P2P Trading Platforms (e.g., Bisq, HodlHodl, RoboSats, LocalCoinSwap, etc.)
There are a number of person-to-person (P2P) over-the-counter (OTC) trading platforms where Bitcoins can be bought and/or sold — with cash (💵), or online using a bank account or other payment method.
[Last updated: May 2024]
Some platforms require the use of a phone number which are typically tied to personally identifying information. If a user wishes to remain anonymous, then it is recommended to use a SMS bypassing service such as Text Verified. Also, see “Bypassing SMS Verification with Text Verified” (Wook, 2022) for an in-depth walkthrough (PDF download)
- Bisq client (💵) [NO KYC] ← Fully decentralized and non-custodial. Uses Tor, automatically. L-BTC / Blockstream’s Liquid Network ( 🌊) is a supported payment method. Guide
- RoboSats (💵, ⚡ only) [NO KYC] ← Non-custodial. Requires Tor browser. @robosatsOB OrderBook. Guide
- HodlHodl (💵) [NO KYC] ← Supported payment methods include Lightning network (⚡) as well as Liquid Network ( 🌊) (BTC, Tether, CAD).
- LocalSats (💵) [NO KYC] ← Buy and Sell Bitcoin in-person
- LocalCoinSwap (💵) [NO KYC] ← Non-custodial
- P2PCoins.io (💵) [NO KYC] ← Non-custodial
- Bitcoin.Global (💵)[NO KYC]
- bisq#buy-bitcoin channel in the Bisq Keybase team [NO KYC] ← Guide
- AS.Exchange Spot Market [NO KYC] ← Announcement
- BitQuick [NO KYC (when trx amount is under $400)]
- Remitano [NO KYC for Seller (only Buyer must KYC)]
- Totalcoin mobile app [NO KYC (other than phone number verification)]
- Mycelium Local Trader mobile app [Map] (💵) [NO KYC]
- Noones (⚡) [KYC]
- Paxful (💵, ⚡) [KYC] ← Recently restarted after executive mgmt change
- Binance P2P (💵) [KYC]
- Huobi P2P
- Gate.io P2P
- OKEx P2P
- OKX P2P
- PexPay ← Active CNY trading
- OTCBTC
- Vertex
- CGem/CryptoGem
- CoinCola
- Vexl ← Czech Republic, and Slovakia
- BitValve [KYC]
- WazirX [KYC]
- Shiftal [KYC]
- Giottus [KYC]
- BuyCoins [KYC]
- ScaleX [KYC] ← Nigeria
- Busha [KYC] ← Nigeria
- Koinwa ← Nigeria
- BitBargain.co.uk ← U.K.
- VEX — Venezuela Exchange ← Venezuela
- P2P Trading ← Brazil
- SwapN>Go
- Kyshi ← Coming soon
- Valuto Exchanges ← Coming soon
- r/Cash4Cash ← Take seriously the risks and recommendations in the General Information PSA
- r/GiftCardExchange ← Take seriously the risks and recommendations in the GSX Safe Trading Guide
- r/GCTrading ← Take seriously the risks and recommendations in the GSX Safe Trading Guide
- r/BitMarket ← Take seriously the risks and recommendations in the GSX Safe Trading Guide
- BitHalo software [NO KYC]
- SideSwap Swap Market [NO KYC] ← P2P Trading on Liquid Network (🌊), between L-BTC and stablecoins (i.e., either USDT, or EurX)
- @Wallet P2P bot on Telegram
Altcoin-only P2P Trading exchanges
Note: An Altcoin-only exchange means bitcoin is not one of the trading currencies. There may be offers though where Bitcoin is one of the payment methods available though.
- Haveno DEX client (💵) [NO KYC]← Fully decentralized and non-custodial. Uses Tor, automatically. FAQ
- ByBit P2P ← USDT only, initially. Not available in the U.S.
- Benkiko ← USDB only, initially
- Timbuktu [NO KYC (for offer taker)]
- Ethfinex Trustless OTC
- Hubi
- KuCoin OTC
- Whales Heaven ← Requires a browser extension
- LocalKSM [Coming soon]
Aggregator/Search and Helper Sites
- Yadio BTC Market Filtered search across a half dozen P2P Platforms
- Monetory Search P2P offers for the best rates
- ExchangeRates.Pro Real-time price comparison
Tools
- P2PTrader.pro P2P trading automation software for dealers. Support for Binance, LocalCoinSwap, and Paxful.
(Caution: Third party software can have malware. Use at your own risk.)
Notes
When using any of the above P2P Trading Platforms (which are essentially “matchmaking” services), please trade with caution and do your own due diligence.
This list does not include exchanges not in English (e.g., 58Coin), deserted or defunct marketplaces (e.g., LocalBitcoins, BitzLato, LocalCryptos, OpenBazaar, BuyCrypto.Today, Cancoin, and Rahakott), not-yet launched (e.g., OTCBoss), ones that operate only through dark markets, or online-only DEX/decentralized exchanges (another list of DEXes).
Variants which do not fit the P2P OTC exchanges category
- Physical Stores where you can Buy or Sell bitcoin (for in-person buy/sell)
- Online stores (e.g., Bitsell X [💳] [NO KYC, requires browser extension], CoinCorner [💳] [NO KYC when £900 or less, not available in U.S.], CEX.io, Coinify, Jubiter, Bittylicious, BitIreland, Kuna.io Money, LiteBit.eu, Switchere, Conio.com App, CryptoVoucher.io, BitQuick QuickBuy [NO KYC (when trx amount is under $400)], Cash App, Strike, and CoinMama)
- Instant exchanges / Online-only Swap (i.e., for converting from one digital currency to another)
- Precious metals brokers which buy your gold and/or silver in exchange for bitcoin (e.g., Veldt Gold [NO KYC]).
- Gift card exchanges (e.g., CardCoins for paying with a non-reloadable, prepaid GIFT card (VISA/Mastercard/AMEX/Discover), Redeem, CryptoVoucher.io for paying with gift cards for numerous brands, r/GiftCardExchange, and r/GCTrading).
- Vouchers (retail) (e.g., Azte.co (⚡, 💵), LibertyX (💵), FlexEPin (💵), Neosurf (💵), BlueShyft (💵), Yellow Card (💵), and BitNovo (💵)). One Azte.co vendor offers the @BitcoinVoucherBot on Telegram, for [NO KYC] purchase using SEPA/EUR bank transfer (and @BitcoinVoucherGroup for support).
- Vending (e.g., Bitcoin ATMs, Coinstar ) (with 2,100+ locations in the U.S.) and SBB/Swiss Railway ticketing)
- Bill/Invoice swap services (e.g., SWAPIN (formerly PiixPay))
- Find a person to trade with at many Bitcoin conferences and Bitcoin meetups)
- OTC Trading Desks (e.g., dozens including Cumberland, SigOne, etc.)
Otherwise, there are a number of other exchanges — with varying attributes. We recommend trying to stick with [NO KYC] exchanges, including most of the ones listed on: KYCNot.me.
See Also
- KYC-Free-Instant-Exchanges ← Superset of the listings in the “crypto-to-crypto” section above
- Physical Stores where you can Buy or Sell bitcoin
- Exchanges with support for Lightning Network
- List of crypto exchanges with P2P exchange of Bitcoin and cryptos
Categories of P2P OTC
Even within the P2P OTC Exchanges category there are sub-categories: (Credit goes to Dave F of OTCBoss for describing the different categories and attributes.)
KYC’d OTC — P2P marketplaces (website, w/ escrow)
Impure OTC — P2P marketplaces (website, w/ escrow)
DEX/Decentralized P2P Exchanges (no website, mostly crypto-to-crypto)
- Bisq (buy/sell bitcoin using fiat or altcoin/token)
Pure OTC — Global P2P network of brokers (no website)
- OTCBoss (Technically P2P, but initially will be just B2B/Broker-to-broker)
Protect Your Privacy
One reason some people prefer to use a P2P OTC marketplace to buy and sell Bitcoin using cash (in-person/face-to-face) is to protect their privacy. But that’s just part of the solution. The following provide more information on how to protect your privacy when using Bitcoin:
Additions, corrections, and other feedback welcome and can be submitted as an issue or pull request on GitHub, or via e-mail.
