LocalBitcoins - everything you need to know! How to choose a trader, how to exchange, how to make money?

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In this article, I will tell you everything you need to know about the LocalBitcoins service, with which I often exchange my Bitcoins.

From it you will learn about the features of the service, how to choose a trader, how to make an exchange, how to protect your account, how to make money on the service and why exchanging for LocalBitcoins is profitable and reliable.

After reading the article you will have no questions left.

Let's get started.

Watch the video version of this article:

What is LocalBitcoins?

This is a service with which you can exchange Bitcoins for the national currency of any country.

In fact, LocalBitcoins is a message board. Merchants post their advertisements for buying or selling Bitcoins here.

All you need to do to exchange Bitcoins is register on the service and respond to one of these advertisements.

Official website of the service: Localbitcoins.net.

Operating since 2012, head office in Finland, Russian language available.

Mobile application – trading on Localbitcoins via phone

Download the Localbitcoins mobile application using the links:

• Android - go to Google Play
• iOS – go to App Store

Despite the blocking of the exchange in Russia, the mobile version of Localbitcoins works without problems. The average user rating is 3.8 out of 5.

The application completely replaces the web version of the Bitcoin exchange. Here you can buy, sell and transfer bitcoins. Ad filters, chat with users, contact with support, reviews and more. In general, there is everything you need to trade cue balls.

Is it safe to use LocalBitcoins?

Safety is the most important thing. Especially when it comes to money.

What risks may await us when we exchange Bitcoins on the Internet?

The most common types of fraud:

• They will not transfer money in return. This is the most obvious deception. You transfer money, but in return you do not receive the promised amount.
• The payment will be recalled. This is possible when selling Bitcoins if money is transferred to you, for example, to a bank card or PayPal. The buyer may revoke his payment after some time, claiming that he transferred the money to you by mistake. For example, PayPal allows you to return a transfer within 90 days.

Therefore, you cannot change Bitcoins anywhere. You need to choose your service carefully.

Why is it safe to exchange via LocalBitcoins:

• The exchange takes place through an internal account.

If you buy Bitcoins through the service, you don’t have to worry that the seller will not transfer you the promised coins after payment.

The fact is that to sell Bitcoins, the seller first needs to transfer the coins to an internal account. When an application is created, the amount in this account is frozen. And after you transfer the required amount to the seller, Bitcoins will be transferred to your balance automatically.

So the seller simply cannot help but transfer the coins to you.

• Verification of traders.

The vast majority of traders confirmed their identity, cards and place of residence. LocalBitcoins has all this information.

So in case of any fraudulent activity, the trader can be identified and held accountable.

• Reputation on the service.

Traders have been working on their reputation for years. Many of them have tens of thousands of reviews.

Therefore, no one will want to sacrifice their reputation in order to try to deceive another user.

So it is really safe to use LocalBitcoins.

Withdrawal of funds

Let's start by transferring funds from the LocalBitcoins exchange to a cryptocurrency wallet: log in to both services → go to the exchange and click on balance → enter the wallet address → check and confirm the transaction → wait for the funds to be credited. Video instructions are below.

What the video is about: an example of withdrawing funds from LocalBitcoins to the crypto wallet blockchain.info is shown.

If you need to know how to withdraw money from LocalBitcoin to a card, return to the previous section and look at the instructions for selling bitcoins. If the option of selling bitcoins through the LocalBitcoins exchange is not suitable for some reason, you will make the exchange directly from the cryptocurrency wallet to the card. This is where an article about the BestChange exchanger will come in handy.

How profitable is it to exchange Bitcoins through LocalBitcoins?

I asked myself this question and began to observe different ways of buying and selling Bitcoins. I've been watching them for a while (in rising, falling and flat markets).

Then I wrote an article in which I compared all these methods with each other:

Where is the best place to buy and sell Bitcoins (Comparison of the best rates)

Let's start by buying Bitcoins.

Here, the LocalBitcoins rate ranks third, behind BestChange and AdvCash.

For example, buying Bitcoins here is 1.6% less profitable than through BestChange.

Now selling Bitcoins.

In this direction, the LocalBitcoins rate takes 2nd place, second only to WebMoney.

At the same time, using the service is much easier than WebMoney.

So, LocalBitcoins offers quite good rates for both purchases and sales.

Reviews

The story with the purchase and sale of accounts raises the most questions about the LocalBitcoins exchange. This is a common type of fraud that cannot be prevented. The user conducts several transactions, receives positive reviews and a good reputation. Then he goes to the forums and posts a message offering to sell his account on LocalBitcoins.

An example of how much a LocalBitcoins account costs. In our case, they want 100,000 rubles.

It is profitable for scammers to buy an account, since its cultivation takes longer and is more expensive. Once an account is received, it is used to defraud participants: scammers accept payments and do not carry out reciprocal transactions. The majority of comments about the site are based on this diagram. Another significant part of the reviews is related to the work of the bot on LocalBitcoin - this is a separate topic that we will discuss in one of the following publications. For now, you need to remember that you cannot mess with bots on crypto exchanges.

What the video is about: a brief summary listing the main advantages and disadvantages of the exchange.

How difficult is it to make an exchange?

By and large, in order to make a transaction, you just need to register on the service, select a trader and make an exchange. It will take you no more than 5 minutes.

How to register on LocalBitcoins?

To do this, you need to go to the official website of the service and click on the “Register” button.

In the form that appears, indicate your login, email, password, solve the captcha and click on “Register”.

Then go to your email, find the letter from LocalBitcoins and follow the link in the letter to confirm your Email.

After this, we indicate personal data: first name, last name, telephone number, country.

And all that remains is to confirm the phone number. We will receive an SMS message with a code that must be entered in the appropriate field.

That's it, registration is complete and you can proceed to transactions.

But, if you plan to use the service constantly or want to exchange a large amount, you will have to undergo verification.

Verification will allow you to make transactions with any traders.

Well, to successfully pass it, you will need to send a photo of your passport or driver’s license to the service.

How to get verified?

I have a detailed article on my blog with video instructions in which I show in detail how to quickly get verified on LocalBitcoins.

Below I will touch upon this issue briefly.

Log in to the site, click on the account icon and go to “Settings” in the pop-up menu.

On this page, go to the “Verification” tab and click on the “Go to the next level” button.

We answer as many simple questions as possible and click on “Submit”.

Then we indicate your address: street, house number, apartment, city, country and postal code.

At the next stage, we confirm our identity. To do this, you will need to send a photo of your passport or driver's license.

Simply drag our document into the appropriate field and click on “Confirm”

According to the regulations, verification can take up to 3 days. But usually confirmation comes within a couple of hours.

How to choose a trader?

What you need to look at in the table to choose the trader that is right for us:

• Payment method.

If we choose, for example, Qiwi or Yandex Money, then this column does not matter. But, if you selected “Transfers through a specific bank,” then you need to look in the headings for the name of the bank we need.

If we exchange Bitcoins for Sberbank, then we need the name “Sberbank” to be written in the title.

• Well.

All traders are sorted by the Price/BTC column by default. This column shows the exchange rate of each trader. The higher the position, the more profitable the exchange will be for us.

Of course, you should try to choose a trader who is located in one of the first positions in the chosen direction.

• Restrictions.

This column indicates from what and up to what amount this trader makes an exchange.

Please note that your amount must fall within this interval.

• Reviews.

In the “Trader” column next to his login, the number of reviews and the percentage of positive reviews are indicated in parentheses.

The more reviews, the better. The higher the percentage of positive reviews, the better.

I never choose traders who have less than 100 reviews. I exchange more or less large amounts with traders who have at least 1,000 reviews.

• Online or offline.

In the “Trader” column you can see a small circle. If it is green, it means the trader is online and ready to accept your exchange request.

So I recommend choosing only those traders who are currently online. So as not to waste time.

We can also go to the trader’s profile by clicking on his login.

In the profile, we can read reviews, find out how long he has been trading on the site, and see if he has passed verification.

Affiliate program - how to earn 20% of the Bitcoin exchange commission (passive income)

The Localbitcoins affiliate program works like this:

1. Install a referral link on your website
2. You will receive 20% of the Bitcoin exchange commission if a visitor follows the link, registers and makes a transaction
3. The reward will be credited to your LocalBitcoins wallet in Bitcoin the next day.

Conditions:

• A visitor will be considered your referral if he registers within 3 months after clicking on the link
• Rewards are paid within a year after the referral is registered.

This is a simple affiliate program. Nothing complicated. Earnings from referral links.

You don't have to have a website to attract referrals. It is enough to send the link to your friends, for example, publish a post on a social network, and wait for someone to register and close the deal.

Reward example

The visitor follows the referral link. Registers. Buys bitcoins. Since buyers on Localbitcoins do not pay a commission, you have not earned anything yet.

One day your referral decides to sell bitcoins and publishes an ad.

Someone agrees to the deal and buys bitcoins from him. The transaction amount is 0.02916000 BTC. Your referral pays the exchange 1% commission, i.e. 0.0002916 BTC.

The exchange transfers you a reward of 20% of this commission , i.e. 0.00005832 BTC.

This is a real example.

I myself also use the Local Bitcoin affiliate program.

I have included several referral links in the article you are reading. Every time one of my referrals pays a commission to the exchange, I receive a reward.

How to register in the affiliate program?

There is no need to register again.

You will receive a Localbitcoins referral link immediately after your first registration. Profits can be withdrawn by selling bitcoins. You will need to undergo verification.

Your referral link is located on the Partners page.

This is what my link looks like: https://localbitcoins. net /?ch=yg5f

How to set a referral link to a site?

The Localbitcoins referral link is installed like a regular external link.

My site runs on WordPress, see how my link is set up:

Where is the best place to set the link?

Localbitcoins recommends linking to the home page, help page, and any other relevant page. This is good advice.

Always set your referral link according to its content. This way people will quickly find what you are going to show.

For example, in one of the chapters of the article, I tell you how to access the exchange website. I'll leave a link to enter.

Users registered on the site can easily access the exchange using the login link

It would be strange and inconvenient for readers if the link led to registration (where the referral will receive an account faster) or somewhere else.

When people click on the link, they should immediately see what you are showing them.

I think you get the idea.

Buying Bitcoins through the service in 5 minutes.

I have already written a detailed article with video instructions on how to buy Bitcoins on LocalBitcoins quickly and without problems:

How to buy Bitcoins on LocalBitcoins? Fast and reliable (Step-by-step plan 2019)

In it you will find a step-by-step plan with detailed explanations.

Below I will briefly describe the process of purchasing Bitcoins for Sberbank:

First, go to the “Quick purchase” tab and select “Transfers through a specific bank.”

After this, all traders will be sorted by the best rate.

Now we select a trader.

I want to change 10,000 rubles through Sberbank. For example, of the first three, only the second trader is not suitable for me. Of the remaining two, I choose the third one because it has more reviews.

I choose the seller with the login “sys-evgen”. He has one of the best courses, more than 3000 reviews, all reviews are positive, the limit also suits me.

Click on the “Buy” button and read the terms of exchange.

If everything is satisfactory, then we proceed to creating an application.

We indicate the purchase amount and write a message to the seller. I wrote: “Hello. Can I have payment details?"

After the trader sends us his details, you need to make a transfer.

To do this, go to Sberbank Online and transfer 10,000 rubles to the seller’s card.

We do not indicate anything in the message, as the trader requested.

Now we return to the service and click on the “I paid” button.

You can also immediately send the seller your first name, middle name and first letter of your last name to make it easier for him to find our translation.

Within a minute, the transaction status changed to “Transaction completed.”

We go to the “Transactions” tab in the wallet and see that the coins are already in our internal wallet.

Now we can withdraw Bitcoins from our internal balance to our personal wallet.

To do this, go to the “Send Bitcoins” tab. Here we enter our personal Bitcoin address and withdrawal amount. The commission will be 0.00005 BTC.

Click on the “Continue” button and our coins are sent to our wallet.

We check the wallet and see that the money has successfully arrived.

The entire purchase procedure took about 5 minutes.

Selling Bitcoins through the service.

The blog already has an article with video instructions on how to sell Bitcoins on LocalBitcoins quickly and reliably:

How to sell Bitcoins on LocalBitcoins? Fast and reliable (Step-by-step plan 2019)

It provides a detailed step-by-step plan.

Therefore, below I will briefly describe the process of selling coins:

First we need to top up our internal balance in LocalBitcoins.

To do this, go to the Wallet section on the “Receive Bitcoins” tab and copy the address to which you will need to transfer coins to top up your balance.

Now we go to our personal Bitcoin wallet and send coins to the copied address.

The more commission we place, the faster our transaction will be completed.

As soon as the Bitcoins reach our internal LocalBitcoins wallet, we can proceed to the sale.

Let's say we want to sell Bitcoins worth 10,000 rubles to Sberbank.

To do this, go to the “Quick sale” tab and select “Transfers through a specific bank” in the field with the payment method.

Now we consider only those traders who have the word “Sberbank” indicated in their advertisement.

Due to the fact that we are changing a relatively small amount, we had to choose a tenth trader with the nickname CryptoAssist.

Go to his page and get acquainted with the terms of the deal:

If everything suits you, then we create an application.

To do this, we indicate the exchange amount and send the buyer our details in the chat: card number, first name, patronymic, first letter of last name and region.

Literally 2 minutes later the money arrived on my Sberbank card.

Don’t forget to return to the service and send Bitcoins to the buyer. To do this, click on the “Send Bitcoins” button.

That's it, the exchange is over. On the transaction page you can see that Bitcoins have left our balance to the buyer’s balance.

As I said, everything went quickly and without problems. The exchange procedure itself did not take even 5 minutes.

Commission – all about costs on a Bitcoin exchange

The commission on Localbitcoins is calculated quite simply.

Only the seller and the one who sends himself bitcoins from another exchange pays.

Rates:

Is the commission on Localbitcoins expensive or not?

The Bitcoin seller pays a 1% commission to the exchange. The fees here are higher than most centralized crypto exchanges like Binance or BitMEX.

But, if you compare the purchase of bitcoins using an advertisement and using a Visa/Mastercard credit card, where the commission ranges from 3% to 10%, then the transaction fee for Local Bitcoin is much lower.

When is the commission charged to the seller?

After the transaction is completed, i.e. when the buyer receives the bitcoins.

What is the minimum deposit limit?

The minimum deposit limit is the minimum number of bitcoins that you can accept from another exchange. Localbitcoins will not accept transactions below the limit.

If the number of bitcoins is greater than the minimum limit, then such a transaction will go through. In this case, the exchange will not take a commission from the incoming transaction.

Example:

The minimum limit is 0.0002 BTC.

The wallet in Localbitcoins needs to accept a transaction from the wallet of another bitcoin exchange. In the amount of 0.0001 BTC. But the number of bitcoins sent is less than the minimum limit. This means that Localbitcoins will not accept this transaction.

Where can I see the minimum limit?

On the wallet page in the Get Bitcoins section.

What is the Bitcoin blockchain network fee?

Blockchain commission is a payment to miners for transferring bitcoins to a crypto wallet. Miners manage the blockchain, spend resources on its maintenance (buy video cards, computers, electricity), and therefore charge for their services.

The commission in Localbitcoins changes automatically, depending on the load on the blockchain. The Bitcoin transaction fee does not depend on the amount, but on the size of the transaction (in bytes).

Where can I see the Bitcoin transaction fee?

On the wallet page in the Send Bitcoins section.

Will the exchange issue a Bitcoin wallet for free?

Yes. You will receive a wallet for free immediately after registration.

How to create an application yourself?

It is extremely rare that you may encounter situations where you cannot find a suitable Bitcoin exchange ad on the service. In this case, you can create your own ad.

But most often this function is used by traders who actively make money on LocalBitcoins. This will be discussed below.

To create your ad, go to the “Post an ad” page.

Here we get acquainted with the rules and requirements for the ad.

Now let's start creating the ad.

I indicated that:

• I want to buy Bitcoins online
• I am in Russia
• I want to receive money by Bank transfer in rubles
• I want to make a profit of 2% relative to the market price
• The minimum amount is 5,000 rubles, the maximum is 50,000 rubles.

After this, we write the terms of the transaction, which users will see on our page.

Now let's move on to exchange security.

The more strictly we approach our security settings, the less risky our transactions will be. But at the same time, we will weed out a large number of potential clients.

If we want to buy Bitcoins through Sberbank, then the risks are not that great. Because the seller will not be able to withdraw his payment (we will transfer the rubles, not he). So in this case, you don’t have to check the box at all.

After this, you need to click on the “Publish ad” button and it will appear in the table.

Now all that remains is to wait for users to see our ad and submit an exchange request.

How to protect your account?

There is an article on the blog with video instructions in which I talked in detail about how to protect your account:

How to register on LocalBitcoins in 1 minute and protect your account from hacking (Step-by-step plan 2019)

So below I will briefly describe how to protect your LocalBitcoins account.

There may be Bitcoins in your internal wallet, so you need to take security seriously.

On the site itself, in the security settings section, basic recommendations are described that will protect our account.

Still, these recommendations will not help us protect our account 100%, so let’s move on to setting up two-factor authentication.

I recommend using the Google Authenticator app for authentication.

Click on the account icon and select “Account Security” in the pop-up window.

On the next page, click on the “Enable” button opposite the inscription “Two-factor authentication”.

Then select “Two-factor authentication based on a mobile application.” After this, instructions for setting up this authentication method will appear.

Read the instructions, save the backup code and click on “Proceed to Activation”.

After this, a QR code will appear that you will need to scan in the application.

To do this, download the Google Authenticator application (if it has not already been downloaded).

In it, click on Plus, and then on “Scan barcode”.

Then we scan the QR code from the site and Localbitcoins will be linked to this application (that is, to our phone).

Now the application will generate one-time passwords, which will be required when logging into our account.

We return back to the Localbitcoins service. Here we need to write down the backup authentication code. We will need it if we lose access to our smartphone.

Then we enter our password (which we specified during registration) and confirm that we have written down our backup key. After that, enter the password from the application and click on the “Enable two-factor authentication” button.

Now we will be asked to log in to the site again. But this time, after entering your username, password and solving the captcha, you will need to enter a one-time password from the application and click on the “Verify” button.

Such one-time passwords will now need to be entered each time you log into your account.

That's it, now our account is securely protected.

How to make money on LocalBitcoins

The service can be used not only to buy or sell Bitcoins. It can also help you earn money.

Earnings from the difference in rates.

You can become an active trader and start making money on the difference in buying and selling rates.

To do this, you need to create 2 ads: one for purchase, the other for sale.

I already talked about how to create ads earlier in this article.

For example, if the average market price is 700,000 rubles per 1 BTC, then:

• We are creating an advertisement for the purchase of 720,000 rubles.
• We create an advertisement for sale at 680,000 rubles.

The difference between these two rates will be our profit. That is, when the transactions are completed, we will receive a profit of 5.7%.

But when calculating profits, you need to take into account that the service takes a commission of 1%.

Working on Localbitcoins is a full-fledged business that will require a lot of effort and resources.

• Start-up capital. Obviously, in order to change money you must have this same money. To begin with, it is recommended to have at least 100,000 rubles. But the more finance you have, the more profit you can make.
• Time. The more time you spend working on the service, the more you will earn.
• Reputation. Nobody wants to make deals with newbies without reviews. So, in order to gain reviews, you will have to change small amounts, you may even have to work with zero or minus for the first time.

Why Localbitcoins was blocked in Russia - causes and consequences

Localbitcois.com is blocked in Russia.

I'll tell you how it was.

In 2016, Roskomnadzor restricted access to the main site of the bitcoin exchange localbitcoins.com , and 4 years later blocked the only mirror localbitcoins.net .

Case No. 2-10224/16 July 5, 2016, Primorsky District Court of St. Petersburg

In both cases, the reason for the blocking was a lawsuit from the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation.

In 2016, law enforcement officers referred in court to the fact that the crypto exchange violated Article 27 of the Federal Law “On the Central Bank of the Russian Federation.”

At that time, the law did not have precise wording defining the legal status of cryptocurrencies in Russia. From the point of view of the law, cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, were a money surrogate, and therefore were prohibited.

It's a bit complicated. But understandable.

Against the backdrop of the explosive popularity of crypto among the population, the government simply did not have time to prepare another more intelligible bill.

Only in July 2022, the State Duma adopted a law where bitcoins were recognized as a means of payment, savings or investment . However, there is a caveat that still prevents many crypto traders from sleeping peacefully: they are prohibited from being used to pay for goods and services .

Since 2016, Roskomnadzor has launched a hunt for crypto witches. People rushed to buy cryptocurrency: some wanted to make money on the difference in exchange rates, others invested capital in crypto. Of course, there were also those who laundered money.

After a successful fight against offshore companies, the state took up crypto exchangers.

In 2022, 40 Bitcoin sites were blocked at once.

In 2022, the Binance website was almost limited. Formally, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange (in terms of trading volume) escaped with fears and, most likely, the hard work of lawyers. Binance is currently serving clients as normal.

But let's return to Localbitcoins.

Immediately after the first blocking, the Finnish P2P exchanger said that he did not expect such extreme measures from the Russian authorities.

In order for users from Russia to continue trading bitcoins, Localbitcoins recommended using VPN services or the TOP browser.

In addition, the exchange launched an official mirror of the site localbitcoins.net .

But, as expected, in 2022 Roskomnadzor blocked it.

On September 23, 2022, Localbitcoins launched a new mirror localbitcoins.fi , which worked for more than a year.

At the end of 2022, the mirrors were reshuffled. The site localbitcoins.net has become accessible again, but localbitcoins.fi is not.

In general, Roskomnadzor quite often plays with the ON/OFF buttons installed on the Finnish crypto exchanger.

Consequences of blocking

There was no disaster. Despite the blocking, Russian traders not only did not leave Localbitcoins, but also increased their bitcoin trading.

And significantly.

According to CoinDance (a service that tracks cryptocurrency trading around the world), the Roskomnadzor block did not reduce the trading volume of Localbitcoins.

Between 2016 and 2022, the volume of bitcoin trading among Russians increased almost 7 times.

And from 2022 to 2022, trading decreased by 3 times.

I don’t think that this decrease is explained by the second blocking of Roskomnadzor.

Most likely, several factors played a role: the tightening of crypto-related laws around the world and, as a result, the introduction of increased requirements for user identification by Localbitcoins.

And people’s interest in bitcoins has also fallen. According to Google Trends, the dynamics of the popularity of the query bitcoin has decreased by more than 3 times compared to the peak value of this year.