OTC crypto trades with cash

[kebin33]

First of all, is that legal?
Secondly, where could I find people to trade with?
I searched and find LocalBitcoin and Paxful, I noticed they are C2C with a lot of scams. And they generally limit the total trade amount and charge a lot of fees.
Looking forward to responses.

[gentlemand]

Localbitcoins don't allow the advertising of cash trades any more. Dunno about Paxful.

The legality depends on where you are. In the US if you're doing it regularly you'll need to be a money transmitter.

You could look into Mycelium marketplace which is an in wallet advertising thing for traders. I'm not sure how active it is any more.

In olden times people would use Bitcoin meetups to trade in person. Maybe that's still a thing.

[fiulpro]

Hey
Well I have done trading with cash a few times but it is only something that I do with people who actually are known .
I think I saw some adds on localbitcoins about the trading using cash , but it is very few , like 1-2 people and that too at limited locations .
As for me if I would have traded in cash I would have to go to the centre of the country to do that .
Also at the same time , you cannot be sure that person which is doing this is someone who is reliable, but you should understand that it's better to do it in your own network.
Don't try it you will just waste time and money to go there

[YuginKadoya]

Did you try to use Coincheck? I have heard that they have OTC trading on their platform, And Coincheck is base on Japan and because of that I already trust that it is sure legit, Because I trusted Japan more than my own country, And it is registered under the Payment Service Act so it is regulated, I might say that Japan is now leading in providing good services with Cryptocurrency, But if you sure live in Japan I think you had a 100% benefit over it, But I guess you can still used it even if you are not from that country.

[Mbitr]

You could also try bitcoin atms

https://coinatmradar.com/

It depends on how much you want to trade and where you are I suppose.
The atms usually have a limit on how much cash you can exchange in one transaction, but you can always just do multiple transactions. Unfortunately, they do tend to charge a high transaction fee 7-10% in my experience.
Anyway hope this helps.

[avikz]

First of all, is that legal?
Secondly, where could I find people to trade with?
I searched and find LocalBitcoin and Paxful, I noticed they are C2C with a lot of scams. And they generally limit the total trade amount and charge a lot of fees.
Looking forward to responses.

The legality of OTC trade entirely depends on the location of your trade. If you trade in Japan, it will be legal and you will find a lot of vendors who accepts bitcoin against fiat currency. But if you do it in India, it is illegal because bitcoin is not a legal tender in India.

Now, I won't recommend any OTC trader because of few factors,

1. High fees
2. Risk of robbery in case the transaction value is high
3. Not anonymous
4. No one is holding escrow

Instead, bitcoin ATMs can be a good alternative but again the fees is really high! Prefer websites like LBC or Paxful to trade using banking channels. It is safer if the amount is not considerably high!

[squatter]

Now, I won't recommend any OTC trader because of few factors,

1. High fees
2. Risk of robbery in case the transaction value is high
3. Not anonymous
4. No one is holding escrow

In the past, I've used services like Localbitcoins and Paxful to find P2P cash buyers -- for the listings, not the escrow service. I avoid high-volume traders looking for large fees and generally trade at 1:1. For safety, I only deal in a public place like a busy cafe or McDonalds. It's much more anonymous than selling on an exchange with KYC. You can structure these trades with escrow too, although it's generally a waste of money to do that.

[malevolent]

Here is a list of alternatives to Localbitcoins (they no longer allow in-person cash trades): https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/b2wj6k/p2p_exchanges_eg_localbitcoins_bisq_hodlhodl/

Most of them don't get anywhere near as much traffic as localbitcoins.

[pakhitheboss]

OTC trading is too risky. Until you are familiar with the group. I personally have not tried it but, have heard a lot of negative points.

It also depends on your location, if you can mention the location on your post, someone from the forum might be able to help you with your query.

Less risky would be to try P2P service. Check the service board once if anyone there can help you.

[eternalgloom]

Kraken also does OTC trades for larger amounts of BTC.
Can recommend them. While I haven't used that particular service of them personally, I do know people who have and they've been very pleased.

https://www.kraken.com/en-gb/features/otc-exchange

[belli4388]

try to take a look also at bisq that is an exchange peer to peer among private users that offers a good level of privacy

[Kakmakr]

I used to buy and sell a lot of coins via Localbitcoins, but they turned legal now and KYC requirements is standard practice on their platform now. I only use cash transactions with people I got to know via Bitcoin meetups now, because it is very risky to do this with people you do not know.

If I can give you some advice, I would say, go to Bitcoin meetups in your area and build a good relationship/friendship with people at these meetups and then start trading with them in small amounts at first. 

[Heisenberg_Hunter]

Trying out OTC trades is much more riskier than buying crypto from a reputed exchange. Legality plays a major role in carrying out such a trade in a successful way. In most of the third world countries, bitcoin is illegal and you wouldn't be able to find a trusted party to trade with. Here if you are residing in any of the countries where bitcoin is illegal you could better go with localbtc and trade with trusted individuals rather than trying out random in person traders. USA, Australia and other well developed countries have various exchanges where you can buy btc with cash. Coinbase offers various opportunities to buy btc with cash in the countries where btc is legal.

Apart from that you can even try out services which this forum offers as a whole in money exchanges. There are a lot of trusted forum individuals who sell btc for PayPal or skrill. You can try their services and start buying.

[malevolent]

Trying out OTC trades is much more riskier than buying crypto from a reputed exchange.

With all the exchange hacks and scams?

Legality plays a major role in carrying out such a trade in a successful way. In most of the third world countries, bitcoin is illegal and you wouldn't be able to find a trusted party to trade with. Here if you are residing in any of the countries where bitcoin is illegal you could better go with localbtc and trade with trusted individuals rather than trying out random in person traders. USA, Australia and other well developed countries have various exchanges where you can buy btc with cash. Coinbase offers various opportunities to buy btc with cash in the countries where btc is legal.
Apart from that you can even try out services which this forum offers as a whole in money exchanges. There are a lot of trusted forum individuals who sell btc for PayPal or skrill. You can try their services and start buying.

Bitcoin/cryptocurrencies are illegal only in a handful of countries: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legality_of_bitcoin_by_country_or_territory

Localbitcoins no longer permits in-person cash trades, so that's off the table.

Coinbase works in less than 40 countries, most of the world can't access Coinbase even if BTC is legal where they reside.

[dothebeats]

First of all, is that legal?
Secondly, where could I find people to trade with?
I searched and find LocalBitcoin and Paxful, I noticed they are C2C with a lot of scams. And they generally limit the total trade amount and charge a lot of fees.
Looking forward to responses.

Cash trades with LBC are very rare, or may have been discontinued already due to the multitude of regulation engulfing the crypto market currently, moreso with the uncertainty on most countries wherein cryptos are neither legal nor illegal. Anyways, OTC trading is available if you have a large $$$ to spare to buy crypto. I'm pretty sure there are numerous reputable exchanges who would love to have you as a customer, although again this will come with documents that would testify to the 'weight' of your trades.

You could look into Mycelium marketplace which is an in wallet advertising thing for traders. I'm not sure how active it is any more.

Uhh, is this still a thing? Last time I heard about Mycelium marketplace was some 2 years ago.

In olden times people would use Bitcoin meetups to trade in person. Maybe that's still a thing.

Still pretty active in the Philippines. They can usually be found on Facebook groups and a dedicated Discord channel for serious traders only.

[Heisenberg_Hunter]

With all the exchange hacks and scams?

It's not good to have the coins in exchanges all the time. If the OP is a long time investor or gonna invest more in btc, it would be better to keep the coins in a hardware wallet. It is recommended to buy coins from a exchange and shift them to a hardware wallet at the earliest.

Bitcoin/cryptocurrencies are illegal only in a handful of countries: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legality_of_bitcoin_by_country_or_territory

Localbitcoins no longer permits in-person cash trades, so that's off the table.

Coinbase works in less than 40 countries, most of the world can't access Coinbase even if BTC is legal where they reside.

Localbitcoins doesn't permit in-person trades, but we can buy btc with fiat. Right? (Not really sure, since I have bought only thrice during last year and haven't made a trade since then in localbitcoins). We can either compare the trust scores and deal with traders to buy bitcoin from localbtc.

I travel between 2 countries quite often where, in one country coinbase operates legally and being the opposite in another. For most of the time, I use coinbase and buy btc in the country where it is legal and use them for trading and other purposes in the other country. Probably that's why I find it much easier to buy and sell btc when I am in need  . Either OP could find a friend or someone in a place where coinbase operates or should use this forum for buying btc through paypal or skrill.