Localbitcoins.com Alternatives | 2018

• LocalBitcoins is the world’s leading peer to peer Bitcoin exchange
• While people can purchase Bitcoin instantly at LocalBitcoins, fees and coin prices can be exorbitant
• Thankfully, alternative peer to peer Bitcoin exchange platforms exist where users can purchase Bitcoin much less expensively 

LocalBitcoins was founded in June 2012 by Nicholas Kangas in Helsinki, Finland. 

As a peer to peer Bitcoin exchange, LocalBitcoins was one of the first platforms of its kind to allow people from anywhere in the world, to buy and sell Bitcoin, free of centralized exchanges like Coinbase.

Why do People use Peer-to-Peer Bitcoin Exchange Platforms?

Not everyone looking to buy Bitcoin can satisfy the strict know-your-customer ID verification processes required by exchanges like Coinbase. Because of this, peer to peer exchange platforms provides a perfect solution, in that users can buy Bitcoin instantly, directly from other individuals.

Why Users are Starting to Purchase Bitcoin from Alternative Platforms

Sadly, in recent years, increasing fraud on LocalBitcoins (on the part of both sellers and buyers) has resulted in significantly reduced platform user-friendliness. This being the case, we’ve compiled a list of 5 leading alternatives to Localbitcoins, for people looking to purchase Bitcoin directly from other users.

Paxful - Buy Bitcoin Instantly via Credit Card & Fiat Cash

Like LocalBitcoins, Paxful is a fully peer to peer bitcoin exchange which connects people looking to buy Bitcoin with people selling coins.

Benefiting from high trust scores, many people choose to purchase Bitcoin on Paxful, specifically due to the high amount of supported payment options. In fact, Paxful is one of the only remaining peer-to-peer exchanges which allows people to buy Bitcoin instantly using both PayPal and pre-funded Visa and MasterCards.

Paxful Benefits: 

• Paxful offers users hundreds of payment methods including direct bank transfers and gift cards
• As well as being able to buy Bitcoin instantly, Paxful users benefit from no added exchange fees when purchasing coins
• Highly-secure, Paxful holds Bitcoin and payment funds in escrow until transactions are completed, before releasing Bitcoin instantly to Paxful user wallets

Coinffeine - Buy Bitcoin Instantly in Over 70-Countries

One of the newest peer to peer Bitcoin exchange platforms on the market, Coinffeine is a Spanish based decentralized exchange which was first established in 2015. What is more, Coinffeine charges no fees to either buyers or sellers of Bitcoin on its platform. However, unlike LocalBitcoins and Paxful, Coinffeine offers a very limited range of payment options.

How Coinffeine Works

In order to buy Bitcoin instantly on Coinffeine, users will first need to set up and fund a separate OKPay account. Moreover, when buying Bitcoin from another Coinffeine user, funds are never exchanged directly across Coinffeine itself. Instead, funds move from the buyers   OKPay account to the sellers. - The only downside to this being that buyers need to exercise more caution when choosing sellers to trade with.

BitSquare - Safe & Decentralized Trading for Everyone 

Bitsquare.io is an even newer peer to peer Bitcoin exchange than Coinffeine, having first launched as BETA in April 2016. 

A fully open source peer to peer exchange, BitSquare allows its users to buy and sell Bitcoin instantly, using a wide variety of altcoins and real-world fiat currencies. These currently include US Dollars, Euros, and Yen. 

BitSquare Benefits:

• The BitSquare exchange is available as an easy to download a desktop app which never gathers data on any of its users 
• BitSquare users can buy Bitcoin instantly and to ensure trading safety, both sellers and buyers are required to place a 0.1BTC deposit down as collateral on every transaction
• BitSqaure does not apply deposit or withdrawal to either buyers or sellers

BitKan - Buy Bitcoin Instantly via Android & iOS Devices

Different from other peer-to-peer bitcoin exchange platforms so far discussed, BitKan is a predominantly app-based cryptocurrency exchange. 

Orientated mainly toward Chinese users, BitKan allows users to select a person to trade with and negotiate trade specifics directly. This subsequently results in slightly higher trading risk. However, at present, BitKan has over 2 million users and has just raised over $10 million in renewed platform investment capital.

LocalMonero - Buy Monero Peer to Peer & Trade Later for BTC

While not a Bitcoin-based peer to peer cryptocurrency exchange, there are several reasons why people dissatisfied with LocalBitcoins, might want to consider LocalMonero.

Just like LocalBitcoins, LocalMonero allows people to buy and sell cryptocurrency instantly on a peer to peer basis. However, instead of trading Bitcoin, users buy and sell the popular privacy coin, Monero. (Which if they want, they can easily exchange elsewhere later for Bitcoin).

LocalMonero Benefits:

• The LocalMonero user experience is very similar to that of LocalBitcoins
• Like on LocalBitcoins, users can find trades offered by individuals in their local area 
• Monero can be purchased on LocalMonero at the market price comparable rates using several different payment options