P2P
P2P is a trade directly between two people: one sells crypto, the other pays in fiat, and the platform holds the coins in escrow until both sides confirm. It is how people buy and sell where no direct bank rail to an exchange exists.
How it works
The platform never touches the money itself. A seller posts an offer with a rate, limits and payment methods. A buyer opens a trade, and at that moment the seller's crypto is frozen in escrow, beyond their reach.
The buyer then sends fiat straight to the seller: card, IBAN, payment service. Once the seller confirms it arrived, escrow releases and the coins move to the buyer.
When the two disagree, the platform's arbitration steps in: a moderator reads the screenshots and statements and decides where the coins go. That is why the conversation has to stay in the platform's chat, since arbitration has no evidence from outside it.
A worked example
You sell 1,000 USDT for euros. The exchange rate is 0.9180 EUR per USDT; the best P2P offer is 0.9350.
| On the exchange: 1,000 × 0.9180 | €918.00 |
| On P2P: 1,000 × 0.9350 | €935.00 |
| Difference | €17.00 |
P2P returned €17 more per thousand, or 1.85%. The cost is time and risk: the trade takes minutes rather than seconds, and the payment has to arrive and be checked. On a few thousand the gap is worth it; on a hundred euros it is not.
How to stay safe
- Stay in the platform's chatA conversation in a messenger sits outside arbitration's reach. If it comes to a dispute, only the messages inside the trade chat count as evidence.
- Read the counterpartyTrade count, completion rate, account age. A new account with an unusually good rate is standard bait.
- Release only on arrival"Sent" and "credited" are different states. A payment can be recalled after you have already released the coins.
- Names must matchThe sender of the payment must be the account holder. A third-party transfer is a standard laundering pattern, and a bank can freeze the account over it.
- Read the terms, not just the rateA better-than-market rate usually arrives attached to an awkward payment method or a narrow amount window.