Bitcoin Forum

I believe  the topic speaks volume for itself as it is already self explanatory.
This question was born out of a real life experience  where a petty trader was publicly  harassed by some uniformed security  personnels claiming  to be some police  officers and after some investigations the security  personnels claimed that the woman aided some criminal  activities  as well as some internet fraud simply because she made her private exchanges public and the government as some point also frowns  at the use of bitcoin  in my country.

Now my worries is that, this singular act has driven alot of fear to some low key bitcoin holders in my neighborhood  even myself and there are shops I hope in town that operate physical  exchanges.

~Do you think those dealers are safe?
~And what's the fate  of physical  cryptocurrency exchanges(r) in your country?

Let's  discuss

In as much as the best form of coin exchange or conversion to fiat and vice versa is physical since this will limit or minimize the risk of scam faced when using online platforms. I still think that in countries where bitcoin or cryptocurrency at large are frown at, one should engage in bitcoin discreetly.

This is also why I don’t agree with shops or businesses publicly making bitcoin a payment option in countries like this, because Just like this case scenario once the government comes hunting for those who violate the law you will be first to be napped.

I have never used a physical exchange so I don't have useful feedback to contribute to the topic. But if you are worried about your security, try to exchange amounts where you don't have to show an ID or fill in paperwork that leave a trail that could be used against you. Shops like that usually have a threshold where no KYC is required. If you want to exchange more, you can always go in twice, use several different shops in town, or have a friend help you out and exchange a bit in your name.

I'm just trying to answer the point above. for current conditions, I use a platform that already has legality in my country. For now, the deposit process and WD are still safe, although there is a bit of anxiety, too, seeing the recent news about Binence being sued by the SEC, whether it will affect the platform I use. Yes. that's all possible from me.

I don't support the use of physical exchange or black market shops this has more negative effect of the coin holder as the risk of getting attacked is high since most people will know when you make use of such exchange and even the police as mentioned can keep an eye on your activities once their picked your presence is such exchange shops.
And there is no way to compare online exchange to physical exchange even though with the high risk of scams associated with online coin exchange or can't be compared to what you face when you decide to do a face-to-face exchange, in fact, the physical exchange is not an option to me.

I have never experienced any problems with the physical dealers. Never heard of any problems too. I think the chances of encountering with a problem in a reputable crypto dealer is pretty slim. I think your example is a bad one because that security guard clearly made a mistake and people make mistakes. They probably fired that dude too. Just because that one bad incident happened, it doesn't mean these dealers are crap. People do have problems with all kinds of online crypto exchanges everyday (sometimes they even get hacked!) and yet, millions of people still use them.

I don’t understand. She was harassed by security officers pretending to be police (which I guess is illegal?)for making her transactions public?

Physical exchanges.. you mean ATMs, real exchange offices or people who do face to face meets for exchanging? ATMs are pretty safe, unless you’re there with a bag of cash on you and you catch the wrong guy’s attention. Physical exchanges (offices) should be pretty safe unless there’s KYC involved in my opinion. Face to face meetups.. it’s more like gambling. Like try your luck and see how that goes.

Face to face meetings are sometimes risky even for less important exchanges like selling a phone on Craigslist. But when it comes to crypto, a bad actor knows what’s up and they know if you do this physically, it means you probably have enough money to care about your privacy and to stay covert. So if you arrange a meetup with a bad actor, they’ll assume you have much, much more in your wallet than what you actually own.

Anyway, sometimes even face to face meetings can be set up safely. Some countries’ police departments have rooms specifically for safe transactions and negotiations. So nothing can go wrong, you’re in probably one of the safest places you can be for negotiations. But this involves a con: you don’t have privacy anymore and I’m not sure whether the cops will have to question you beforehand and have a physical proof that you went there to exchange money. So if you’re trying to meet up face to face for privacy, it’s a bad idea to enter a police department lolz

Because of the security challenges and police harassment in my country, as well as the fact that the government has yet to legalize Bitcoin in the country, I always advise against physical Bitcoin exchanges because they can be set up by criminals, and the police may harass you for violating the government rule for using Bitcoin.

Depending on their stance, some physical exchangers know how to get out of this situation because I am sure the government did not order the police to arrest anyone using Bitcoin; thus, they can continue to operate their exchange services, but there is a high risk involved because if the government finds out, they may stop their exchange service.

Just avoid physical exchanges that require you to show your identity card or any documents that can trace you. If it is an exchange of crypto to local currency then why not use p2p first on cex. And I personally avoid p2p using a bank account. but it can be tricked by using a digital fiat wallet application. but that only applies to depositing a small amount of money for the application that I use can only be a maximum of under $ 2500USD in a month.

I am quite lucky because in my country everything is quite safe and under control. physical exchanges and such are not given much attention by the government. and here bitcoin has become legal as a commodity asset. so that the sale of these assets is also legal anywhere. as long as it is not used as a means of payment to replace local money.

I've never used a physical exchange so I don't have any experience with this because in my country there are already legal exchanges that can withdraw local money from the exchange so no bad experience whatsoever.

Each country is different in treating crypto trading, some are more stringent with the rules for its use, some are ignored for small traders, but the solution above is maybe by doing P2P with certain people, at least it removes you from fear.

My country is still safe enough for transactions and trading bitcoins, it's just not allowed when someone uses bitcoin as a means of payment because it would violate the law, while my government for transactions with bitcoins or other types of crypto is still illegal.

Why do you need to trade in person when bitcoin is digital and you can trade it from halfway around the world?  Perhaps you live in a country where it is not possible to have a bank account and therefore you cannot open a bank account so the only way to exchange is in person.

I think the security men were legit because they also came in board day light with id cards.
But I didn't see any reason why an act wasaunched immediately  on the woman and judging from now everything  happened in a glance of an eye, I guess the woman has been spied for a long while now and the attack was more of a calculated one.

On the second thought,  I think the woman has been linked to some sort of scam and either she did it intentionally  or not, she's  an accomplice and it will take some extra effort to get her out of that mess if this option  is right.

Well I have not made transaction publicly even though I use p2p which I use some time with neighbors, friends around and far. I know that Nigeria banks are not accepting Cryptocurrencies but I have not seen someone been embarrassed because of cryptocurrency. Even in banks if you are filling forms there is a column for you to tick to know if you are involved in cryptocurrency or not and I always keep that part empty.
As for me I see the security officers are illiterate and like the perpetual poverty in their life. How can they arrage someone because she made a transaction with bitcoin in the public announcement. That is stupidity.

If there's that worry, then just bear it and do the transactions online and at least with that you're very much safe from harassing. With those places that have people that think that if someone who's into crypto and/or holds Bitcoin, they're rich. That's why if you already have incident that there are traders that are about to exchange and do the transaction P2P but then something goes wrong, I wouldn't have the guts to do it. I'll be too patient to do it online and just do it on online exchanges and have the fiat transferred through my bank account.

With the number of alternative options to buy from, physical exchange of Bitcoin for fiat should be the least you consider.
It breaks your privacy fully cause the other trader not only knows what you look like, but also the neighborhood you live in and they can track you to get more information putting you at risk.

Use a decentralized, P2P exchange and save yourself a lot of trouble.

If Nigeria is the country you are referring to, then the woman has the right to sue those officers who wrongfully harassed her, provided that she is free from all the allegations levied against her. If the use of crypto was just her case, then she has little to no case at all.
The Federal Government is not completely straight-forward regarding how they actually ban crypto in the country. I have come across a case where a young guy was publicly molested, but he got justice by doing the right thing.

Those dealers who are publicly advertising themselves are safe from such harassment because they have not done anything wrong; they can't be charged in any criminal or fraud case unless they have solid evidence; you can't just walk up to someone's office or shop and harass the person over nothing. Nigeria is not a complete crypto-ban country; you and I know that. What they just did was serve out a memo and send out a direct warning to the banks not to associate themselves with any direct crypto transaction since it's not legal tender in the country. However you want to do it, as a citizen, to some extent you are free. We have lots of publicly-operated crypto exchange firms in the country, and they are all paying taxes to the government. Patricia is one of them.

I don't know how the laws of other countries work but in my country any activity involving money is mandatory to have a license issued by the central bank of my country, the exchange offices in my country are very strictly inspected by the central bank in order to avoid illegalities such as money laundering, sudden price increases for no reason, also people when they want to make some exchange are obliged to take their IDs with them and in cases of having foreign currencies such as US dollars, the person will need to indicate where those US dollars came from, there is a policeman at the exchange doors, there are cameras

so the whole system is very controlled, now talking about bitcoin, in my country using bitcoin is not illegal, it is not a crime, on the contrary in my country the government allows people to use bitcoin, but in my country physical exchanges do not exchange bitcoin, so the person can only do this with private people who do not have a license from the central bank, as there is no law on bitcoin so this is not a crime, but the central bank warned that the person will be doing this at his own risk and that he should not blame the government nor the central bank in case of any financial loss, however if the person hands over money to buy bitcoin and does not receive bitcoin then that person can complain to the police in my country, and this is how things work in my country

if i can't transact person 2 person then what in the fuck is wrong with ya'll stop worrying thats bullshit.

Physical  Exchange?? This is new to me...the only thing that comes close to a physical exchange in my mind is peer2peer trading!
And why would anybody opt to go for a physical exchange leaving a digital exchange that provides convenience and some degree of safety in your own comfort zone??

Besides, don't you think having a physical exchange could be prone to more regulatory checks, business restrictions and endless other issues that could prevent it from growing...Whatever the idea is surrounding the so called physical exchange I don't like it.

Agree, too many red flags for this kind of trading and so many things can go wrong...One could be robbed, given fake fiat cash, IDs clowned, biometrics taken list is endless....Bitcoin is digital, less keep the business digital too :)

Do you mean people who operate peer-to-peer? If this is what you mean, the personal security of an individual is his sole responsibility no matter where you find yourself. Individuals who offer p2p services do not need live a lavish lifestyle. Stay anonymous and operate anonymously. Follow basic security tips for both online and offline transactions.

For now, everything is safe until one governemnt official somewhere decides that they do not understand bitcoin and want it ban.

So is it legal or not in your country to house a bitcoin exchange?  I'm a bit confused by what you wrote.  Do your countries financial regulatory bodies have control over bitcoin in any way inside your country? 

I think whether or not others should be concerned would be starting with the legalities of it, but if it is legal across the board than maybe they are starting to take actions for it not to be..

There are plenty of good reasons why people choose physical exchanges to convert their crypto to cash and vice versa. One major reason is that many folks around the world don't have access to traditional banks for various reasons. They're what we call "bankless." Plus, physical exchanges often have looser rules when it comes to KYC requirements, making them attractive to individuals who value anonymity or prefer not to disclose extensive personal information during transactions.

Am aware that some people still do physical exchanges and I still don't fancy the idea because it's time taking, it's dangerous because it exposes such person to harm which is the reason why p2p is more preferable to physical exchanges in my opinion. The security agencies may also capitalize on the issues of bitcoin not been legalize in Nigeria being the country of the op to arrest and extort money from anyone found doing a physical bitcoin exchange or transaction so on this note i think it is better to do an online transactions instead of a physical transaction because physical transaction isn't a good idea even to bitcoin because your privacy should be maintained at all times.

Physical exchanges always holds the risk of threats. Localbitcoins which served to be one among the leading P2P trading platform closed all its services recently. It had a feature of meeting the trader in person and exchanging fiat for cryptocurrency and vice versa. During that several bad incidents have happened and long back itself localbitcoins stopped the trading service with the nearby traders. So, it is common around and we need to be careful handling these kind of situations.

Trading face to face also provides convenience, there is nothing wrong with in-person trade, it has one of the best forms of privacy and that is a reason why many people use it. There are very good p2p exchanges that offer the option of cash for BTC and BTC for cash, p2p exchanges like bisq and AgoraDesk, you can use this feature in any of these exchanges. Surely if you want to trade in person there are precautions to take, try as much as possible to trade with the same people and build a sort of connection so trading in person becomes safer and more comfortable for you.

If Bitcoin is banned in your country then you could be arrested since you are engaging in an illegal activity.  When it comes to physical exchanges, there is alwaya a risk invove when a person is engaing in an exchanging activity.  Those who have ill-intention can do undesirable things if they learned about people carrying large amounts of money.

Though I wonder how these uniformed people know about that person. Isn't it impossible for security personnel to pinpoint a single person to harass because this person had made his private exchange public?  Are they social media friends or what?

I don't have any experience with physical exchanges so I cannot tell you it is safe or not. I think if you have to exchange a large amount of bitcoin don't go to your local exchange try to use online exchanges and don't let anyone know that you have a huge amount of bitcoin. The government will not take bitcoin easily they will try and find a way to stop you from using bitcoin.

The ATMB are a rarity for some people, but this cannot be seen in a general sense, it depends on the country, the city and the place where you are, hence that is the same rhythm that gives you security, that is, In that order, a country can be friendly with ATMs, but then each city has its parameters, and the lowest is knowing the city well or places that have safe ATMBs.

And also those that offer an exchange service in physical places, that your title confuses in a certain way.


This below is another example, they have an ATM and an office.

GBTC Universitat | Money Exchange | Bitcoin ATM | Buy & Sell Crypto
Currency exchange service in Barcelona, Spain

https://i.ibb.co/zFWmFYd/exchahe123.jpghttps://i.ibb.co/2q2Mpwb/exchahe1.jpghttps://i.ibb.co/7yY6SMK/exchahe12.jpg
Source:https://maps.google.com/maps/contrib/109254273301588470663



Depending on the country, perhaps they can be secure, beware, we are not talking about security in the aspect that their KYC implies, which is something else, it is the physical space where they are located, then the city and lower down the neighborhood, all that varies in the parameters of security.

In Spain there is not only ATMB, there are businesses specialized in loans and having an ATMB on site, there are also even in bars, restaurants, actually, as I said, it depends on the country.

Is hard or almost impossible to have exchanges not get to publicise themselves, its a must should you be expecting crypto investors to make use of your services.
Some strokes to the business is that, you don't get to ask any question. You receive and proceed to delivering your end of the bargain.

Now, running an exchange in a non crypto friendly nation would has to do with you getting the business or exchange registered. That becomes the first stage to having a backings with fhe government and you pay your taxes as due.
There would always be these complaints of aiding fraud for the most that understand and you would have these agencies all taking chances where they could find.

in my opinion you have to comply with the rules that apply in your area, in my opinion you can sell your btc and exchange it for fiat currency and you can shop using fiat money. I think complying with government regulations is the thing to do.

in my country, bitcoin cannot be used as a means of payment, but if it is used as an investment asset, of course it is allowed by my government.

I have never done a physical exchange for Crypto in my neighborhood as I don't want to disclose to anyone that I deal in Crypto or I have some Crypto with me as a financial investment.
I would also ask you to avoid this method of exchange as it's risky and not beneficial in the long run. 1 or 2 good exchanges don't mean it's going to be like that forever.

That's the contradiction I've been wondering for a long time. We use bitcoin for privacy and anonymity, but at the same time, we want bitcoin to be popular and used as a payment method, while paying means we agree to reveal our identities. I invest in bitcoin and always try to maintain my privacy to the highest level in my region. So it is tough for me to use it as a currency to buy goods and make payments. Is there any way we can use bitcoin to secure privacy and use it as a currency?

Physical exchange is safe as long as you only exchange for small amount of money and you not link all of your money to that's address, so no one know if you're a big bag holder. But if your country still not accept Bitcoin, better to not taking any risk.

It's not only happen in Nigeria, but every countries should have this law where impersonating a police or security isn't allowed. The woman can report those fake officers, but it will make she to spend time and money to handle this case, moreover someone could revenge or do bad thing to her.

Most of the exchanges I can see in our country are peer-to-peer exchanges. Where it's up to you if you want to meet up with the buyers/sellers.
There are lot of these transactions here, some could be in online if you really trust the person you are exchanging with (it's risky).

1.There aren't any "physical crypto exchanges" where I live.
2.I never really understood the point of having to trade Bitcoin/crypto in person. Using the internet for trading purposes is way more convenient(and way safer). Decentralized exchanges are a thing, why do you have to put your trust in a random stranger?
3.The woman, who publicly revealed that she owns Bitcoin/crypto has made a terrible mistake. Never revealing to anyone that you own crypto is the golden rule of being a crypto investor/trader/HODLer. Some people simply aren't smart enough, other people make mistakes unintentionally.

You can use BTC for payment without exposing your privacy, first is that you shouldn't use addresses that hold a large amount of your BTC for payment. Take note that one very important way to protect privacy in the BTC network is to avoid reusing addresses, since it is very easy to create a new address, use a new one whenever you want to make payment, and to eclipse the origin of the funds sent into your address for payment, you can use a mixer or CoinJoin to receive the funds.

The government is an authority within it's jurisdiction and owns all means of legitimate coercion and it is needful that anyone who finds himself within such society where the government has discountenance towards crypto tread with utmost careful as he embarks on his cryptocurrency business. Making a public show only endangers you and your business.

I come from a country where the government throw the banks frown at any crypto related business and transacts and to keep myself safe from anyone raising an eyebrow on me digging for informations I discreetly act like a pure novice to any crypto activities publicly done cause you just can't tell who's watching. Let's be guided please.

I think it highly depends on the country.

I was using physical exchange in Turkey and it was a really nice experience and the fees weren't too high.
So I think if you use exchanges in crypto-friendly countries, it probably would be fine.

But I'm NOT recommending using exchanges in Africa and Brazil. In these countries, if something has to do with money, the risk is getting much higher. So be careful with that.

feedback for this because I haven't found the exchange you said in my country , so far I have only made exchanges that exist and support my country's currency

If you can find the right person, then it's safe. Otherwise, I don't think it is a good idea to make deals with someone random. If you are trying it for the first time, then the meeting has to be in a public place. Take some people with you, like friend or family. Make sure to find the proper one who seems trustworthy, and you can do business afterward.
Then comes the question about if Bitcoin is legal or illegal in your country. If it's legal, then you can use it as you like, and it will be not so hard to find a proper dealer. You won't face any legal concern in that matter.
But, if it's illegal, then you will have to face a lot of troubles. It will be hard to make the transaction publically. Also, it could be a trap from the law enforcement to fish out people who are violating the rules and using cryptocurrency. So take cautions before you do it.

It is illegal in my country to use cryptocurrency or even owning them. So it is hard, as I explained in the top section. 3 people were caught and put to jail just for owning some crypto. So, I don't think physical cryptocurrency exchange(r) has a luck in this country. People are afraid to show their faces in the public, but many people still use cryptocurrency here. It is possible to make a human transaction, but the risk is high. If Bitcoin/crypto ever becomes legal here, then it will have a good luck here. Many will come out of the shadow. Let's see what will happen.

There's no much difference between the physical exchange and the online exchanges because they are all centralized and illicit activities can occur with anyone of them and same also is scam everywhere irrespective of the avenue or platform used, to me physical exchange will be more risky with dangers to use than the online ones because there will be improper coordinations and abuse on the exchange which may also result to somethings being manipulated.

The issue of scalability while dealing with bulk could also serve a challenge as well, of they were not banned by the government then they can operate but should be ready to face huge regulations from them and this begins with them having issues on tax payment and the likes, non compliance will attract sanction on them.

Physical exchange may be ideal for most people but for me NO. That's because of safety. Even if I'm to use a physical exchange, I will only transact a small amount of money, maybe $100.

There are a lot of people in the neighborhood looking for people to target and a simple mistake can lead to someone getting robbed or killed.

I have never heard of someone who doesn't have access to traditional banks because banks are always in need of customers, they will always welcome anyone to come to them unless you are underage to use their services. Maybe KYC is part of why many people don't like using online exchanges, but a physical exchange also doesn't guarantee complete anonymity since it's a person-to-person transaction. You also won't be able to tell if the person you are dealing directly with is a government member.

Do people still operate physical exchanges today? That's sad, because it's not going to be easy even if the government of that country supports crypto, exchanges are better run online than offline and it's way safer and well protected, for your sake and for the future of the exchange business. If there is a physical exchange in my city I will never use it because of my safety, more people will get to know that I am into crypto, and those people working in such exchange can even side to do you wrong because they know your face, physical exchange is not advisable, please reconsider.

Well I don't of your country but I don't think the buyer from a physical exchange might be at risk except the exchanger but most times I think these physical exchanges works more better for people who have serious trust issues or persons who want to trade very huge amount of money and want some form of guaranty  which might be offered  my most physical exchanges.
I'm basically  worried over the safety of the operators.

There are thousands  and as well as millions of persons who don't have access to local banks for some several reasons and don't be surprised because there are persons who even in my local community don't have a bank account  and they're way old enough to have an account.

And physical  exchanges  is on the other hand fair with their kyc terms and there are possibilities  of someone traveling  from a different  neighborhood  to another justbto use their exchanges and by so doing,  I think he or she might stay really anonymous.

@mendace, when bitcoin  was first launched, there were several  difficulties with exchanges and that also prompted some physical exchanges and some of them are still in active service regardless of the presence of traditional banks and most of their customers  still trade with them for either convenience or trust or even both.

Of course, I fully understand your point of view and I understand that when it was launched there were difficulties but now I also understand that Bitcoin is no longer what it used to be and it has a value and a physical exchange is risky since you never know who you can encounter. I am well aware that many countries do not have access to bank accounts and this makes it very difficult to be able to do them online both with and without kyc. I hope a solution is found soon, I know that Jack has started Stripe even in the most remote countries of this planet, it could be a good opportunity.

The problem is in countries like this, the authorities don't really care if the dealer committed a crime or not. Most of the time they see the dealer as a fraud because they don't really understand how all this works.
Other times, these traders receive money that was gotten through fraud or money from an account that was under red notice by the authorities. What's worst is these traders may not know anything about the source of the money or the account the money came from. Things can get really messy for them at this point.
They all just gotta be careful if they are in countries where Bitcoin and other crypto activities are frowned upon.

I don't think i have ever come across any physical exchange here in my country and lets assuming i some how come across one, i highly doubt i will be transacting with such exchange physically because of security reasons which is most important, transacting crypto physically can make you appear vulnerable to criminals and that's very risky.
I like the secured or no physical contact way of online exchange much better.

I have no experience with this as I'm having a hard time finding a physical exchange for bitcoin. If there is, maybe I will deliberately ignored it because of security and privacy. I tend to prefer using a centralized exchange even if it requires me to complete KYC instead of using a physical exchange for something I don't feel comfortable with.

Operating a physical business that accepts Bitcoin carries certain risks, but it also has its advantages, particularly in promoting the concept of Bitcoin as a legitimate form of currency. To mitigate these risks, it is advisable to set up the business(physical exchange) in a location that is visible to the public, preferably in a busy area where potential assistance from bystanders is readily available in case of harassment or attempted theft of Bitcoin.

On the other hand, there are individuals and businesses that conduct their operations by accepting digital transfers and fiat currency through inter or intra-bank transactions and they are very okay, and when you consider the security features with Bitcoin, Bitcoin has a big merit because, with Bitcoin, the highest level of security lies in the possession of your private key, without this key, it is virtually impossible for anyone to access your wallet. In contrast, many bank applications only require a PIN to initiate a transfer, which may not provide the same level of security as Bitcoin's private key.

First and foremost, in a country like Nigeria where cryptocurrency transactions are still under a ban, it makes no sense to operate a physical crypto currency exchange, any body doing otherwise is simply being disobedient to the law of the land, and may end up being punished by the government if the person is arraigned and taken to court for judgement.

And secondly, I think how safe a physical cryptocurrency exchange is largely depends on the country and region where the exchange is situated, like what I said above, a physical exchange is not safe for a country like Nigeria at this very moment, but there are other crypto friendly countries where it is absolutely safe to operate a physical crypto exchange.

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are not legally recognized in my country, making physical exchanges impossible. Consequently, I am wary of engaging in physical crypto exchanges due to the potential risks. Both criminals and government authorities can swiftly target individuals involved in such transactions, leading to significant troubles in their real lives. Thus, it is advisable to utilize online trusted exchanges for cashing out or purchasing cryptocurrencies. It is imprudent to willingly subject oneself to unnecessary troubles.

Physical exchangers are not a thing here in Venezuela. Our authorities are corrupt and they will likely harrass merchants and even clients, knowing they have Bitcoin holdings.

See, one of the main reasons for any Venezuelan to embrace Bitcoin and Stable coins is to protect our assets from inflation and also to have a safe and stealthy way to keep our money off the hands and sight of crooks.

So, in short, there is no physical exchanger here and if there was they would not be safe, sadly, but it is how things are.

Well, I will start by saying that a good citizen of a country is always law-abiding, but the truth is that there are some government policies that citizens do bend to their satisfaction because they know the benefits that come along with them. Most especially when it concerns Bitcoin, a real Bitcoiner is always stubborn about any law that will hinder him or her from accumulating it. In my country, there are few physical crypto exchanges, but I don't even trust them because there are a lot of scams through those exchanges. Well, even with physical exchange in my country, it's not mostly used by Bitcoiners, but a lot of people here are very educated when it comes to cryptocurrency dealing, so instead of going through physical exchange, they mostly ask their friends to assist them, and they will just buy from CEX.

The person who got harassed should have been more careful about keeping her crypto transactions private so that she wouldn't have got caught by the police. Now that there have been a lot of attacks on Bitcoin, it's not even very safe to involve yourself in physical exchange; instead, the DEX platform is available to carry out one's Bitcoin transactions.

not seeing any physical exchange where i am currently residing as well. if you are into crypto, it is always convenient to trade via online exchanges. just few taps on your phone and you're good to go. so don't know why people will use physical exchange if you can easily access them online?
also, you don't need to worry about your security as no one will know your transactions online, if you will keep your txs discreet.

If I had to guess on it, I would say that OP is likely from a place where cash is mostly used as medium of exchange, instead bank transferences or electronic money wiring. It is common in unbaked communities, I would assume, there cash is king and since crypto is also attractive for the unbanked living in developing countries, it would make sense there would be some proliferation of exchange houses.

It is easy for both of us to say it is better to use online services, because we are banked. We need to put ourselves on other's shoes. It is not an choice for them but rather the only option to get liquidity or wire money through long distances.

We are talking about a physical exchange, pay directly at the store. This means you are doing a person to person transaction, once you make a transaction with anyone and any amount of bitcoin, your partner has to know you use bitcoin. How can you continue to hide your identity? And what if the operator of that physical exchange is a government agency installed to monitor all investor activities in that locality? In my opinion, once you have used bitcoin to pay directly at the store, at least a few people will know your identity.

Physical exchanges in neighborhoods can vary in safety depending on different factors. Some neighborhood may have higher crime rates and are less safe compared to others. One way to ensure safety is to meet in public place with good lighting and a lot of people around. It is also important to let someone know where you are going who are you meeting. Important to trust your instincts and avoid situations that make you feel uncomfortable or unsafe. Physical exchanges can be safe it is important to take precautions and be aware of one's surroundings to ensure personal safety.

They talking about physical exchange and I would assume, there cash is king and since crypto is also attractive for the unbanked living in developing countries, it would make sense there would be some proliferation of exchange houses and it's Most especially when it concerns Bitcoin, a real Bitcoiner is always stubborn about any law that will hinder him or her from accumulating it and  The safety of physical cryptocurrency dealers depends on the legal and regulatory environment in your country.

Trade in person is risky.

Trade in Bitcoin ATMs is expensive in fees for both buying and selling. In addition, Bitcoin ATMs will be regulated more, KYC requirements on users and Bitcoin ATM operators will be challenged by local governments.

I bet to differ that why we need to trade in person, trade with Bitcoin ATMs when we can have many options that can help our privacy as well as physical security.
Centralized exchanges are a lot, we can trade on them with fiat currencies, cards.
Decentralized exchanges, peer to peer marketplaces, without KYC, are available, why don't use them.

https://kycnot.me/

Some people don't like online exchanges because they need KYC, which will affect their privacy, while a physical exchange is simpler without personal information. I have also never used physical exchange, but each has its pros and cons, in my opinion. Physical exchange is a P2P exchange, it also has disadvantages like vulnerability if someone tries to trap you, you don't reveal your identity to exchanges, but you need to make sure that the person P2P exchange is trustworthy...Otherwise, you will also be in more trouble if you are living in a country where cryptocurrency is not legal yet.

From my experience, it's always included a risk and when I say risk it's literally a super risky thing to do. Because it's prone to illegal activities such as scamming which I have experienced, they might gave you an ID as a proof of legitimation but that is not enough especially if you already have the feeling of doubt to the person. Also crime might be present in this kind of transactions since they could easily harm people when they see them physically or worse given them threat as they saw their identity of the person already. This is what I love in Bitcoin where you could have a transaction anonymously.

Most physical exchanges in my country turned into a scam business within a short period of time and this have made people not to trust any such businesses again.

Being physical doesn't make it safe and in fact, it's more risky, crypto is safer because it's online, no one will know how much Mr John's crypto worth, we can't see each other in real life, and I could be a millionaire and nobody will know, this makes crypto way safer for investors and holders.

You can easily get tracked back to your home if you have a lot of cryptos, and anonymity is broken if you do business with any physical exchange.

Physical exchange aren't advisable because they're not safe, they would prevent you from been scammed but also exposed your info to authorities and other government officials that needs your information. This exchange has to be registered and the government could be tracking transaction going on over there to prevent money launderers from making used of the exchange to wash their dirty money .

Your safety is not guaranteed when you make use of physical exchange as you could be tracked back to your apartment and those who were monitoring you could do harm to you to steal your money from you hand. Physical exchange doesn't provide privacy which is needed.

Personally I have not come across any physical exchange before and I don't think I would want to trade my asset with one since I can always carry out my trade using my phone and wherever I am. But you and I know that police are hustlers. The arrest was not genuine because they did not produce an arrest warrant, they probably wanted to scare the woman and collect some money from her. The assertion that cryptocurrency has been ban in Nigeria is not true because their has not been a formal statement from the government about the ban of cryptocurrency. The central bank only warned other banks to distance themselves from crypto-related activities.

The first thing to consider is the regulatory environment surrounding Bitcoin in your country. If there are no restrictions whatsoever, owning Bitcoin wouldn't cause much concern. When Bitcoin has clear regulations regarding its usage by residents, small-scale sellers will gain more confidence in introducing their own exchanges, knowing they are not breaking any rules.

Now, let's talk about the reputation of the dealer. Trusted dealers usually have fair regulations for both parties involved in a transaction. This includes how identity and reputation can serve as guarantees.
Digital exchanges are more dominant here, as only about 5%-7% of the population is aware of Bitcoin. Personally, I prefer exchanging cryptocurrencies for fiat using exchange platforms. The prices are more up-to-date, and the process is relatively quick. After that, I withdraw the funds from an ATM for daily needs.

First of all, if crypto is banned in your country and you still doing it then you should avoid making it public. But still, there are many cases i have observed in mine too, like when crypto was banned last year maybe it was 2021 (idk which year was that) but at the time, crypto was banned in my country and authorities caught many traders in big cities only and they blocked more than 1000 websites directly related to cryptocurrency exchanging activities. But that ban was removed in 2022's last quarter and then again crypto is declared banned the previous month and there has been much unofficial news about catching those who are involved in cryptocurrency even Binance said on its Twitter that, we are working on it. This indicates that this time our government is serious and they really want to catch someone (involved in crypto). But still, many YouTubers are making live trading videos while sitting in the country where it is banned and using the cryptocurrency publicly and even sharing signals and other ideas plus advice for traders and holders and for any crypto geek. And no one is asking them.

The point is, i do not think that sharing your exchange on which you trade crypto in a country where crypto is banned will get you caught. I think that the trader might be involved in something. i hope that's not true but still, the government needs an excuse to put someone in.

Well, I always make sure I go to a place where they have CCTV for the exchange... so that the people that I trade with will know that they are on CCTV, if they want to do something funny. I also do not go alone and I make sure that I am not followed after the exchange took place.

The best thing to do is to go to Bitcoin meetups, where you build trust with small exchanges with other people that you meet there. We do this in a local pub or restaurant... so we make a lot of new friends.  ;)

I can only say about myself,I have a physical exchange close to my street but it is run by my neighbour. What I do is that anytime that I want to exchange fiat to bitcoin or vice versa,I communicate with him on phone and he will tell me to hold on till when he is back from work. When he is back,he calls me to his house and we have our transaction in his place. It is either I will transfer some fraction of btc to his wallet and he gives me cash or I give him cash and he transfers the fraction of bitcoin that I paid for. This is the safest way I run my transaction with physical exchange. I guess because he is my neighbour that is why,everything goes smoothly or I am just lucky to have a good guy.

I have never used a physical exchanger because there is no physical exchanger in my city in my country.  So I have no experience in this matter.  Because of this I cannot provide any effective or potential feedback here. I mostly exchange my bitcoins from online centralized exchanges and cash out bitcoins using P2P services.  It is very risky but I have to use it as there is no better way to exchange or convert bitcoins in my country.

In my own country, private exchange is allowed, either for crypto or fiat, but only if it's done online, if it's offline and opens it publicly of course it will be prosecuted by the government for violating the law. Moreover doing exchange online is much more efficient than offline. I'm quite surprised why she opened it offline knowing that she doesn't have permission for it. So it's not surprising that she was immediately prosecuted by the government.

I've seen some people meeting up and performing crypto-to-fiat exchange in person, I believe, but it was a long time ago, and I haven't done it personally. Also, it's not really an exchange as a place/company, even though an exchange of currencies is taking place there. I've also looked into actual physical exchanges as places where you come to something like an office, and perform an exchange. The reviews were positive, the photos looked safe, but in the end I decided against going there. I just feel like online exchanges are more detached and thus much easier to perform, so I stick to those.

I am also using online exchanges to buy and sell my bitcoins and use their P2P service to convert bitcoin to my national currency.  but I don't see any risk, as long as we're not using centralized exchanges to store assets for a long time and we're using CEX for the purposes they were made for.
For identity, the comparison between online exchange and physical exchange is not different.  when you use an offline exchange, other people will also know you have bitcoins, and if it's unfortunately, a government person, you'll be in more trouble.

I also prefer online transactions to physical transactions because I feel more secure doing transactions online.  Since there is no physical appearance we know that we are far from harm unlike going to physical exchanges.  It saves time and effort doing transactions online aside from being safe doing transactions at home.


This depends on which country you are. If you are in a country that banned Bitcoin and yet you indulge yourself in Bitcoin transactions and the government person knows about it, then you will really get in trouble because you are doing an illegal trade.  While in my country, even if you are seen by government personnel transacting in Bitcoin, that person won't bother since Bitcoin is allowed in my country.

Before, there used to be a physical ATM where you can convert your BTC/cryptocurrencies to our desired currency.

Though I have seen some people used it, I have never used or utilized such ATM. In addition, I also read in our local tabloid that majority of these ATMs consisted of errors that will not dispose of your cash but eat your BTCs in the process.

To answer your question OP, physical exchanges in my country are almost impossible to witness due to the existence of our local exchange. This local exchange converts our cryptocurrencies to our local currencies in which you can cash out to different pawnshops that offer money services.

And if there is any physical shop where you can have or withdraw your BTC, then it just basically via a centralized exchange or bank. And that right there just violated the main purpose of BTC in the first place, there should not be centralization. BTC's main purpose is to be used by P2P.

If there is any shop, it could be a physical shop as goods and the means of transaction between the shop and the buyer is crypto. Having bank in the middle on my opinion is unideal. It just don't sound the way how crypto is fundamentally be used originally.

Until 2 weeks ago I never had any experience with physical exchanges.
I bought and sold only p2p or on some online exchange or something like that.

2 weeks ago though I was in Hong Kong and was suprised how big crypto is there.
I found SO MANY ATMs where you can buy crypto, the price wasn't really good to get excited about it though.

So I was looking for some real exchange shops and found one ned Admiralty station on HK island.

The shop was quite small with 2 counters but the price was awesome.
I bought crypto with just a 1-1,2% fee, on ATMs you would lose between 10-15%.

The transaction was smooth and I had my crypto in just some minutes. I bought for 1000 US$ and though it would be a "big" transaction and then I saw the next next tome getting out millions of HK$ to buy btc, haha. 8HK$ is around 1US$.

So I felt really small but also relieved as well. If somebody trust a shop with so much money it must be legit, and it was.

but identity disclosure is not a good thing, your country legalizing bitcoin is great, but we won't know what they want and think in the future. they could also re-impose a ban or increase personal taxes on those who invest and use bitcoin.  So even if my country legalizes bitcoin, I would be more cautious about letting others know about my bitcoin ownership, especially government employees. People who work in government should not be trusted.

Let me take it that what Op described as physical exchange is offline exchange. It it is so, I do sew some of those exchanges or trading offices where they will paste the logos of bitcoin and some popular altcoins and ask you to come and trade your bitcoin and gift cards.
If this is what Op explained, I will not operate such kind of business in a country that bitcoin transactions are banned.
It is not advisable and I will not do any business that I do not have a legal back up to perform.

Bitcoin business is a very lucrative business that is very safe and neighborhood can never know the business you're doing accept, when you open up to you're neighbors and besides, it add many advantage to compare to other traditional business doing, No shop rent being paid, while working out home.

The woman's crime according to the law enforcement agents was not that she engaged in bitcoin transactions but she aided fraudsters to carry out their activities. Such accusations are also common in my country when these corrupt police officers wants to intimidate and exploit citizens. Considering the situation of your country, bitcoiners should be careful and engage in bitcoin exchange secretly with trusted parties. The best option will also be the use of trusted P2p platforms available in your country

This could be an effective means of securing yourself against crime when carryout your exchange. Immediately the parties know that their identity have been recorded by the CCTV machines the plans to engage in criminal activities will reduce. I know there are many restaurants and public spaces in my location that have 24hrs security cameras. The parties can even decide to carry out the transaction inside a commercial bank where there are enough security officials, nobody will when know that they are doing a Bitcoin transaction.

It's like having a secret little business that no one even knows about unless you tell them. Plus, there are several other advantages to trading Bitcoins. First, you have more flexibility. You can set your own hours and work at your own pace.

Of course, as with any business, there are always risks involved. You must be careful and take proper security measures to protect yourself and your customers. But as long as you're smart about it, physical exchange of Bitcoins can be a pretty safe and profitable venture.

Personally I also don't have any experience with these physical exchanges you are talking about but most of the time I want to withdraw funds I use exchange to get amount in my bank account so no government authority can raise questions against it until they have substantial evidence against me.But as you said they might be risky or you can also use Bitcoin ATM if you wish to withdraw funds as there are many of them nowadays.

I think you missed the point of OP here, Op is referring to engaging with someone physically in other to exchange your coin ( it might be bitcoin or some other altcoins).

To the Op, based on the kind of environment I live in I do think I'll ever be confortable trading with someone physically as it has so many risks attached, generally anything that has to do with my finances I don't share with public (only just some of my close friends know that I do bitcoin).
When you live in a society that thinks anyone that has anything to do with bitcoin must be super rich, you'll understand why I'm strongly against the idea of trading physically. Some might be openned to the idea as it reduces the risk of you getting scammed by an unknown individual but yet it exposes you for some physical harm which IMO is not worth the risk.

We have different types of physical exchanges. I sometimes use them when the amount for a P2P transfer is large enough, as the bank may have questions. Physical exchanges offer the purchase and sale of cryptocurrencies for cash, which is convenient. Moreover, for transactions, you can use not only the national currency, but also the dollar or the euro. In principle, transactions are generally fairly safe. You create an application in which you indicate the required amount of purchase or sale. You are informed in the messenger about the amount of commissions. If everything suits you, then the owner of the exchange sends the address where the exchange is physically located and a unique code that must be reported directly to the person who is sitting in the exchange. You, in turn, send him the address of your wallet for the cryptocurrency, or vice versa, send him the cryptocurrency, and you will be given cash in the exchange. Everything works quite quickly and smoothly.

If you are using a centralized exchange and your government or Central Bank doesn't look kindly on bitcoin, you have already given them plenty of proof of where the money came from. You can't have a CEX deposit fiat into your bank account without your bank knowing about your activities. And the bank can report you to the tax office or other authorities if they suspect something or have reasons to believe you haven't paid your taxes. Depending on where you live, your local tax authority could have the means to check the flow of money as well.

If you are talking about DEXs, that's a bit different. In that case, it's one person sending money to a different person. If the sums are significant, the authorities can still ask questions. Then it's on you to explain what's the source of that money.

But risk is everywhere, sometimes physical dealer is needed when the banking sector becomes very tight. But I think if there is no such situation, then it will be better to avoid these dealers, and you can communicate within your own community, once a good community is built up, then you can do transactions among yourselves.
If I want to talk about my country then here the matter is more strict, any kind of transaction of all cryptocurrency is illegal in our country. Cryptocurrency is now directly in the queue of money laundering in our country. And currently those who are involved in it are being arrested. Notice boards are being hung for not using cryptocurrency in the banking sector as well. If I were to speak for myself in this situation, I would say that I am proceeding my works very cautiously and fearfully

Well said sir and I also do agree with all the points  you've made except for the woman knowing or aiding fraud.
The truth be told that not everyone is interested  in knowing  the source of ones cryptocurrency since it is expected to be decentralized and hence promoting privacy  and to some points i think there was no single with anyone who reason to harass the woman and secondly,  I know my country, most persons wouldn't take it lightly with any marchant wanting to know the source  of their money because it really do sounds disrespectful and for that and for the sake of their business, you don't expect the woman to be scared.

You've discovered a unique way to acquire Bitcoin—physical exchanges. But how secure are they, truly? Your portrayal suggests simplicity and ease. Still, I question the safety implications. Doesn't the pseudo-anonymity of Bitcoin evaporate in physical dealings? Is the trade-off justifiable? Moreover, the human element adds risks absent in digital transactions. Plus, legal pitfalls loom if these venues flout local laws. Bitcoin holds immense promise, true. But exercising caution in how we secure it is non-negotiable!

I am kinda curious if this was reported in your local news or it was just a small-case incident that it is not worth reporting anyway. Any forms of bad stuffs happening relating to Bitcoin are usually reported here in my country although the government does not prohibit the usage of it anyway.

Thing is you never know who you're dealing or even meeting with through the internet. It goes the same for any other online businesses out there that conducts personal meetups ....which me and my significant other do
The fate of crypto here in my country? It's kinda dynamic when we're talking about the relationship between banks in here and crypto. My bank (BPI) before accepted crypto transactions but now they no longer support nor allow those kinds of transaction.

I would like to say this, if you know the laws of your country does not work out well for Crypto activities why expose yourself to such situations all in the name of p2p when you fully know that it is very risky to do so. Do you know if that was a set up against her? Nobody knows and the security agents that caught her would pass charges against her if truly Crypto trading is a crime in the country.

One needs be careful on how they enteract When they know the law does not favor Crypto in their various countries.

Same here. I have never used any physical exchange in my neighborhood. However, when it comes to security, at least find stores that will not require anymore any KYC. That is still possible with small exchanges in town. And if you happen to make a transaction, don’t make a huge amount of transaction in a single shop, because once you’re known that you have a huge amount of bitcoin hodling, your own security might be in danger. And as much as possible, never make a lot of transactions in a certain shop. Do it in different stores, so that the owner itself will never suspect you or will never think of harming you like making a personal attack on you to steal your bitcoin as he can easily pay some people to do it for him.

I don't know if it was later reported in our local news but typically everything  happened in my presence and I really do felt pity for the woman because on different occasions, I don't think she deserved such harassment because I don't think she was in the position  to ask her customers the success of their assets they wanted to trade and blaming the woman for patronizing them wasn't right as there have been stories where people steal and still use the proceeds to purchase things, why not also mandate the regular sellers to investigate  their customers before leting them buy.
From the look of things, I think the attack was for bitcoin  and not just the woman.

I have no past experience with physical exchanges because I don't see the need to use them, I am from a world where if you have a lot of money the government will come looking into what you doing for a living, this is why Bitcoin is a good choice for me, if I have 1 million dollars I won't dare keep it in the bank, I would prefer to have this big amount of money in Bitcoin instead.

Physical exchanges is not a safe practice for a reason, it's true that many people wont know what you are into, because not everyone knows about crypto and Bitcoin opportunities but what about those working in the exchange?

There have been some rumors in my country about how bankers are the ones who leaked their rich customer's funds to criminals, they get them kidnapped or robbed because those bankers working on the inside are abettors of the criminals.

Until they finalized their legalization of bitcoins as payments in your country, it's always better to stay low and keep safe from potential bad people who will gonna steal your bitcoins from you if they know you are holding some. It's a good idea to have such mindsets but if you are only having small businesses which don't really matter if the government comes to you, then you can start to accept bitcoins as your customer's payment because it won't really hurt you when the government finds out because they don't want small fish anyway, they are targeting those huge companies so that they can get huge portions of their money.

That is a sad story...however the unfortunate reality is that anyone who is deciding to do Peer to Peer trading for a living must maintain privacy measures in the event of something like this happening. Obviously, governments will not like traders helping other people buy/sell Bitcoin without using institutions and regulated exchanges. So, do I think dealers are safe? Yes. If they are responsible in the way that they conduct their business and maintain their privacy. What's the fate of a physical cryptocurrency exchanger in my country? Probably something similar to what this woman suffered, unfortunately. I think this would be similar in most places. I do hope that this changes in the future.

Financial institutions in my country, including banks, are not allowed to own or conduct transactions with crypto assets.  But there are indeed exchanges that facilitate this. So even though it is ultimately related to the Bank. While the direct exchange outlet I have not found for crypto, but for perfect money already exists. There haven't been many cases of robbery but there have been some frauds committed but not all, but it happened on foreign currency exchanges. And usually the dollar.

And why does anonymity evaporate in physical transactions? In such exchangers, which were discussed in my post, no one requires identity cards and does not know your personal data. It is clear that the human factor always promises risks, but this applies to any method of withdrawing Bitcoin to Fiat, and not just to physical exchangers. I don't really understand what you are suggesting? Not using a physical exchanger at all? How then to cash out bitcoin when there is a need for it? P2P withdrawal to the card is even more risky and lacks anonymity, withdrawal directly from the exchange is not allowed everywhere, PayPal is the last century, famous for its huge commissions and inconvenience. Ideal options have not yet been invented, and the topic concerns the work of physical exchangers in different countries. So I described the work of those that I personally encountered in my country. And yes, this is a fairly quick and convenient way, with which I have not had any problems at the moment.

It is true that the transactions that take place in the crypto market are not permitted by the government of our country through banks.That is because crypto currency is not legal in our country. If you have a large amount of Bitcoin holdings, you must consider your security.This is when you trade of course you can't trade a lot at once. If you do a lot of transactions at once then you can be in danger.

In my opinion, using a P2P service is the best way to convert fiat to cryptocurrency or vice versa, one should just make sure that they are using a service that prevents you from getting scammed just like Binance where your assets are escrowed when you are selling until you get paid and the assets of the seller are escrowed until you pay and then get the assets, that way, the chances of scammers scamming you will be minimum.

Using a physical exchange can always get you in trouble and that also reveals your identity and people will know that you have cryptocurrencies and that also can be a bit dangerous for you since anyone with knowledge about these things can get behind you to rob you or take your phone to steal your funds.

Physical exchange is not available in my location yet so I can't imagine a physical exchange here. so in this case I have no experience that I can give any feedback here. But I can guess that physical exchange may have lower rate than online exchanger and service charge may be more than online exchange. And in this case there will be tax issues so I think online exchange will more convenient and easy to use than physical exchange. And in case of physical exchange different documents must be required whereas in online exchange one can trade without KYC and only by doing KYC with NID up to 100BTC transaction and exchange facility is available daily there is not so much limit available in physical exchange.

In my country, physical exchange is available, but not in all regions. Physical exchanges are usually only available in a few areas that have a large number of tourism visitors from various countries at any time. Meanwhile, in areas that are not visited by many tourists, physical exchanges are rarely found. I personally have only used it a few times. And actually the cost of exchanging physical is much greater than in online exchanges. So that physical exchange is only suitable for use in urgent situations or when we are in a hurry or for other reasons. Because in my country crypto has been legalized as a commodity asset so that physical exchanges can be said to be quite safe here. What is not allowed here is just using crypto as a means of payment. whereas buying and selling crypto here is free for us to do anywhere. Just like we are free in buying and selling transactions of other commodity assets anywhere.

They are not safe to use and I won't even go near anyone, I am from a place where people don't like minding their business, they are always after you to know what you are up to, it's why I don't go to casinos too until we start having an online casino, I think it's more safer to use online exchanges because they are more safer and your identity as a user won't be revealed to anyone unless you want to reveal it yourself. No one will know that you normally use exchanges to change Fiat or buy other assets, there is no store that accept crypto as means of payment yet, and it's been few years since the crypto ban has been lifted, I think it's going to take a very longer time before we can start using crypto to buy stuffs in the real world.

In my country, there was no good option to buy or sell Bitcoin until Binance introduced local P2P transactions. I am one of the few old Bitcoiners from my country. I used to exchange with some known dealers from Facebook groups as that was the only source to get buyers/sellers at the beginning. I met a few dealers in person back in the day. the purpose was to increase the trust among dealers.
But nowadays, it's almost impossible to get someone to deal with in person. Why would they deal in person when they have many options? This increases the doubt although it's possible that they want to deal secretly so that govt doesn't track. It's very much risky.

When in my country people used to deal in person, there were dew type of scam we have heard like threatening/blackmailing as cryptocurrency is illegal here, sometimes took Bitcoin and just denied and acted like stranger.

But still, it is almost the same because you'll need to do an online KYC on the website, which still lets them know your identity, but again, there are cons to the physical one as a lot of people will see you, which again can attract bad guys. I don't have much experience with it as it is not available in our area, but I would definitely try it because I just want to know the feeling. I mean, it is not the usual way we are exchanging our assets, so it is good to try, but again, privacy and your security will be compromised.

Your physical exchange assumptions may sound reasonable, but they're still assumptions. This shows a fundamental misunderstanding of Bitcoin's groundbreaking decentralized architecture. Exchanges in person? They may reflect crypto transactions physically, but their existence limits them.

Bitcoin-supporting online sites operate in the borderless digital realm. KYC limitations and trading limits are simplistic. Exchanges in person? Physical bureaucracy of the traditional financial system hinders them. Bitcoin was created to overcome these constraints. KYC and other regulatory restrictions online are due to government involvement, not Bitcoin. The essence of Bitcoin is freedom from such restrictions. And we should relentlessly promote that.

The rates don't necessarily have to be lower, but the exchange will take a cut of your profit, that's for sure. They have to make money, otherwise, what's the point of their business?! The rates can be anywhere from 1-3%, maybe more for small amounts. Anything above that is too much.   

If the law in your country requires that you pay taxes when exchanging crypto for fiat, you aren't exempt from that just because you are using an online exchange. You are required to declare that in your tax report and pay the necessary taxes. It's a completely different topic of discussion if people do that and if their tax offices check or have the needed information.

I don't think you can find a quality CEX nowadays that allows you to exchange 100 BTC without previously undergoing KYC. And if there is such a service, it's not going to work for long. Even Binance had a daily withdrawal limit of up to 2 BTC in the better (KYC-less) days.

Yeah, I know of an identical incident in my country. Some police officers from my country stop a bus and arrest a man with his phone. Later we found out that the man was involved in gambling activity and at that time he was holding 22 Bitcoin in his mobile Bitcoin wallet. I am not sure if that man was dumb to do that or not conscious enough to carry his Bitcoin within his mobile phone.

I don't think there is nothing wrong with him having his bitcoin  along with him always but the truth  is that the country is messed  up and I don't know your country but if the guy can prove that his winnings are from gambling then I think their shouldn't be any reasons to hold him down except gambling is illegal  in your country .
On the other hand, if someone already has over 22 Bitcoins in his possession,  then what really must have hindered him from having a hardware wallet?
Well I'm sure only the victim can answer perfectly for himself but whatever the case  might be, we shoukd learn how to trade with caution while handling Bitcoin  and cryptocurrency in general especially  if it has restrictions in our country

Yeah, gambling is illegal in my country, and trading or exchanging any kind of cryptocurrencies as well. So hardware wallet is not so easy to get in the country and customers even blocked the delivery of safepal hardware wallet in some cases. You are right the country is just so messed up and the law enforcement agency tries to take advantage of the situation most of the time.

Still, bitcoin is very popular in my country and people uses P2P transaction to trade bitcoin with each other. Many use mobile banking system to bypass the formal banking channel so that they won't get caught.

At some point I prefer not to go public with anything that will announce me as Bitcoin or cryptocurrency user this is because in my country, Bitcoin is not legalized yet but everyone use it just like..... so if you leave in such a country as mine, the best possible measure will be to avoid physical exchange or casinos because this is red spot activities and must be done underground to avoid possible suspicion that could lead to your privacy invasion by overzealous security personals, and just as you have said, having a 22 bitcoins outside is a big risk because the ops become vulnerable to attack I suggest,  the best possible practice should be to leave you wallet keys somewhere accessible, but don't carry wallet apps on your mobile while travelling or outside.

You don't know when you can come across some corrupt policemen who don't know the rule of law coming to search your phone, even though they don't have such right against the citizen, to search any citizen's phone you need a warrant.

That's also similar case over here although is very much legalize in my country and almost everyone is into it due to the poor standard of living here and the situation with crypto is still not quite understandable over because with I feel about Bitcoin and crypto legalisation in my country, it only the CBN that put restriction on transacting crypto with your Normal fiat bank but the issue on the restriction has been taken to another level by the so called government security official.

A person who had been caught because of such app is really just that dumb and its true that if you do know that you are on middle of something or some possible trouble then uninstalling an app does only need few seconds but if it really just that you are really that wary about on the said condition but if you do make yourself that too confident or really that simply dont mind about those potential danger then you would likely
be ending up on this kind of condition on which it is really that something that you should have done earlier so that you wont really be putting yourself on tough situation. Its not really that dangerous on storing up
some coins on an online wallet or exchange or whatever wallet that you do have in mobile as long you do possess the keys then you could simply access it on other via means. There are really just those
people who cant really think up well on the time that they would really be on a condition on which they are really that on a potential danger or putting themselves at harm.

Hmm... I really didn't know about that news, in which country was this event held? But based on the context you gave, I don't understand why make your personal exchanges public?.. If there are restrictions where you live, it would be best to do it anonymously, don't you think? On the other hand, answering your question, first of all the fate of physical cryptocurrency exchanges may vary depending on the regulation and adoption in your country… Since as cryptocurrencies gain popularity, some countries have implemented regulations to Supervise and control the activities related to them. .. In my case, physical exchanges are not seen very often, ignorance towards Bitcoin still abounds here... I hope this will change in the future and there will be more people who know what Bitcoin is at least..

Aside from law enforcement agencies, we also have security threat to be the major risk in making your bitcoin exchange public,  because people are found of seeing those with Bitcoin as being supper rich since the own the magic money but on the other hand,  if you operate online exchange that way your privacy will be highly protected and no one will ever know your worth or what you can afford or not.

Have you ever asked yourself why Binance which happens to be the world's biggest exchange doesn't have a physical office,  this is because office space costs much more in terms of bills and security,  as long as you can perform 100% from online,  it means online.

Personally I never used physical locations to buy bitcoin and to be honest I don't think I would ever do it simply because it means that whoever is there in that moment will know you own some crypto. Maybe you bought $10, maybe you bought 1 bitcoin, who knows, in any case others don't know and they may think you own a lot of bitcoin so, government aside, there is also a personal safety issue.

If as you said, you are not willing to use bitcoin in public, it means that you do not want people to know you are a bitcoin investor. If everyone is like you, how can bitcoin become a currency, a means of payment when everyone hides that they own bitcoin? We always want bitcoin to become more popular, always want people to know more about bitcoin, but meanwhile we are afraid to use bitcoin or spread bitcoin to others. How can bitcoin become popular?

I agree with you and I am the same. I am very uninterested in physical exchanges or any personal transaction regarding crypto. Not only is it unsafe for me, it is also unsafe for the one I am transacting with. Moreover, it is very hard to trust people especially when it comes to financial transactions. I would rather do everything online where I have the means to stay under the radar and keep my identity hidden by being as anonymous as I can. There is still risk doing that but not as much as doing physical transactions and exchanges.

BTC is already very popular, you don't have to tell everyone about BTC or that you use BTC before it can become a currency. People spend BTC daily, either in their local stores or online and they don't have a problem doing that as long as they are protecting their privacy, by either not reusing addresses, or not using addresses that holds their main funds for payments.

I have never before seen a physical BTC exchange, though if i have one around me, i may consider using it, because whatever threat you feel after using such exchange should be the same as when you walk into a fiat bank or use a fiat or BTC ATM, though i get it that in some areas where BTC is not too popular, people think that whosoever uses BTC is very rich and they may become a target.

Here in my place where I lived, I didn't found yet that there are physical exchanges for crypto. If ever I see one, I'll be happy and maybe immediately try their service. But before I do that, we have to remember that if people know that you have a crypto, what they think is that you have a lot of money. So if criminals knows about it, they will surely eyeing that person.

So in my opinion, it's not ideal to use physical exchanges for crypto because it may risk your life. Remember, Bitcoin was made for our safety, so if we use physical exchanges, we are not doing the best use of Bitcoin.

I'm not sure what risks there may be for your country in using cryptocurrencies, but not only in your country has the government made it clear that using Bitcoin is against the law there. Nevertheless, in my opinion, if your government forbids the use of Bitcoin there, you should stop using it and avoid any situations that could land you in jail. I can see that there is no faithful unity in your country, but in my country, using cryptocurrencies is illegal either, but not as awful as your country. For your own safety, stop using it, mate.

The truth is that, despite the fact that we all want to see bitcoin  getting global recognition  and acceptance, doesn't mean that we would want to risk ourselves especially  in countries with very strict regulations against bitcoin  and cryptocurrency in general.
And with that been said, I wouldn't have to blame the woman because she made her exchange physical  and obvious and I also wouldn't expect the woman to ask her customers the source of their  wealth before trading with them because I believe  bitcoin  is decentralized and as such she wasn't expected to ask her customers how their bitcoin  is gotten because there are people who earn and own bitcoin  genuinely and I think the security  officers were to rash with their decisions.

Are you for real ?
I'm sorry to say but I dont see myself leaving bitcoin  ever because everything I've owned is courtesy  of bitcoin  and I wouldn't say I'm extremely  careful but I think I'm conscious enough not to let people know I own bitcoin  and that doesn't mean I don't preach about it in the little  way I could  and I've also held seminars in my local church
to enlighten people about it but everything  should be done consciously.

I've not seen any physical exchange in my locality but I have come across a topic on Bitcointalk where someone from my country shared a snapshot of a physical crypto shop where one can trade cryptocurrency. Personally, I would not trade with such exchange because I'm concerned about my privacy and security. One can always exchange crypto assets through online exchange or P2P services from the comfort of his home, so why would I want to go to a physical store or meet someone I don't know from anywhere and possibly get myself in trouble? One could even get robbed or lost his life in such places. Because of the level of risk involved I would distance myself from such places and not take part in any form of physical cryptocurrency trading.

Which country are you referring to here?
I think it's very important that we all get to know what the rules are concerning Bitcoin in our countries before doing anything. Where I stay, there are physical exchangers, but you don't really need to visit their office for any exchange , you can do any exchange with them online and most of them even have Apps that you can download from app stores to make your trading easier. They just set up the physical locations as a way to establish trust.

This is the first time I'm hearing about a physical exchange of Bitcoin and I hope the OP or those who have tried these services can tell us what countries they live in and how it works. This is just out of curiosity and knowledge of something new, but personally I would never venture to use these services if the country does not support crypto services. In the most extreme cases, if I have to use it, I prefer to maintain as much privacy as possible, such as visiting stores that are not in my neighborhood, or dividing the amount that I want to exchange into more than one part, and asking some friends to exchange it for me at new addresses. It is not without risk, in my opinion.

When the country hadn't legally providing support for the service, it is really risky to run the exchange service. In my country I haven't come across these kind of services, but I have the thought of opening a store to support people to know about bitcoin and invest into it. In my country the same problem, the government isn't steady in its position. Anytime something against the service can happen, better is to stay away from these kind of services. However in my understanding these services surely help with the spread about bitcoin.

Depends on the place/location, but since there is no physical exchange in my area i can't give any experience regarding it but just a theory. Because asking how safe physical exchanges are like asking if transacting in banks are safe as well regardless of the amount you transacted.  Of course the always, is always yes. Those incidents are outside of the area, just be wary and when filling forms always dont put your complete details.

Some exchanges offices allowed OTC transactions for a certain amount especially in US ot maybe here in PH as well.

Just like in my country where BTC isn't fully accepted, we use P2P which is way easier and faster and most importantly, using an exchange that takes my asset's safety seriously.

Sometimes, I trade it. Like asking my friends if they have usdt then in return, I pay them in cash. No KYC needed. Easy and safe!

If your country's government has strict and nasty regulations on bitcoin, then I agree that we shouldn't risk spreading bitcoins to others or regularly using bitcoins. But if your country has regulated and legalized bitcoin, then we need to do something to make bitcoin more popular. Don't be too selfish when we always say people should disseminate information about bitcoin while we keep it a secret from others. Many people are doing this, they often go on social media to urge people to spread bitcoin to the people around to make bitcoin more popular, but they are not doing it because they think they need privacy, and that is selfish.

Trading online does not necessarily keep you safe…. It has been possible to see news of people whose assets have been stolen when carrying out their transactions in this way, security is being increasingly attacked against users, especially those who handle bitcoin, and this happens without even making public the procedures that are made with this currency or the amount that is owned, imagine that everyone started talking about how much they earn and in what currency they get all that money, obviously it would alert the malicious to attack you. Hackers have intensified in recent years, and this is due to the information that is handled, as you indicate:   which is why they are alert to any movement that it is done with bitcoin, truth is difficult to keep our bitcoin totally safe, the only thing that can be done is to be extremely careful in the anonymity and in each exchange process that is carried out.

It's actually rare to have physical exchanges that are related to crypto like in my country which is PH. If you joined some group page or any group about crypto where you could ask them to have physical transaction so you could have guaranteed exchange, but the fact that your safety is on danger is not already convenient. As you mentioned that some criminal might target you due to they might find out that you are actually holding Bitcoin is not already convincing to implement physical exchanges. Bitcoin could be done thru the use of the internet internationally so it's much convenient no hassle on meeting up strangers plus you could do transactions without even revealing your identity. It might work if they have alternative solutions or way to avoid such illegal things.

There is no doubt about that, but you can estimate the degree of risk in launching or using such a service even if the state supports this type of activity.
Crypto is basically made to preserve the largest percentage of privacy, and if part of that privacy must be lost, at least it is on an online platform and not directly in reality.
Then what is the difference between this what we call "physical trading" and the use of ATMs? Aren't these machines more efficient and reliable? I still insist on the seriousness of this type of exchange and that it is different from peer-to-peer exchanges.

I still see way more dangerous physically going to some store to buy bitcoin rather than doing it online. If you go to a store everybody sees you, they may even follow you home to check if you live in a small apartment of if you have a big house, they see what type of car you drive and with all those information it's easy to guess how much money you may have.

I don't have exchanges near me, closest thing we have here for a cryptocurrency exchange is a lone bitcoin ATM that I'd have to travel 25 mins first before getting into, so you can only imagine how hard it is. Plus, the country I live in is at this limbo of being well aware of what crypto is and how it works, while at the same time completely oblivious to its existence in some sort of paradox lol. I wish more people would've been aware of bitcoin here for these discussions to even warrant notice in my part but it's just not that rampant.

Anywho, as for the bitcoin ATM, it's relatively safe, never heard of it ever getting pried open or stolen by thieves, despite the fact that it doesn't even have a bodyguard to keep it secure at all times.

The truth is that,  I always question this kind of statement where users make such assumption that bitcoin could be bought at a physical exchange,  because everything about Bitcoin is done digitally so the privacy is still there despite visiting a physical exchange it doesn't really means you are totally at risk of security challenges.

Although the best way to buy your bitcoin os through an exchange and have them transferred to your personal wallet,  visiting a physical exchange increase your risks of security but then also depends on your location because some of the bitcoin p2p exchange are unbranded and have other business running in the same environment so no one can really tell what you went in to do.

I believe, physical crypto-exchanges are not very common because if you are in this market, more than likely, you are transacting via digital ways.
Because you will find out soon that the convenience and the fees involved are relatively cheaper than we you visit a local physical crypto-exchange.
You may opt for this option if you are in a tight position where you have no access online and the only choice is to go to this physical exchange.
And also, most crypto-exchanges are operating online. It would be easy to find an online exchange rather than a physical one. There's too much hassle visiting one.

Really even in my locality the fear is there that law enforcement agencies will embarrass bitcoiners so all the people that involves in bitcoin activities both traders and investors are very much careful about the transaction and the kind of apps we keep in our phones. Because the CBN banned bitcoin in the 2021, the law enforcement agencies have taken this as an opportunity to embarrass young men in the country. Even though you dress well, it's a problem, the agencies would be suspecting to be a fraudster.

So because of all those maltreatment by the agencies, many users of cryptocurrencies hide their apps and any thing that is related to cryptocurrency. If not neighbourhood p2p is one of the best way for transactions.

I agree, the token holder might be at risk for this. Knowing that if you are dealing with stranger you are not sure what is going in his mind or maybe his reason for meet up and exchange his coin/token/fiat. The reason why crypto is created is for anonymity ,  but I knew some people who do this kind of thing when they are hodling a large amount of bitcoin in casinos because they can freely show their money in their and there's a lot of guards.

Always do what is legal. It's nice to think about something like this, but if it's not legal in your country, it's not the right thing to do. People often make videos on social media to share their knowledge about Bitcoin with other people. If it's not legal to open such a business in your country, you can make a video to appeal to a specific audience and pass on your knowledge.

My hope is that Bitcoin will eventually be legally accepted in countries. Bitcoin ATMs are available and used in my country. Especially people from abroad use these ATMs. Some cafes have Bitcoin payment options. These should be everywhere in the world. Because people deserve to pay and shop with a single currency everywhere.

It is important to note that it is not easy for countries to adopt bitcoin in a decentralized way, and that even countries that adopt bitcoin uses partially or completely treat it as fiat digital money, since it is not possible to maintain the required amount of privacy, and therefore there is no benefit. Who can use it since fiat money can be used in the same way. Today, in the countries with the largest rates of crypto users, we find that stablecoins, whose backed by the dollar, are the most used.

So it does basically shows that people do still end up on touching up those centralized things rather than on focusing into something that been decentralized? Not new anymore, considering that we are making use

of these platforms or companies which are heavily centralized then expect that everything is been traced out or simply having that kind of removing that full anonymity on which you are really that liking for.
This is why on the time that you do touch up these areas then dont expect about that decentralized aspect because its already been that removed since it do offers something that contrary. In speaking about having that digital currency then i do agree with those points and this is why people cant really see much difference in speaking about their usage or on how  its utility do work.
Being safe, then not that totally but we are still on that positive side though because we know that different situations could possibly happen along the way which brings out that total disaster
if things turns out to be messy.

What I meant is not to expect the best when some countries officially recognize Bitcoin as legal tender, as happened in El Salvador and Central Africa, and not when it is recognized as a commodity in the form of a digital asset, as the UAE did, for example, or many other countries without recognizing it as legal tender. .
Achieving financial independence using Bitcoin can never be through centralized media such as banks or financial institutions supported by governments because this cannot provide the required amount of privacy to ensure that independence.
Countries adopting Bitcoin in any form means raising the level of awareness among people and introducing them to the role that Bitcoin can play in their lives, but they must also be aware that this will not happen without completely getting rid of any central authority.