LocalBitcoins.com in a short amount of time (a matter of weeks) just went from the bastion of financial freedom to another player in the New World Order of capital controls. In case you haven’t heard, LocalBitcoins is demanding ID verification for all its users and thus for anyone that wants to trade (buy, sell for cash & gift cards) bitcoin on its platform.
Pleasant History
LocalBitcoins has been operating for years almost flawlessly. Providing a nice price discovery for the bitcoin market (often higher than exchanges at volatile times) and not succumbing to the whims of the law even when it's customers were seemingly dragged into an embroiling of legal battles.
I love(d) doing business (trading in bitcoin in person) with localbitcoins because it was:
- 1 Anonymous
- 2 Had the largest pool of users
- 3 Had the basic (keyword basic) tools of coordinating a buy or sell from someone else
Years ago there was hardly the Pool of Local Bitcoin ATM's you could buy and sell to for cash like there is today. You needed LocalBitcoins.
The Chilling of Crypto Hearts
It could not have come at a more beating us while we were down kind of time with the price crash and all.
On January 27th I noticed a message that to create new trading ads I had to verify my identity. At first I was relieved, and confused, firstly because "well at least I have ads already up in my most frequent trading area that I can rely on" and because they gave me that out I didn't unload the full piss-mobile onto their brandname just yet. I also thought maybe they were just regulating the quantity of how many ads I can use (see the top message that I don't have enough trading volume to make a new ad). They had previously limited the number of ads by trade volume. This kind of pissed me off before but I didn't make a big stink because hey, this was their business and they could run it how they want. Now that they seem to be going against the spirit of bitcoin and falling to pressures of regulators Now I have a problem with LocalBitcoins.com!
So I saw it coming. Even others saw it coming right before it happened. Eventually we would be required to verify our specific personhood just to trade whatsoever.
Here is a picture of their ID Verification page asking for a copy of your ID using netverify
![ID Verification Page [EDITED].jpg](https://images.hive.blog/768x0/https://steemitimages.com/DQmNscmsAJPS1nUVBTEMpj1kNxWqxArk6tCX7Q86U87ZAe3/ID%20Verification%20Page%20%5BEDITED%5D.jpg)
NOTE that back in late January, they only stated that ID verification would be needed to open you up to MORE traders, not that it would be required for ALL trades. Though I admit, I didn't read their twitter or blog to know if the upcoming changes (i.e. restrictions) were announced. They definitely DID NOT email their users though, which is what should have been done. I noticed government and companies like to creep these things up on you so as to snatch you in their web of hoovering up your personal data; like all the exchanges that keep your money if you don't comply with KYC/AML.
The Fallout Began January 30th
Just a few days later on January 30th, users got this message when they logged in:
At that moment I knew the game was rigged. The plug was being pulled from LocalBitcoins.com and we're going to be left up the creek without a paddle, though still with our funds in our pocket. I knew LB was too big to lock customer funds. It would have been an outrage and they could not have handled that court battle.
Not surprisingly, the day after this change went into effect, the message on their site support page (before you even login) appears as follows:
"Current support ticket reply delays are approximately 7 days, please do not open multiple tickets it will only increase your waiting time. We're very sorry for the issues and we're working hard to resolve them."
Confusingly, I logged in today and my advertisements still show as "active" and still appear visible to a query by the general public. But the fall has already begun.
I am going to track their popularity decline with web archive snapshots of alexa ranking to document their demise after this fall from grace. Right now their rank worldwide is 2,284 and 3,044 in China which I was surprised to see.
There are NO Alternatives...Yet
There are NO immediate alternatives to LB.
Liberalcoins is underdeveloped.
Mycelium requires an app and I can't search on a desktop.
Wall of Coins requires my location be tracked from my computer and I won't have that. Here's my message to their tyrannical cucks too.
But there is hope. I'm a sponsor for LocalDashTrade.com which will soon introduce other cryptocurrency options to trade - though the site is under major development still and does not even have a user registration - though maybe that's a good thing.
Call to Action
Express your discontent.
- Contact their support on: https://localbitcoins.com/support
- Post a message in the reddit r/localbitcoins
- Leave a review on cryptocompare
Recent Trends not Good
There is a larger wave passing through online service providers in the cryptocurrency sector that's resulting in piss poor customer service which I've experienced recently from half a dozen companies. It definitely is affect the bottom line of my personal businesses and finance; and no they're NOT directly related to the price crash early this month.
It's NO coincidence I say that the Senate Hearing, price crash, crackdowns and site identity restrictions like this are sprung upon us at around the same time. Even the recent US Marshalls Bitcoin Auction timing is creepy.
NOTE: Yes my headline of them losing 90% of users is my prediction, but it is realistic.
Great info, thanks for the heads up.
I swear this government is like an overbearing parent that demands to read all your text messages and that you give them weekly grade updates. There's nowhere to hide for us! This system that was meant to be decentralized and anonymous is now just becoming an extension of the IRS. I'm disappointed.
100%. Not saying I'd rather live in the past but when traditional husband wife relationships eroded and parents spent less time with children the state (government public schools mainly) became more of the parent and influence on children. They see this government as their parent subconsciously.
Me too. Do you have any solutions? Are we to use/support altcoins with privacy as their #1 like Monero?
Yeah I logged on the other day and noticed the search category for no ID required is gone. A few vendors still have no ID required in their listings but still want a phone number.
I'm seriously not happy.
I didn't even know there was search category for that! The site changed fast. Or maybe you mean sellers that required verification to buyers which is separate from the site itself requiring anything until lately
thanks for your comment
I've only been on there for a while but I was doing a search for "no ID required" and just selecting sellers from that search & now it's gone. Now I have to open each listing and read all the terms to see how much info they want me to divulge.
I just don't feel comfortable giving my ID to a site like that. Now it seems like they are in bed with the banksters/feds and want to know everything that's going through their system so they can track everything.
you shouldn't feel comfortable :)
Regulation is coming, and it is coming worldwide. To me the senate hearing showed the oposuite of what most people got out of it.
While the hearing could have been a lot worse, I’m afraid that we may be duped. A televised hearing is an opportunity for politicians to show off their skills and “wise demeanor”. These people are actors and can play to the audience. Their true face comes out behind closed doors, far from millions of eyes that can see their deviousness.
Make no mistake, the true mandate of the SEC is to serve Wall Street, not main street. Their very existence is based on legitimizing ways for their masters to fleece the little guy. (Think High Frequency Trading).
Keep a keen eye on what they do, not what they say.
These are the foxes telling the kitchens they are here to help.
The good news is that clearly they don’t have a handle on the crypto space and don’t yet know how to intervene.
great point. In front of Live TV they need to act to maintain their image/reputation/please everyone
You should write full articles if you don't already. let me know
EDIT: I see what you did; don't be afraid to plug your article:
https://steemit.com/cryptocurrency/@appone/senate-hearing-on-cryptocurrency
RESETEEMED as well
Thank you. I appreciate the support.
I am new and still learning but enjoying being here.
Hi mike. It was my first time buying bitcoins with localbitcoins. I just sent my photo and my ID to the seller and he approved it immediately. I did not verify my ID on the website itself. I think Singapore law is pretty lax with cryptocurrency.
I am going to buy some more bitcoins, only a few hundred dollars with the same person if he is present. Upvoted!
The point is them tracking us - yes other places have slow verification processes that anger people
thanks
Man, that sucks. Just another reason to get decentralized citizenship!
Keep up posted on the new site, please.
what is that, how? And yes will for sure keep site updated :) I'm thinking if we do it right a site with no user registration in this sector can very much thrive and reach new levels of privacy!
Decentralized citizenship? I wish I knew, but I'm hoping someone comes up with that. :) Yes, an anonymous site would be fantastic. Maybe there's a site we can use for that already. I suppose we could use anonymous Steemit accounts, but I wonder if that type of communication is something we want on a blockchain?
Greatly helpful, well exposed and very informative post @mikeparker. :)
And yeah mate! your prediction is indeed pretty realistic. I certainly concur with you that they will lose 90% of their userbase in a jiffy. If they dare and insist in abandon the mass that made them great and now prefer to bow before the wrong side of the balance pleasing the greedy interests of the usual suspects minority.
And since my countrymen are actually a humongous bunch of die hard users of LB. I gotta resteem this post to let them know about these apparently bad news. ¡Upvoted! :)
Yes, a point I should have made. They're abandoning their own fans by springing this upon them; it's GOT to be government pressure. Let me edit my article with something else
This is complete BS and goes against the entire reason the site was set up. The anonymous factor is why most (including myself) used the platform. It will be very interesting to watch the use of the site dwindle. Sad day for crypto...
Right - do you have a site you will use now?
Then use LocalCoinSwap. It's optional KYC and there are 250+ payment methods. They also give 100% of their profit back to the crypto community in dividends so they aren't greedy like the rest of the Bitcoin P2P exchanges that keep all the profit. No withdrawal or deposit limits either. There's also a referral program whereby we both get 10% of fees back every trade.
My referral:
https://localcoinswap.com/register/?referral=696bfd11-e2e5-4ffe-9945-0376019da086
LocalCoinSwap:
https://localcoinswap.com
Anything coming from the US is simply dumb as fuck.
No surprise there.
Glad that Payfair is coming soon! It will be like localbitcoin but feature basically any crypto currency. It launches end of march so I'm very excited from moving there!
if only we could wait so long :) Are we sure there won't be ID verification?
Ah man. I'm a big user of this site. Didn't know they had such requirements recently.
sad disappointment
That's really a sad story :(
That's why we need the Liberland.
that's in europe right?
LocalCoinSwap is the best bet. https://localcoinswap.com
what a sorrow news.!
Simply put: Fuck'em
Come and use LocalCoinSwap. 23+ cryptocurrencies you can buy/sell including Bitcoin, 250+ payment methods, 180+ fiat currencies, available in 190+ countries worldwide, optional KYC, no withdrawal or deposit limits. https://localcoinswap.com