LocalBitcoins was a

peer-to-peer Peer-to-peer (P2P) computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or workloads between peers. Peers are equally privileged, equipotent participants in the network. They are said to form a peer-to-peer ...

bitcoin exchange A cryptocurrency exchange, or a digital currency exchange (DCE), is a business that allows customers to trade cryptocurrencies or digital currencies for other assets, such as conventional fiat money or other digital currencies. Exchanges may acce ...

platform based in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. Its service facilitated

over-the-counter Over-the-counter (OTC) drugs are medicines sold directly to a consumer without a requirement for a prescription from a healthcare professional, as opposed to prescription drugs, which may be supplied only to consumers possessing a valid prescr ...

trading of local currency for bitcoins. Users post advertisements on the website, where they state exchange rates and payment methods for buying or selling bitcoins. Other users reply to these advertisements and make the payment in their specified payment method. As of December 2020, LocalBitcoins has over 1,000,000 active traders with a trade volume of 612 million US dollars between October and December 2020.

History

LocalBitcoins was founded in June 2012 by Jeremias Kangas. He implemented an

escrow An escrow is a contractual arrangement in which a third party (the stakeholder or escrow agent) receives and disburses money or property for the primary transacting parties, with the disbursement dependent on conditions agreed to by the transacti ...

system for the marketplace by the end of 2012. The website started generating revenue by the beginning of 2013, now as of 2020 there are an average of 29,566 successful trades per day. In 2018, LocalBitcoins headed the list of best financially performing companies in

arranged by the local specialized publication

Kauppalehti ''Kauppalehti'' (Finnish: "Trade Newspaper") is a commerce-oriented newspaper published in Helsinki, Finland. The paper has been in circulation since 1898. History and profile ''Kauppalehti'' was established by the Finnish Businessmen's Associat ...

. In 2014, 2016, and 2018 people who used the site were arrested for money laundering and related crimes. In January 2019, hackers stole bitcoin worth $28,200 from users' LocalBitcoins accounts. LocalBitcoins was able to identify and solve the case immediately, announcing so to its users. On the same day, LocalBitcoins shared that LocalBitcoins accounts were safe to use and emphasized the importance of

two-factor authentication Multi-factor authentication (MFA; encompassing two-factor authentication, or 2FA, along with similar terms) is an electronic authentication method in which a user is granted access to a website or application only after successfully presenting ...

. In November 2019, LocalBitcoins.com got registered as a Virtual Currency Provider by the Finnish Financial Supervisory Authority. On February 9, 2023, LocalBitcoins announced it will cease operations later in February.

Services

The website offered a service to facilitate the locating of Bitcoin users, who can meet for person to person trading of bitcoin. The site is suggested for casual traders seeking more privacy. The site uses an escrow system, and the transfer of bitcoin is made after funds are received in the sellers account. LocalBitcoins has a

reputation system Reputation systems are programs or algorithms that allow users to rate each other in online communities in order to build trust through reputation. Some common uses of these systems can be found on E-commerce websites such as eBay, Amazon.com, ...

for users and an escrow and conflict resolution service.

References

External links

* {{Cryptocurrencies, state=expanded Bitcoin companies Financial services companies established in 2012 Financial services companies of Finland Finnish companies established in 2012 Companies based in Helsinki