If you landed here with no idea whatsoever of what on Earth is Local
(or even what is a Peer-to-Peer Market/Platform), I’ll give you a brief
description. In fact, we could call it:

✨THE BRIEFEST DESCRIPTION OF ALL✨

Do you remember the first time you’ve bought crypto? Yes, that
tingling in your tummy while you watched Jim Cramer-types yell
about the future of finance and the humongous opportunities you were
missing. You just had to buy Bitcoin, didn’t you?

But when it came to actually deploying some funds into the exciting
market of tomorrow, well… things became boring and Byzantine:

“First, you’ll need to create an account on a Government
approved Central Exchange (CEX); then, they’ll need your
Social Security number; then your home address, then your
mother’s maiden name, then your shoe size, and so on, and so
on. Only for security reasons, of course.

Then you’ll have to transfer some funds from your bank
account, convert them to one of the CEX approved
stable-coins and THEN, finally, you can buy your Jim
Cramer-endorsed crypto of choice. Maybe even invest in some
of those sure things recommended by that cunning
crypto-guru, BitBoy.

Oh, the Central Exchange doesn’t support your country’s
currency? Too bad, m’am. Have you thought of parking your
money in a savings account?”

Yikes.

So: What Local (and P2P markets) do is provide a trustless
platform where you can trade your local currency (get it?) and/or
your crypto assets with another user, in a decentralized manner,
with very low fees and without KYC (know-your-customer)
procedures.

While doing a trade, the seller deposits the crypto asset into
Local’s escrow contract, the buyer makes an off-chain fiat
payment and notifies the seller. The seller can then verify the
payment and release the escrow accordingly. (And if something
goes wrong? Relax. We have an Arbitration System👨‍⚖️)

“That was not a brief description, at all” 🤡

You want an even briefer description? Alright: Local is a fast
and cheap crypto on/off ramp, without the bureaucracy of the
Traditional Financial world.

[You can read a much more detailed explanation here]