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Create alternative to the current fiat-BTC exchange system

Do you want to buy or sell BTC for fiat without KYC? Solution is simpler than it looks, just create a new group with your friends using one of the e2e encrypted messengers (e.g. Signal) and exchange peer-to-peer without KYC.
You will often find people that want to buy and people that want to sell. Just let those people find each other - you don't need any fancy exchange.

The basic rules

  • Maker posts offer as a message in the group. Include what do you want, how much and what method, e.g. "I'll buy BTC (LN/onchain) for $250; market price; over Venmo or CashApp"
  • Taker that wants to take the offer texts the maker directly over private message where they figure out details (e.g. share LN invoice...)
  • Fiat pays first
  • Maker deletes the message after the offer has been filled (or marks it with smiley...)
  • No non-offer messages in the main exchange group (consider creating parallel support group)

Technical details for the group

  • Use messaging that has solid end-to-end encryption by default: e.g. Signal
  • Make the messages expire/disappear after 2-3 days.
  • The group admin should create a web of trust (e.g. 2-3 depth at most)
  • Don't make the group bigger than hundreds of people
  • Each new user has to be approved by admin (don't just open sign ups)
Of course you can change the rules however works for you, definitely share with us what worked for you.
Moved it to gitlab so that we can continue refining it: https://gitlab.com/sovereign-individuals/p2p-exchange-protocol
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I think it would be very interesting to write down a standardized guide, governance and techniques to enable this. @nout's basic rules are a fantastic start. But, how does canceling an order work? What happens if a fill isn't marked filled soon enough? What happens if somebody robs somebody else? How does adding some body else work? Do you have to level up, do a few trades before you are allowed to trade more? Is there a public history of who trusts who? What happens if the bank screws the fiat side of the trade? So many more questions...
If it was codified, written down, into a potentially versioned standard then protocols, scripts, and tools could form around it. And if you joined one p2p exchange, then you could join a second, third or fourth one without learning how it worked.
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This sounds interesting! Any ideas on how to get started on something like this?
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The post is sort of a tutorial for how to start... Are you stuck on anything specific? 🙂 I guess get at least one friend that's interested and create the group...
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That looks cool, but somewhat harder to set up and only limited to LN, right? Either way the more the merrier :)
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where do people actually get the BTC to begin with? somebody has to KYC themselves, right?
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You can get paid in BTC, get BTC tips, buy it using Bisq, buy using 2plnbot, buy is using HodlHodl, etc.
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Bisq works, or find a miner and buy directly
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It could be from any source: from miner, from Bisq, etc. But yes, you can expect that the person selling bought it with KYC. This is where LN helps, the privacy with LN is much better...
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Oh yeah and there’s also card coins which lets you buy Lightning BTC with gift cards https://www.cardcoins.co/
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deleted by author
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It's probably good idea to create multiple groups then. One for fiat-BTC, one for hardware, one for services, one for rentals, one for shitposting :) This is the best way to make your community resilient...
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