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P2P Bitcoin Trading: Bisq & Paxful Grow, LocalBitcoins Slips
By Alex Lielacher
January 01, 2020
P2P Bitcoin Trading: Bisq & Paxful Grow, LocalBitcoins Slips 101
Source: iStock/blinow61
In Spring 2019, we witnessed the end of the so-called “crypto winter” when the price of bitcoin rallied past the USD 5,000 mark in the first days of April to peak at over USD 13,000 in June. While the altcoin market is still struggling to recover, bitcoin (BTC) managed to put itself back on the map for profit-hungry investors, despite its retracement to sub-USD 10,000 in Q3/2019.
In this article, we analyze peer-to-peer (P2P) bitcoin trading activity to gain insight into how this segment of global bitcoin trade has performed in the past twelve months, when the total trading volume on crypto exchanges has increased.
Daily bitcoin trading volume on exchanges: 2018-2019
P2P Bitcoin Trading: Bisq & Paxful Grow, LocalBitcoins Slips 102
Source: coinpaprika.com
Decentralized peer-to-peer trading has taken off in 2019
Bitcoin trading data provided by analytics platform Coin Dance for P2P trading platform Bisq suggests that an increasing amount of bitcoin traders prefer to trade on a private peer-to-peer basis.
Bisq is an open-source, decentralized peer-to-peer trading application that enables individuals across the globe to buy and sell bitcoin (and other cryptoassets). The key difference between Bisq and other leading P2P marketplaces is that the trading application does not require users to undergo an ID verification process nor does it store user’s funds. Moreover, Bisq is built on top of Tor to enhance transactional privacy for its users.
Judging by its global trading data, Bisq had its best year ever in 2019. While in the year prior, its highest volume week only saw around USD 3 million worth of BTC traded, its best week in 2019 saw over three times that amount. In total, Bisq trading volumes tripled in 2019 vs. 2018, amounting to over USD 112 million (c. BTC 15,500).
P2P Bitcoin Trading: Bisq & Paxful Grow, LocalBitcoins Slips 103
Source: Coin Dance
While Bisq has lower trading volumes than other P2P bitcoin exchanges, it has become an increasingly popular trading platform for individuals who cherish their privacy and financial sovereignty.
P2P trading is thriving in struggling economies on LocalBitcoins
Globally, trading volumes are down slightly on market-leading P2P trading platform LocalBitcoins in 2019 vs. 2018, which could be attributed to the introduction of mandatory KYC (know your customer) procedures and increasing competition in the P2P exchange market. However, LocalBitcoins still plays a fundamental role for bitcoin traders in emerging markets that are suffering from economic downturns and in those that are not home to reliable local exchanges.
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