Explore the similarities of P2P trading compared to other forms of exchange.
If you're looking at P2P trading for the first time, there's a fair chance that it feels like something new. However, the odds are incredibly high you've already been engaging in other forms of P2P exchange in your day-to-day life. Let's explore how this style of trading isn't just big in cryptocurrency but permeates well beyond into other aspects of your life as well.
What is Peer-to-Peer Exchange?
Instead of attacking this question in a typical way, it might be interesting to start with what P2P exchange or trading isn't. P2P trading isn't a specific type of payment method, and it isn't a particular trader; it's much more than that. Exchanging P2P gives you extreme flexibility to trade in ways that suit your needs and match your preferences. P2P marketplaces like LocalCoinSwap provide the tools you need to trade safely with other traders in a very direct way, all around the world, using a range of cryptocurrencies, and using a vast number of local currencies and payment types.
Using a reliable exchange and using the escrow process is what makes P2P trading practical. Trading with just anyone you meet online or offline has significant risks, but using escrow on LocalCoinSwap helps mitigate that concern and gives you the freedom to trade your way.
You Likely Already Exchange P2P
If you've ever used eBay to buy a used laptop, or maybe you've used the Facebook marketplace to buy a car from someone nearby you. Likely, you've already been engaging in what is essentially just another form of P2P trading. If you've had trouble understanding P2P trading in the more general sense, you'd likely be surprised to realize that you've probably been doing it in your day-to-day life already. More traditional online marketplaces share many similarities with the cryptocurrency alternatives you can use to trade P2P.
Another excellent example of a form of P2P exchange outside of cryptocurrency is P2P energy trading. Perhaps you sell your excess solar energy from your home back into the grid to be bought by someone else. Energy trading is also a form of P2P exchange that isn't that unlike buying bitcoin on your favorite P2P marketplace. The difference with crypto is it's usually a little more personal when trading P2P, rather than the automated systems you would typically deal with when selling your energy to energy companies to be consumed by those around you.
The Power of Reputation in the Internet Age
Another thing that can be taken from long-standing online marketplaces like eBay is that reputation is growing in importance. While once the face-to-face with a handshake mentality was prevalent, an increasing preference for the hands-off and often online approach is increasing. Most of you reading this will have likely purchased a product or service online without even knowing the name of the company you purchased it from and merely just checked the account history for the vendor on whatever platform you happened to be using.
From buying homemade items on Etsy to selling bitcoin on LocalCoinSwap, one of the most interesting observations that can be made about the various popular forms of P2P exchange today is that there is less interest in verification, and instead, a shifting focus to reputation. The next time you are buying something online, crypto or otherwise, perhaps reflect on what it was that you centered on when making your decision to buy from a specific vendor. You may be surprised by what you prioritized in reality compared to what you'd suspect you would. The value of reputation over verification is worth understanding on your journey to becoming a P2P trader.