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Who owns LocalBitcoins?

LocalBitcoins was founded in 2012 by Jeremias and Nicholas Kangas, who served as the platform's CEOs until 2017. As of today, the CEO of LocalBitcoins is Sebastian Sonntag.

Unlike its indirect competitor Coinbase, which was founded in the same year, LocalBitcoins have managed to grow to this size without any external investment. As of 2021, LocalBitcoins employ over 60 staff members.

Where is LocalBitcoins located?

Located in the capital of Finland, Helsinki, LocalBitcoins is regulated by the Financial Supervisory Authority (FIN-FSA). Hence, it acts in accordance with the Act of Virtual Currency Service Providers, which is the Finnish implementation of the European Union's Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD5). In fact, the exchange has been advising the country's regulatory agencies on how to adapt to the new standards of compliance in the cryptocurrency industry.

As a result, today LocalBitcoins platform is paving the way for a more viable, safer, and widespread use of bitcoins while simultaneously fighting the use of Bitcoin network in criminal activities and frauds.

The full address of the exchange is LocalBitcoins Oy, Porkkalankatu 24, 00180 Helsinki, Finland. The VAT ID of the service is FI28554152.

Supported countries and jurisdictions

LocalBitcoins is a truly international platform even though it geared towards facilitating bitcoin traders locally. Its services are available in most places worldwide, including countries like the United States, Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, China, India, Kenya, Iran, Qatar, Lebanon, Israel, Pakistan, Netherlands, Russia, South Korea, Philippines, Malaysia, Argentina, Romania, Uganda, Turkey, Kazakstan, Thailand, Spain, Ireland, Brazil, the United Kingdom (UK), and many more.

Besides, the platform is great for finding peer-to-peer buyers and sellers in highly populated cities like Tokyo, London, New York, San Francisco, San Diego, Toronto, Montreal, and many others.

As of February 2021, LocalBitcoins facilitates Bitcoin traders in 248 countries and 7938 cities.

LocalBitcoins fees

How much does LocalBitcoins charge for its services?

Well, the exchange employs a relatively simple fee structure.

Registering, buying, and selling bitcoin on LocalBitcoins.com is free of charge.

The platform charges only the users who create advertisements. They pay a 1% fee per completed trade. This fee is higher than trading fees in most centralized exchanges but not as high compared with direct crypto purchases with credit or debit bank cards, which can cost you 3% to more than 10% per trade.

Other than that, you might be charged Bitcoin network transaction fees, but they depend on the congestion of the network. Transactions between LocalBitcoins wallet users are free, too.

However, mind that even though LocalBitcoins fees are average, they can be inflated based on your preferred payment method.

How does LocalBitcoins work?

Essentially, LocalBitcoins is a marketplace for people to post their offers of buying or selling bitcoin. As a user, you create a post where you specify the exchange rate, location, and preferred payment method for an exchange. You can also boost your post as an advertisement, which will increase its visibility (it's basically how LocalBitcoin's make money). If someone becomes interested in your post, they will reply to you and you can both agree to make a trade using a bank transaction, payment service, or any other available method.

How does localbitcoins work

Unlike centralized exchanges like Coinbase, LocalBitcoins let you trade directly with other people. Nevertheless, the platform is not entirely decentralized either, as it registers and oversees all of your transactions made via LocalBitcoins.

When you initiate a trade, the exchanged bitcoins are held on LocalBitcoins escrow service. The swap is completed only when the seller confirms that the trade has been made.

Another crucial aspect of the LocalBitcoins platform is its native reputation system. Chargeback fraud is a common thing in ecommerce, and even though bitcoin transactions are irreversible, traditional payment vendors still allow it. As a result, some people may be tricked into selling their bitcoins and then lose their justly earned money. LocalBitcoins reputation management system allows users to leave feedback for buyers and sellers, which may help you to determine whether the buyer or seller is legit.

As a rule of thumb, it's safer to deal with older accounts with better feedback rather than make a deal with new and shady accounts. Do not choose offers based solely on price - any offer with unnaturally low price should be deemed with suspicion unless the trader fully verified and has received lots of positive feedback.

Besides, you can search the LocalBitcoin's forum to see if there are any issues connected with the seller's username.

In case of a conflict between the users, LocalBitcoins has a dedicated support team that helps with conflict resolution.