Many cryptocurrency exchanges in India offer some kind of peer-to-peer (P2P) trading. News.Bitcoin.com talked to several of them to find out what is unique about each platform, most of which were launched in response to the banking restriction imposed by the country’s central bank.
Also read: Indian Supreme Court Postpones Crypto Case at Government’s Request
P2P With Tether
A number of Indian crypto exchanges launched exchange-escrowed P2P trading following the banking restriction imposed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) which went into effect in July last year. Some of them use dollar-pegged stablecoin tether (USDT) as an extra step between rupees and buying or selling other cryptocurrencies on their P2P platforms.
Wazirx has a P2P platform that allows users to convert their INR to USDT in order to trade against any of the 42 coins listed on its main exchange. CEO Nischal Shetty described to news.Bitcoin.com that “Unlike other P2P where [the] user has to decide which buyer or seller to connect with, Wazirx P2P automatically matches with the right peers based on order volume and price.” For users wanting to trade with a particular person, however, he noted that his exchange also has “a unique XID feature that lets you conduct P2P with a specific person if needed.”
Bitbns is another Indian exchange that utilizes USDT. A representative of the exchange only has this to say: “You can trade 65 coins on Bitbns. You can deposit and withdraw quickly using USDT method.”
More P2P Options
Many Indian crypto exchanges opt not to use tether as a stepping stone for their exchange-escrowed P2P platforms.
Dcx Insta by Coindcx exchange is a P2P platform that “allows users to buy and sell 160 cryptocurrencies instantly … directly with INR,” CEO Sumit Gupta told news.Bitcoin.com, emphasizing that “orders are executed near instantly.” The exchange lets users buy cryptocurrencies for as low as 10 rupees (~$0.14) in addition to buying “stablecoins worth INR 2,00,000 (=$2,894) instantly without having to wait for the order book,” Gupta remarked. His main exchange also offers “spot markets, margin trading and lending platform with the same wallets.”
Instashift offers P2P exchange for 130 coins and a long list of fiat currencies including the rupee. The exchange claims that trades between customers are often matched and executed in “under 2 seconds” if the conditions are right. Marketing officer Jacob Mani told news.bitcoin.com that his company “operates a mixed order book; which means that if a seller is selling BTC and the buyer is buying XRP or any of the 130 coins we support, we still match them and they can trade with each other and still get to buy/sell the coin of their choice.”
Meanwhile, Giottus has a P2P exchange where “every P2P order is assigned to a customer support executive” who assists users, coordinates with buyers and sellers, and resolves any disputes, CEO Vikram Subburaj explained to news.Bitcoin.com. “Even after a seller gives confirmation that he has received INR funds … we call the seller and do a double confirmation before releasing the coins to [the] buyer (Since P2P is new to many customers, we introduced this process to ensure that sellers do not lose their funds if they had pressed the confirmation button by mistake).” The CEO added that his exchange “offers a guarantee of up to 1 BTC in P2P in case anything goes wrong and [the] customer loses his funds even after following all the P2P guidelines.”
Crypto exchange Buyucoin, founded in 2016, has a similar platform. CEO Shivam Thakral shared with news.Bitcoin.com that his P2P system “enables users to withdraw their funds by algorithmically matching them with depositors who want to deposit and we act as [a] middle watcher so that the transaction goes smoothly.” Buyers and sellers “both create requests and using our several algorithms they get matched,” he reiterated.
P2P OTC Exchanges
There are also many online exchanges that offer P2P trading for INR, listing offers on local boards without automatically matching buyers with sellers. Known as over-the-counter (OTC) trading, these services allow local traders to find and trade with each other directly, as has been the case with Finnish platform Localbitcoins since it began service globally in 2012. Users looking to sell their BTC list the payment methods they accept next to their offers.
Although Localbitcoins has the most INR listings, with 351 BTC traded in the week ending March 30, New York-based Paxful also shows some decent INR trading volume for BTC, with 29 coins changing hands during the same time period. Indian exchange Koinex‘s P2P network offers a similar listing format but supports four cryptocurrencies.
Bisq, a truly decentralized P2P application, is another place that offers OTC crypto trading for INR. The open-source app with a built-in TOR network node must be downloaded and run on users’ desktops before any trades can be seen. There are very few INR listings on Bisq at press time. However, what Bisq lacks in liquidity, it makes up for in extreme privacy and censorship resistance.
Requests were sent to several other Indian crypto exchanges with P2P platforms but their responses were not received at press time.
Which P2P crypto trading platforms do you like? Let us know in the comments section below.
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