Private Exchanges

by NotATether

History of the creation of Private Exchanges

When LocalBitcoins opened in June 2012, it was the first peer-to-peer marketplace of its kind. In a way, it was a precursor of the private exchanges as we know them today. Why is this important, you ask? Because in a private exchange, the buyer and seller directly trade cryptocurrencies with each other. Also fiat currencies could be traded, but that is beyond the scope of this website.

Way back then, people trusted each other enough to do direct trades with each other on various parts of the internet. This was before scammers overran cryptocurrency circles. When PayPal eventually banned bitcoin transactions on its platform (for nearly 10 years), people flocked there instead. LocalBitcoins is no more now, but it has left a legacy of a model exchange.

The Second Wave Of Private Exchanges

Against the backdrop of the introduction of massive restrictions from centralized exchanges, private exchanges were gaining more and more popularity. Probably the oldest active and trusted exchange today is eXch. It is noteworthy that the leaders of this niche were almost not exposed to any criminal or government activities. Those who closed did so voluntarily.

Exchanges such as Robosats, PeachBitcoin, Wizardswap, Agoradesk and UnstoppableSwap were created during this period. A few scams were also created, but they must have realized that exchanges are not so profitable, because they all disappeared quickly.

It is also around this time when exchanges became widely adopted, mainly by people whose exchanges were giving them a hard time with their funds. Today they represent a glowing future of private coin exchanges, which can trade not only Bitcoin and Monero, but other coins such as Ethereum and stablecoins too.