What after localbitcoins.com shutting down

[talkoncrypto Official]

About the platform shared by OP which I never heard about, has anyone really used it and if yes please share how was your experience.

You can see from OP's post history that he heavily shills that site. He is most likely affiliated with it.

I have not used it, and I would recommend avoiding it. It requires that you deposit your coins to a wallet that they control, so is completely centralized and your coins are not yours. Their Terms of Service say they require full KYC, and reserve the right to freeze your account and your funds while they demand "upgraded" KYC, for any reason. And of course their Privacy Policy gives them the right to share all your data with anyone they want.

So pretty much all the worst parts of a centralized exchange.

 Though you have a legendary account but i wish you would simply understand the difference between a peer-to-peer crypto exchange to a centralized exchange, moreover every exchange in the world will protect its right when it comes to fraud, so every exchange or platform have the right to ban/freeze bad actors... though chances are very negligible but one has to mention ... This exchange does not popped out yesterday or day before..its been there for more than 2 years now ...and still going good

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[Z-tight]

but i wish you would simply understand the difference between a peer-to-peer crypto exchange to a centralized exchange,

If you have to give up the custody of your coins to an exchange before you trade it, then that is 'fake' p2p, p2p involves trading crypto without any third party, so every centralized exchange isn't really a p2p exchange because you have to give up the custody of your funds to the exchange before they would allow you trade. A good example of a p2p exchange is Bisq.

moreover every exchange in the world will protect its right when it comes to fraud, so every exchange or platform have the right to ban/freeze bad actors...

You do not even have to be a bad actor for a centralized exchange to ban or freeze your money. They will do that for many reasons, if they don't like you or where your money is coming from, if they think your money is "tainted", if the government says they should, heck, they don't even have to ban or freeze you, they can just take your money and put it in another investment and lose it, or they get hacked and lose your money. There are so many ways you can lose your money in a centralized exchange.

This exchange does not popped out yesterday or day before..its been there for more than 2 years now ...and still going good

FTX, Voyager, Celsius, 3AC, Genesis...all didn't pop out 'yesterday', they have been in the market for sometime, it doesn't matter how long a centralized exchange has been in the market, it can collapse at anytime, even Binance isn't safe from collapse, so do not trust any exchange.

[o_e_l_e_o]

there are many other alternatives that are characterized by safety, reliability, reasonable fees, and privacy, and this is often missing on centralized exchanges, for me, I recommend Binance P2P and Bisq in the first place.

If you want safety, privacy, or reasonable fees, then Binance shouldn't even be on your list, and certainly nowhere near the top. Binance P2P is completely centralized and simply uses the P2P tag as marketing slogan. It is about as far from true P2P as you can get.

Though you have a legendary account but i wish you would simply understand the difference between a peer-to-peer crypto exchange to a centralized exchange, moreover every exchange in the world will protect its right when it comes to fraud, so every exchange or platform have the right to ban/freeze bad actors... though chances are very negligible but one has to mention ...

My account status is irrelevant. There are plenty of actually decentralized exchanges out there which never request KYC and do not require that you hand over control of your coins by depositing them in a centralized wallet under control of the exchange, such as Bisq, AgoraDesk, RoboSats. The site you are shilling is completely centralized and therefore a very poor choice.

[talkoncrypto Official]

but i wish you would simply understand the difference between a peer-to-peer crypto exchange to a centralized exchange,

If you have to give up the custody of your coins to an exchange before you trade it, then that is 'fake' p2p, p2p involves trading crypto without any third party, so every centralized exchange isn't really a p2p exchange because you have to give up the custody of your funds to the exchange before they would allow you trade. A good example of a p2p exchange is Bisq.

moreover every exchange in the world will protect its right when it comes to fraud, so every exchange or platform have the right to ban/freeze bad actors...

You do not even have to be a bad actor for a centralized exchange to ban or freeze your money. They will do that for many reasons, if they don't like you or where your money is coming from, if they think your money is "tainted", if the government says they should, heck, they don't even have to ban or freeze you, they can just take your money and put it in another investment and lose it, or they get hacked and lose your money. There are so many ways you can lose your money in a centralized exchange.

This exchange does not popped out yesterday or day before..its been there for more than 2 years now ...and still going good

FTX, Voyager, Celsius, 3AC, Genesis...all didn't pop out 'yesterday', they have been in the market for sometime, it doesn't matter how long a centralized exchange has been in the market, it can collapse at anytime, even Binance isn't safe from collapse, so do not trust any exchange.

Reading at the replies one thing is concluded , we are still in early stages of crypto space where the difference is still unknown,.. Let me just give you a scenario for better understanding..

In a centralized exchange the price of crypto is set by exchange itself, which is a monopolistic practice which is not in the case of p2p as people set their own margins for buying or selling, there is competetiveness..

2ndly for a crypto to be cashed out, either you choose to go centralized exchange or you use p2p exchange which provides an escrow service,
We see many scenarios where cex falls out of liquidity because they have to cash out funds for users, which is not the case in p2p as people trade among themselves..

Though there are "n" number of scenarios i can still but its better for anyone to go DYOR as i mentioned in my thread...

[LeGaulois]

In a centralized exchange the price of crypto is set by exchange itself, which is a monopolistic practice which is not in the case of p2p as people set their own margins for buying or selling, there is competetiveness..

2ndly for a crypto to be cashed out, either you choose to go centralized exchange or you use p2p exchange which provides an escrow service.

Is that a joke?
A centralized exchange doesn't set a price per se. It is based on the supply and demand, as well the trading volume.

Additionnaly, a CEX also acts as an escrow service. It connects buyers and sellers and is the middleman between both.

we are still in early stages of crypto space where the difference is still unknown

Everthing is clear. The difference is know and understood.

[logfiles]

Though you have a legendary account but i wish you would simply understand the difference between a peer-to-peer crypto exchange to a centralized exchange,

I think you need to do more reading about what "peer to peer" means. Stop focusing on member's ranks and feeling insulted.

These exchanges and marketplaces keep confusing you by mentioning p2p because it feels more attractive, but in actual sense they are not p2p exchanges. I don't know about the first years, but LocalBitcoins was far from being a p2p exchange in the later years. They would hold user funds, set deposit and withdrawal fees at their will, they would never reveal any private keys of the accounts to the users, block funds and ask for KYC.

The same applies to "Binance p2p". In fact, Binance gives even a clue in the link that they are not a p2p platform.

Look closely

Code:

https://c2c.binance.com/en/trade/sell/BTC?fiat=HKD&payment=ALL

Do you see that c2c right before binance.com? It means Customer to Customer or consumer to consumer, which makes more sense because c2c involves a third party, unlike p2p.

In a centralized exchange the price of crypto is set by exchange itself, which is a monopolistic practice which is not in the case of p2p as people set their own margins for buying or selling, there is competetiveness..

Wooooow. Just wow!!!

[Findingnemo]

In a centralized exchange the price of crypto is set by exchange itself, which is a monopolistic practice which is not in the case of p2p as people set their own margins for buying or selling, there is competetiveness..

2ndly for a crypto to be cashed out, either you choose to go centralized exchange or you use p2p exchange which provides an escrow service,
We see many scenarios where cex falls out of liquidity because they have to cash out funds for users, which is not the case in p2p as people trade among themselves..

A centralized exchange is just a platform like eBay where the seller and buyer set their own price and when it matches the trade will execute on an exchange whereas in p2p when someone posts a price and if you feel its okay then you will proceed further and that is the difference if you don't realize it in case.

Secondly, I can give thousands of examples of scams that happened in p2p which means the fiat sender gives false payment receipt and give some excuses for the trade to be released so the risk exists everywhere and not really exchange like Binance runs out of liquidity.

[EarnOnVictor]

In a centralized exchange the price of crypto is set by exchange itself, which is a monopolistic practice which is not in the case of p2p as people set their own margins for buying or selling, there is competetiveness..

2ndly for a crypto to be cashed out, either you choose to go centralized exchange or you use p2p exchange which provides an escrow service,
We see many scenarios where cex falls out of liquidity because they have to cash out funds for users, which is not the case in p2p as people trade among themselves..

A centralized exchange is just a platform like eBay where the seller and buyer set their own price and when it matches the trade will execute on an exchange whereas in p2p when someone posts a price and if you feel its okay then you will proceed further and that is the difference if you don't realize it in case.

Secondly, I can give thousands of examples of scams that happened in p2p which means the fiat sender gives false payment receipt and give some excuses for the trade to be released so the risk exists everywhere and not really exchange like Binance runs out of liquidity.

There are many centralised exchanges that have helped the crypto space so much in the past, and people often look for ways to cheat their services such as P2P services. This is a big challenge but I still do not believe that it's the main reason why Localbitcoins decided to stop their service. Paxful and other rivals are doing well and recording regular yearly gains to buttress my point.

What I believe is that they (Localbitcoins) are short of partonge compared to cost of running their service, hence the need to shutdown.

[logfiles]

Paxful and other rivals are doing well and recording regular yearly gains to buttress my point.

I don't know about Paxful's KYC policy, but their volumes seem to be starting to decline too, according to coindance and the current weekily of $30M is nowhere near Localbitcoin's all-time high of over $120M weekly trading volume.

We will see how it goes, maybe they will benefit from the closure of Localcryptos and Localbitcoins.

What I believe is that they (Localbitcoins) are short of partonge compared to cost of running their service, hence the need to shutdown.

The lost the volumes so quickly because of their strict KYC policy and they suffocated so fast.

[EarnOnVictor]

I don't know about Paxful's KYC policy, but their volumes seem to be starting to decline too, according to coindance and the current weekily of $30M is nowhere near Localbitcoin's all-time high of over $120M weekly trading volume.

Don't dwell in the past glory, you can't use all-time success to judge the stability and suitability of any business. The all-time high I even read was in 2017 and it's $130M but that is not the case here. Yahoo was doing better than Google some time ago, but can you compare the two in earnings now? Paxful was a better competitor and traffic trackers ranked it #16,947 while Localbitcoins ranked #42,159. That should mean something to you.

The lost the volumes so quickly because of their strict KYC policy and they suffocated so fast.

I don't think so, if they lost due to KYC, why are the others with the same KYC flourishing in the business? What I have noticed is that businesses with their model accepting all manner of payment systems for P2P need due process to protect themselves and their customers because fraudsters are everywhere.

[logfiles]

Don't dwell in the past glory, you can't use all-time success to judge the stability and suitability of any business.

History always repeats itself, especially when it comes to crypto exchanges. Don't tell me you don't know this.

The all-time high I even read was in 2017 and it's $130M but that is not the case here. Yahoo was doing better than Google some time ago, but can you compare the two in earnings now? Paxful was a better competitor and traffic trackers ranked it #16,947 while Localbitcoins ranked #42,159. That should mean something to you.

Aaah so Google is king forever, it will never drop from the top spot. Well, that means something to me 

I don't think so, if they lost due to KYC, why are the others with the same KYC flourishing in the business? What I have noticed is that businesses with their model accepting all manner of payment systems for P2P need due process to protect themselves and their customers because fraudsters are everywhere.

Did you ever have an account on localbitcoins before the mandatory KYC requirements came in? Trust me, their new KYC requirement were too strict and asking for too much personal information before one could get verified.

Even Binance and likes of OKX have KYC verification but have not yet reached that level of KYC where you have to state how much you earn yearly, what kind of business you do and where your grandmother was born etc 

You can look at the charts and interpret from the time KYC verification became mandatory on the platform - https://coin.dance/volume/localbitcoins

or this can help - LocalBitcoins: volumes down because of KYC

[EarnOnVictor]

Don't dwell in the past glory, you can't use all-time success to judge the stability and suitability of any business.

History always repeats itself, especially when it comes to crypto exchanges. Don't tell me you don't know this.

You of all people with your rank on the forum shouldn't have replied in a hurry and based on just a context without reading the full story. If you read the post again, you would know that I rebuffed the claim of the all-time high of Localbitcoins against Paxul using Google and Yahoo as an example, as not an indication of their present and future successes in my reply, which borne what you quoted.

This is business (crypto or not), and records are being broken yearly, so you are so wrong that history will repeat itself because it's crypto-related as no one will ever be able to break business records.

You're totally wrong!

[o_e_l_e_o]

I don't think so, if they lost due to KYC, why are the others with the same KYC flourishing in the business?

Which services which demand KYC are flourishing? In terms of centralized exchanges we've seen dozens collapse with insolvency, bankruptcy, or outright scams over the last few months, and those which haven't collapsed laying off huge chunks of their employees. And in terms of fake peer-to-peer exchanges which demand KYC, we've seen LBC shutdown and Paxful volume falling.

If you want to actually trade peer-to-peer, then you can use an exchange like Bisq which gives you complete privacy and complete security over your coins, does not require any KYC, and does not require you to deposit any money to a centralized wallet. I see no reason to use something like LBCs which provides you with zero privacy, zero security, frozen accounts, seized coins, and leaked/shared/sold data.

[logfiles]

You of all people with your rank on the forum shouldn't have replied in a hurry and based on just a context without reading the full story

Use the advice to better yourself. It looks like you need it more than I do.

I gave you links to help you analyse what went wrong and when problems started with Localbitcoins, but it seems you are even too lazy to do anything like checking them out. Maybe you could learn a thing or two and avoid groaning the "You of all people with your rank on the forum shouldn't..." lines

If you read the post again,

Of course, I read your lame example. Now you think am blind?

This is business (crypto or not), and records are being broken yearly, so you are so wrong that history will repeat itself because it's crypto-related as no one will ever be able to break business records.

Show us the data and records. If they are not there, then stop speculating.

[Accardo]

I don't think so, if they lost due to KYC, why are the others with the same KYC flourishing in the business?

Which services which demand KYC are flourishing? In terms of centralized exchanges we've seen dozens collapse with insolvency, bankruptcy, or outright scams over the last few months, and those which haven't collapsed laying off huge chunks of their employees. And in terms of fake peer-to-peer exchanges which demand KYC, we've seen LBC shutdown and Paxful volume falling.

If you want to actually trade peer-to-peer, then you can use an exchange like Bisq which gives you complete privacy and complete security over your coins, does not require any KYC, and does not require you to deposit any money to a centralized wallet. I see no reason to use something like LBCs which provides you with zero privacy, zero security, frozen accounts, seized coins, and leaked/shared/sold data.

Binance is one company that still flourishes after the KYC, even the gateio exchange is facing downside too and laying off employees, but the KYC rule increased the rate of hacking on the cryptocurrency market. Looking at the high rate of data marketing or even same KYC rule. Hackers and money launderers would invest a lot on using other people's documents to sign up on different sites that requires KYC. The last hack on FTX, what happened to people's documents and files? These are the risks involved in KYC why most people had to move away from a very promising trading venture like localbitcoin. I could remember how long it took me to get an account approved on localbitcoin 2 years ago. These flaws are not conducive anymore especially for traders that saw LB as an intermediary between traders and buyers. What's the essence of KYC for such a platform? I think the best p2p is p2p trading. Working with a trusted trader directly on social media or any other platform.

[EarnOnVictor]

I don't think so, if they lost due to KYC, why are the others with the same KYC flourishing in the business?

Which services which demand KYC are flourishing? In terms of centralized exchanges we've seen dozens collapse with insolvency, bankruptcy, or outright scams over the last few months, and those which haven't collapsed laying off huge chunks of their employees. And in terms of fake peer-to-peer exchanges which demand KYC, we've seen LBC shutdown and Paxful volume falling.

If you want to actually trade peer-to-peer, then you can use an exchange like Bisq which gives you complete privacy and complete security over your coins, does not require any KYC, and does not require you to deposit any money to a centralized wallet. I see no reason to use something like LBCs which provides you with zero privacy, zero security, frozen accounts, seized coins, and leaked/shared/sold data.

Binance is one company that still flourishes after the KYC, even the gateio exchange is facing downside too and laying off employees, but the KYC rule increased the rate of hacking on the cryptocurrency market. Looking at the high rate of data marketing or even same KYC rule. Hackers and money launderers would invest a lot on using other people's documents to sign up on different sites that requires KYC. The last hack on FTX, what happened to people's documents and files? These are the risks involved in KYC why most people had to move away from a very promising trading venture like localbitcoin. I could remember how long it took me to get an account approved on localbitcoin 2 years ago. These flaws are not conducive anymore especially for traders that saw LB as an intermediary between traders and buyers. What's the essence of KYC for such a platform? I think the best p2p is p2p trading. Working with a trusted trader directly on social media or any other platform.

I agree with most of what you expressed here, and it has affirmed my view that KYC is not the reason why crypto businesses are dying like some would let you believe. If anyone looks around, if a customer leaves a KYC-demanding establishment, there is a very higher tendency that such is moving to another one that would demand the same, but with a better service.

I've done that many times, and in this present dispensation, no one can tell me that a decentralized operation has more customers and volumes than the centralised one that demands KYC. This is obvious, and thank you for mentioning Binance, that's one of the crypto-related companies that are demanding it and is doing well. What about casinos to say the least?

However, it would be wrong to depend on social media for your P2P, this is one of the reasons why many people are easily swindled.

[o_e_l_e_o]

Binance is one company that still flourishes after the KYC

Binance are currently "in negotiations" with regulators about their illegal activities and secret transfers, so expect some kind of punishment and fall out from that. They experienced the largest single day outflow of money since the collapse of FTX earlier this week. Their stablecoin, BUSD, is struggling to maintain its peg under regulatory pressure and some users are not able to cash out. I wouldn't call that flourishing. I would call that a warning sign to get your money off their exchange and in to your own wallet.

Hackers and money launderers would invest a lot on using other people's documents to sign up on different sites that requires KYC.

Hacked/stolen KYC data is very cheap, and money launderers do not have to spend much at all. The hacker who stole KYC data from Binance for example was selling it on the dark net for a rate of between 1 and 5 USD per 1,000 documents. 5 bucks for 1,000 identities.

[Accardo]

Binance is one company that still flourishes after the KYC

Binance are currently "in negotiations" with regulators about their illegal activities and secret transfers, so expect some kind of punishment and fall out from that. They experienced the largest single day outflow of money since the collapse of FTX earlier this week. Their stablecoin, BUSD, is struggling to maintain its peg under regulatory pressure and some users are not able to cash out. I wouldn't call that flourishing. I would call that a warning sign to get your money off their exchange and in to your own wallet.

Hackers and money launderers would invest a lot on using other people's documents to sign up on different sites that requires KYC.

Hacked/stolen KYC data is very cheap, and money launderers do not have to spend much at all. The hacker who stole KYC data from Binance for example was selling it on the dark net for a rate of between 1 and 5 USD per 1,000 documents. 5 bucks for 1,000 identities.

Most of the disputes binance is facing didn't happen now and they're still running their business or trying to put things on the right track. It's possible they'll face more troubles soon, if they don't settle all the pipelined issues in the company. Looking at CZ's last letter to his employees that leaked some weeks back after they experienced the huge decline in customers. He tried to pass a unique message, that he doesn't need customer's funds to run his business. He may be wrong or right, but it seems his team is strong and they could witstand whatever problem that may come their way.

For the kyc documents that's been sold on the dark web, it's certain that documents can be gotten cheaper on their marketplace, due to the competition, yet, multiplied by the number of KYC documents in stock, they'll make a good amount of money, (1000 into 1000 is a million file) and these hackers could be getting these files in tens of millions. That aside, the buyers of these files can be considered account sellers; okx, cloud accounts, bank accounts etc, they don't sell the end products of these files for peanuts, an account could go for 60 to 100 dollars depending on the platform. Even local Bitcoin accounts sold for around $50 in the market. So, despite the cheap documents in the market it still yields more money when processed; utilized to create accounts. It's a huge market.

[o_e_l_e_o]

He may be wrong or right, but it seems his team is strong and they could witstand whatever problem that may come their way.

People said the same thing about FTX, Celsius, Voyager, BlockFi, and all the other collapsed exchanges. And all these collapsed exchanges were telling their users that everything was just fine right up until the minute they suspended all activities and froze all their users' coins. Any centralized exchange is only ever one bad decision, one hack, one piece of legislation or regulation away from the same fate.

That aside, the buyers of these files can be considered account sellers; okx, cloud accounts, bank accounts etc, they don't sell the end products of these files for peanuts, an account could go for 60 to 100 dollars depending on the platform.

Sure, but my point is that it remains incredibly cheap for a criminal to buy your KYC documents and open an account in your name in order to launder money. KYC does very little to prevent money laundering; all it achieves is shifting the blame on to some innocent person who had all their KYC documents leaked/shared/stolen/sold from some centralized exchange.

[Accardo]

He may be wrong or right, but it seems his team is strong and they could witstand whatever problem that may come their way.

People said the same thing about FTX, Celsius, Voyager, BlockFi, and all the other collapsed exchanges. And all these collapsed exchanges were telling their users that everything was just fine right up until the minute they suspended all activities and froze all their users' coins. Any centralized exchange is only ever one bad decision, one hack, one piece of legislation or regulation away from the same fate.

Yes, recently read the dispute the BUSD is facing after Paxos announced they won't mint the stable coin again, over 17.7% of BUSD has been redeemed, which amounts to about 3 Billion BUSD taken away from the market. This will affect the strength of BUSD given time as this just happened few days after the Paxos announcement.

Sure, but my point is that it remains incredibly cheap for a criminal to buy your KYC documents and open an account in your name in order to launder money. KYC does very little to prevent money laundering; all it achieves is shifting the blame on to some innocent person who had all their KYC documents leaked/shared/stolen/sold from some centralized exchange.

The high risk involved in KYC is so nefarious to the customers that submit their documents to third party platforms. Satoshi didn't wish for this, but the market has gone astray from the initial plan of Satoshi. Somehow, I think the investigators of crime would know that the documents used to launder money doesn't belong to the launderer. So, innocent victims may not get penalized for what they didn't do, however staying clear from illicit activities is what matters.