Bitcoin trading on P2P platforms hits 2.5-year high

The total trading volume of the first cryptocurrency on P2P platforms LocalBitcoins and Paxful for the first week of August amounted to $94.8 million. According to Usefultulips, this is the highest figure since the end of January 2018.

The volume of deals on LocalBitcoins during the period amounted to $49.6 million, and on Paxful — $45.2 million.

The growth driver was strong demand for Bitcoin from residents of many African and Latin American countries. In Latin America, new record levels were registered in Argentina, Mexico, Chile, Bolivia, Honduras, Paraguay, Uruguay and the Bahamas. In Africa — in South Africa, Ghana, Kenya, Botswana, Zambia and Sudan. The record was also surpassed in India.

The United States and Canada continue to account for the largest share of the total trading volume. In these countries, during the latest week, Bitcoin owners changed hands for a total of $28.70 million. The record figure of $32.41 million in these two countries was observed in June this year.

After North America, the African region south of the Sahara moved into second place by weekly trading volume ($18.39 million). Latin America, at $13.04 million, took third place. The bulk of the overall figure here belongs to Venezuela.

In Eastern Europe, weekly trading volume rose to $10.13 million but remains well below the $28.75 million recorded in December 2017. Of this amount, $9.09 million went to Russia, $427 000 — to Ukraine, $224 000 — to Belarus.

In July, LocalBitcoins implemented software for tracking cryptocurrency transactions from Elliptic.

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