link your bank account to a foreign exchange (or in best case impose limits on internationl wire transfers).

Besides, it appears on the first results on google when searching for: " where to buy / sell botcoin".
So no wonder why people still use it.

I'm not using local bitcoins often but when i needed it .. i mean it's like the last few option to acquired your bitcoin as buying through an exchange are impossible like what most people talked above on how certain country completely ban bitcoin activity such as in india or pakistan , I've once had an experience in the past when I'm going to make a deal and the payment method i preferred is bitcoin and the receiver of this payment are Pakistani living in india and found out that is impossible to go through this deal until i look for localbitcoins solution and everything just went well.

It's not the most ideal to make a transaction for me , but given the fact that there's no option but using localbitcoins .. that is very helpful in some cases.

my first bitcoin buying method was localbitoins and coinbase those 2 was my very first experince on buying btc wth fiat currecny.

I have not used localbitcoin, I have taken a look at it to create an account and exchange bitcoin but I found it a bit tedious. They should take advantage of their fame to improve their platform and make it better user friendly.
A point in favor that I have noticed that the traders handle a good price of Bitcoin, the fair neither more nor less.

Why not? After all localbitcoins is one of the best exchanges before not until they implement the KYC system.

However, like other centralized exchange localbitcoins had good and user friendly interface. The market volume of this exchange also landed on top list of coinmarketcap which means that there are many investors using the exchange.

LocalBitcoins is a very old popular P2P exchange to trade BTC. And the pros and cons may help you to know why there are people who like and dislike using Localbitcoins:

Pros
1. Available worldwide, excluding USA Clients.
It seems that the P2P LocalBitcoins may become the only way to trade BTC in some countries where they have no local exchange.

2. A private ways to trade bitcoin
This is P2P so that it is more private to buy or sell BTC in easy ways without any complicated mechanism

3. Various payment options
Localbitcoins allow you to choose a wide type of payment method, so it eases every user to do the transaction.
You may choose:


4. Fast transaction'
5. Transaction fees are reasonable

Cons
1. Scam probability
You may have to be more careful when doing the transaction on this platform because there probably are some scams. Th platform has good reputation, but not all users have it and maybe some of them are scammers. So, just watch out
2. Sometimes, the exchange rates are higher, depending on the transaction and payment method.

At least those can be cosnideration and you may also can add some more if any and miss here.

Source:
https://99bitcoins.com/bitcoin-exchanges/localbitcoins-review/
https://www.buybitcoinworldwide.com/exchanges/localbitcoins/

I agree with the fact that those risks must not be taken with the restriction of the use of crypto in a certain country. But it must not be a reason to justify some crypto enthusiasts to keep engaging with the crypto despite its prohibition in their local country. Have you been on a country where crypto had been an issue suddenly after you've engaged to it? I guess not. Some users in here are the first to adopt crypto in their life then just suddenly being restricted by their country due to the thought of 'crypto being a huge risk of scam' or 'crypto being a threat to their local banks'. Hence, it is not always a risk they've taken. Its the risks they've received in which is just an outcome.

I agree that in such case they should not do this but it doesn't change the fact that some may want to. It it's worth it or not it depends on the penalty and amount that you want to buy/sell and the reason (f.e. hyperinflation in your country). If penalty is small fine than it might be worth it.


Damn... didn't know about KYC. This actually partially renders the use of localbitcoins meaningless
According to trace - no if you know what you are doing. VPN and Tor are made for this.

Some people are afraid of KYC more than high fees.

main reason why KYC is there becouse that to verify that money come from the same person the bitcoin sellers been used before in many scams.
KYC main purpose is to protect the btc sellers first !!

The last time I used Localbitcoins was sometime in 2018. Here in India, it is impossible to use Localbitcoins. I applied for KYC verification many times, but my application was rejected. I sent all the required documents to the LBC team, and then tried to verify my identity using the webcam. But they always rejected my verification when I was using the webcam. After trying 2-3 times, I gave up.

I am also surprised. I stopped using them long ago when they started asking for KYC. That was enough for me. I was very surprised that you could at one stage trade bitcoin to cash in person there but that too changed.
I definitely wouldn't recommend trading there. It is a horrible pain to wait for someone to talk to and engage the trade then wait. Rather just use your local exchange that does fiat too. I've never had a problem and it is much much easier.

For P2P trades, the Localbitcoins is a second to none option for me. I am sure many other crypto users still use the Localbitcoins for different purposes, the high commissions let the users make money by taking advantage of high fees compared to alternative exchanges. If there is no available debit card for purchasing crypto, then Localbitcoins will be my suggestion in my country. If anyone here has used the Aximetria app, I suggest checking its similar feature to Localbitcoins. The Aximetria users can receive/send BTC with cash, there is a function for this: Cash collector

No matter if LocalBitcoins still exist, I don't use their services to buy and sell bitcoin. I still prefer to use my existing sellers to help me to convert my bitcoin into fiat. I don't want to fill KYC on that site because I don't know much about LocalBitcoins now. But if people can accept the KYC on their site, I think they can still use LocalBitcoins to buy and sell bitcoin.

Yes but localbotcoins not cheap way

localbitcoin charges the highest fees , they even charge for incoming transactions , now a days there are other p2p exchanges , with more features, lowest transaction fees , support for users, flexible kyc method, payment methods and security .....one of them is coinbaazar.com

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/coinbaazar-latest-player-cryptocurrency-market-094943185.html (https://uk.news.yahoo.com/coinbaazar-latest-player-cryptocurrency-market-094943185.html)


read this once to get yourself updated

Localbitcoins is one of the famous site ever in the world of bitcoin's exchanging.
Actually, the government is against the bitcoin, and they never allowed their banks to exchange bitcoins with fiat. That's why people move to LocalBitcoins and have huge measures of clients.
I can not exchange bitcoin from my banks, so I use this site and recommend others too.

Can anyone explain Why people are use localbtc If there is so high fees and service %?
What rational Reason You need that service so badly that You pay highest money for money?

It can be used by people who can't have an account at a normal Bitcoin exchange for some reason (KYC failed, country not supported, banks threatening to close their account if they have any transfers to/from exchanges, etc.), and it allows for a lot more payment methods. Otherwise it doesn't make any sense ever since they banned in-person cash trades and started requiring of every user to pass through KYC (and one that can get pretty invasive, too).

Haven't you read all the answers provided in countless threads before? I sell at Localbitcoins regularly enough, not so much in euros but in a southeast asian local currency. Why? How does sells that send you bank transfers within 1 minute sound like (we have a variety of instant cash transfer methods). I can definitely sell at a higher price than market too, I just need to be patient. And it's still cheaper for most people to buy from me at my price than if using an exchange with higher spreads. It makes sense if people trust traders with years of feedback more than exchanges, plus the protection of escrow and arbitration -- for those not just ready to make the plunge into non-custodial p2p like bisq.

It's really strange that Localbitcoins still has any customer, the only good thing about localbitcoins was that you could P2P trade Bitcoin without having to go through KYC process, and anyone would chose seller/buyer only based on their trading history and reputation.

Nowadays if you don't have problem with going through KYC then you can just use Binance or other known exchanges which also have way more features which makes localbitcoins almost useless, unless for some reason you trust Localbitcoins more than Binance or similar exchanges/trading platforms.

This is the thing people need to understand, localbitcoins in most cases is faster than anything and the older players in the game that used it for years have built trust relations you will never achieve with a platform, that's why the volume on LB is keeping almost constant (https://coin.dance/volume/localbitcoins) in terms of $, it has its own type of clients who used this platform for years and will continue to do so.


Useless?
I can select a trader I've known for 4 years and has done thousands of trades, give him my bank account and in a matter of minutes I have the money in my bank account as here transfers between accounts in the same bank are instant, it's faster than going to an ATM, and no exchange will ever be able to complete.
And features? What features do I need? I want to exchange my coins for fiat, that's what I want and I couldn't care one bit about margins, defi, investment or any other crap and I will always choose the one that has worked flawlessly for years.

Sometimes I think a lot of the people here have never truly delved into the Bitcoin economy. They've never used a wallet properly. Never actually bought or sold anything for Bitcoin. Just speculated and traded on CEXs.

That's why it doesn't make sense to them. And they've drank up the CEX or defi kool-aid about "easier cheaper faster 100%APY". So using actual p2p and interacting with other people, other Bitcoin traders? They can't imagine it.

Because this P2P exchanger has many withdrawal methods

LocalBitcoins (and others who charge fees) won't be able to sustain the market for too long anymore :) Not to offend them or someone related to localBTC, but yesterday we launched our own BTC P2P market (see the press release here: NewsBTC (https://www.newsbtc.com/press-releases/as-exchange-launches-peer-to-peer-trading-of-spot-bitcoin-with-zero-trading-and-network-fees/)) with 0.00% trading fees, 0.00% deposit fees, 0.00% withdrawal fees. Forever, and for everyone. KYC is optional without any limits. And we are looking forward to adding more cryptocurrencies in this year for P2P trading with 0.00% fees.

Oh, and the last point, we pay for your Bitcoin network fees (yes, our of our own pocket; yes, not a scam - we explained in our Telegram chat how we make money (not from this P2P); yes, it's safe and secure).

And few links for your reference:
1) Here you can see how much you are losing with those P2P fees usually: https://as.exchange/feecalculator
2) Here you can register for our BTC P2P: https://as.exchange/BitcoinZeroFee

And if any of you guys will have any comments, feedback, questions, recommendations, or just anything, always feel free to reach out to us.