Localbitcoins closing down

[davis196]

Today I signed up to my LocalBitcoins account and I got this message.

LocalBitcoins will discontinue its service
Dear Valued Customers,

Originally LocalBitcoins was established to Bring Bitcoin Everywhere and drive global financial inclusion. We have honored that mission for over 10 years and we are proud of what we have achieved together with all of you, our loyal community.

We are therefore sad to share, that regardless of our efforts to overcome challenges during the ongoing very cold crypto-winter, we have regretfully concluded that LocalBitcoins can no longer provide its Bitcoin trading service.

We encourage all customers to withdraw their funds from LocalBitcoins and we ask you to proceed with withdrawing the Bitcoins from your LocalBitcoins wallet. You have 12 months to withdraw, however of course we encourage you to proceed withdrawing sooner.

Thank you for being a part of the LocalBitcoins family! It has been our honor and pleasure to serve you over the last decade.

Timeline for discontinuing the Bitcoin trading service:
2023-02-09 Suspension of new sign ups
2023-02-16
Suspension of trading on LocalBitcoins
Suspension of using LocalBitcoins wallet (with exception of withdrawing one's funds)
After 2023-02-17 LocalBitcoins customers will only be able to log-in to withdraw their Bitcoins. The trading and Wallet services will no longer be available at this point.
We thank you for choosing LocalBitcoins for all these years and apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Is this even true? I can't believe that such a great crypto company is closing down. I haven't seen any news about this anywhere on the web. Are there any Localbitcoins users here? Please share your opinions.

[1714680104]

1714680104

[EarnOnVictor]

Are you asking if this is true again? But you posted it from the message sent to you via the member area on their website. I'm afraid, such should be more than true, it should be real. I was suspecting the stress of the company since last year, it seems that their services are not widely spread as many might think.

Exchanges and exchangers are their archrivals, and unfortunately for them, internet schemes are not like those of old that comply with what "LocalBitcoins" would dominate. The exchanges and direct exchangers provide their servers directly to people, so, a company with a direct P2P model may not be needed like before.

But on login in myself, I could see that they are still active, maybe you have mistaken their renewal for closing down, perhaps they changed their mind.

[Maus0728]

I've also tried signing up and this is what their website said

Info! Signing up is temporarily disabled. Please try again later!

What's odd is that, upon accessing their website, there's a small banner that says "We're gradually renewing our website! Learn more about the latest changes and Give us feedback" as if like there's no service discontinue that will happen. Can't even find the announcement unless I type in service_closure/ on the url. 

More importantly, I am pretty sure there's more to the story behind "crypto winter"

[NotATether]

Can confirm that the URL does exist: https://localbitcoins.com/service_closure/ (another one bites the dust)

Makes me glad that I didn't do any KYC with these goons. Before you can trade, they ask for all kinds of stuff including ID cards and SSNs (if you are an american). Who knows what is going to happen to these documents once LocalBitcoins is gone or whether they will even securely destroy them.

@bbc.reporter Be careful what you wish for, I think this is an example of one of those high profile shutdowns you were talking about a couple days ago.  

[DaveF]

Surprised it's not on Twitter or any other social media.
But, in the end I can see them having the same issues as other small exchanges. The cost of operations is going up and the larger places are putting a squeeze on profits.

In a peer to peer environment like they have, I can see profits shrinking to the point that it's not worth doing it.

They are not doing a cut and run but an orderly shutdown, so it shows they are at least a serious operation. Gives them credibility if they want to start something similar at a later date.

-Dave

[rat03gopoh]

LBC is the second after CoinCloud^[1] that I am aware of will be discontinuing their service although it is unknown if they have the same reasons. It seems that this crypto winter will indeed be the end of the journey for many p2p trading services.

But on login in myself, I could see that they are still active, maybe you have mistaken their renewal for closing down, perhaps they changed their mind.

They didn't say a total shutdown as of today, the "website renewal" ann^[2] I think was actually stickied on their first page long before the discontinuing ann, so active users don't pay much attention to that page anymore.


1. https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5438836
2. https://localbitcoins.com/about-website-renewal/

[NotATether]

How come no news outlet is reporting on this? Was it announced like just now, or did this exist since a few days ago?

LBC is the second after CoinCloud^[1] that I am aware of will be discontinuing their service although it is unknown if they have the same reasons. It seems that this crypto winter will indeed be the end of the journey for many p2p trading services.

1. https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5438836
2. https://localbitcoins.com/about-website-renewal/

I think you meant LocalCryptos which has also shut down.

But what on earth does CoinCloud have to do with any of this? As far as I know, they are an ATM operator, not a P2P platform, so while it would make sense that they shut down due to loan defaults, Localbitcoins should not be having any loans, just profit margins.

[bmwister]

I think yes, it is true. Because they wrote about it officially on their website.

It's a pity, of course. It's bad for bitcoin. Many people in third world countries use it because there is no other similar service there.

In my opinion, they were dead as soon as they introduced KYC))

By the way, I can offer you an alternative application for BTC and XMR called AgoraDesk. Or Bisq and Robosats. They have open source code, a peer-to-peer system, their own hosting, a self-sufficient fiat with the ability to enable/disable ramp and exchange.

[DaveF]

Is this even true? I can't believe that such a great crypto company is closing down.

I don't find this news surprising, LocalBitcoins losing it's popularity since it enforce mandatory KYC. People who don't mind handing their personal data is more likely to use centralized exchange. And those who have serious privacy concern move to different P2P website which has none or optional KYC (such as HodlHodl).

Also, I think a lot of people now found regular trading partners and they started to loose their commissions.
I know I did this YEARS ago when they took the F2F cash out of the options. I knew how to contact the people I had done deals with so I picked up the phone and called them.
Probably should have done that before then to save the % that LBC charged.

After that they stopped offering service where I am so I really stopped caring, but if someone sent you Zelle or cashapp or any of many of the other services that they offered if you trust the other party you really did not need them anymore.

-Dave

[talkoncrypto Official]

The news is there ...

Source:  https://decrypt.co/120933/localbitcoins-shut-down-10-years-operation

[Jet Cash]

We need this service in Bitcointalk.

[buwaytress]

Just used it myself today, I saw no such thing or message... would have been big news in my circle for sure. Edit: seems confirmed, even if on my screen nothing of the sort shows.

Thankfully, by now, I already have a few trusted peeps from over the years so if it's true, I deal with them outside already anyway for the most. It will mean I don't get the best rates selling over time to new traders though... so that's a bummer.

Always thought them being in Finland protected them somewhat.

[talkoncrypto Official]

you can certainly try https://coinbaazar.com .. thats probably the best and only option

https://twitter.com/coin_baazar

[dimonstration]

It’s sad but their service is not appealing anymore since centralized exchange already offer P2P exchange that doesn’t need to go outside the exchange itself to sell their holdings. I become a seller of Bitcoin on that platform before but dealing there is a bit risky compared on current P2P exchange of CEX which has safety feature in case you are dealing with scammer.

It’s just sad that they didn’t improved their platform for all the popularity they got during the early stage of Bitcoin. They have the capability to become a huge exchange like Binance before but they didn’t pursue full potential of CEX.

This news is legit.

[AverageGlabella]

Something new will replace it but it is a loss to the btc community localbitcoins has been the website everyone uses for p2p trades because of its simple process. I think they should be allowing more then 12 months to withdraw funds because that is not a lot of time and some members are not getting the message. I wonder if it is increased regulations and KYC requirements that have shut them down. I do not think the company is based in a country where it is banned to use btc and it comes at a weird time for it to shut down. I thought it would be sold instead of shutting down because it is one of the most known exchanges in the btc community.

[Edwardard]

Something new will replace it but it is a loss to the btc community localbitcoins has been the website everyone uses for p2p trades because of its simple process.

Binance has already replaced everything, from p2p to margin trading to spot trading alts/btc/usdt.
Also, I dont think many ppl were using localbitcoins recently, I heard they got high exchange rates and not very suitable and user friendly for recent users. Hence, they got forgotton because they couldnt catch up with the ppl's changing habits/behaviour. They should have built a better app like binance/bybit to catch more attention of newer generation, but they just got stuck with the old boring theme.

[OmegaStarScream]

I can't say I didn't expect this to happen[1]. I don't think that the problem has anything to do with them enforcing KYC though. After all, it's difficult to compete with CEXes which already have a large user base and offer P2P for a 0% fee, or with Paxful where gift cards and in-person transactions are supported.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5387851.msg59395025#msg59395025

[Nrcewker]

We need this service in Bitcointalk.

Definitely agree on this. I mean I myself uses many times these P2P exchanges to buy and sell the Bitcoins. To be honest, I was using Localbitcoins and LocalCryptos mostly to do these types of deals. But Now both are shutting down their operations. And currently, I dont have any other option than using Paxful. But I don't want to use Paxful, as their support team is shit and they have plenty of scammers. So If bitcointalk introduces something like this, then it will be really great for the users who are really dependent on P2P deals. Else If possible, suggest the other best and legit alternatives. Really hearing the news from LocalBitcoins was unexpected.

[AverageGlabella]

I can't say I didn't expect this to happen[1]. I don't think that the problem has anything to do with them enforcing KYC though. After all, it's difficult to compete with CEXes which already have a large user base and offer P2P for a 0% fee, or with Paxful where gift cards and in-person transactions are supported.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5387851.msg59395025#msg59395025

Good prediction I did not know they were struggling as much as they were I noticed a decrease in activity but I never thought they would die. Every time you see a topic here asking for a p2p exchange localbitcoins is one of the most recommended and by veteran members too. It is probably the earliest p2p that I remember. Huge loss to the community but I guess they do not want to compete with the 0% fee exchanges.

[Gallar]

localbitcoins will be closed due to its inability to overcome the bear market that has shaken the industry.

I don't think something like that will close a company that big, with a history that has been going on for about a decade, they should have more experience dealing with this kind of thing.