P2P Cryptocurrency Exchanges: What are they?

Best P2P Crypto Exchange by isabella aria on Flickr

P2P stands for “Peer to peer”, in a network that connects individuals via the internet without a central server. This means that every computer (peer) is a client but at the same time is a file server.

This same definition is one of the bases on which Decentralized Crypto Exchanges work, trying to automate the trades and process happening in their platforms without intermediary or central figures.

In P2P cryptocurrency exchanges this means that anyone can become buyer or a seller.

Then what benefits are in using P2P Cryptocurrency Exchanges?

There are several benefits in using a P2P exchange but some of the main ones are:

P2P cryptocurrency exchanges: ensuring safety

One of the main reasons that some people don’t use crypto services is that they do not feel safe leaving their fund to a third party.

Another thing is that when letting a third party exchange have access to your funds, they may disappear overnight, and you lose everything you give them. When in comparison, in a P2P exchange you are in charge of your funds on your own private wallet.

The only possible downside is that you are responsible for looking for buyers and sellers.

Fees

One of my favourite aspects of a P2P exchange besides the non-custodial factor is the fees. It is a common practice in P2P exchanges that they may have meagre fees compared to the other exchange platforms or none at all!

You choose the price

When you participate in P2P trading platforms, normally, you will notice that the sellers have a variety of offers. This is because, in peer to peer exchanges, there is no fixed price imposed by a regulator. It is the participants (buyers and sellers) of the market the ones that choose the price of selling and payment method they are going to receive. At the same logic, when you became a seller, you choose how much you are selling and how you will be paid.

Volumes

In volumes, it is important to have into consideration which volume we are referring.

One is the quantity of traffic that the peer to peer exchange has. This means the number of users and the trading volume that they have. Normally at bigger volumes, you get more offers and therefore, it is easier to trade in the exchange. The other volume refers to the quantity of the currency that you are exchanging in a transaction. There may be a limit per transaction in some exchanges, but in most P2P platforms, the limits are really high.

Privacy of P2P cryptocurrency exchanges

Forget about the KYC or verification process in most P2P exchanges because they focus on selling and buying cryptocurrencies. Normally, the requirements for identity are almost none, allowing you to maintain a certain anonymity.

This is great if you don’t feel comfortable sharing some of your sensitive data without losing that usage security.

Then is it safe to use P2P Cryptocurrency Exchanges?

The P2P exchanges work really hard to maintain secure transactions with different methods. One of the most commons is escrow services or multisig wallet transactions. Both work overall so that the funds of any part of the trade will not be released to the other party until confirmation that the funds are there.

The black horse of 2021 | WhalesHeaven

WhalesHeaven is a decentralized OTC trading platform (DEX) that uses cross-chain peer to peer (P2P) and operates with Multisigs wallets for swapping cryptocurrency. It has grown and evolved since its beginning in 2019, looking with the focus of being the best DEX exchange.

It is a project that constantly improves how to maintain user anonymity by offering the best security and safety for all the participants in any trade. They have achieved that point using multisig wallets that protect your fund until users receive a confirmation that the funds are available for the transaction without a third party touching them.

From the anonymity perspective, their KYC requirements are the bare minimum asking only for an email address.

One of the biggest benefits is that you can trade without limits and between trading pairs without restrictions. Additionally, there are no fees that come from the platform. This means that there are 0% withdrawal fees, and mainly you have to pay the gas fees.

The project offers a variety of cryptocurrencies to trade with and easy to use.

WhalesHeaven surely is a platform that will bring more innovation and surprises for their users, so I will recommend keeping an eye on it because it has become a real deal.