In a significant growth, veteran peer-to-peer (P2P) crypto marketplace LocalBitcoins has reported annual revenue of nearly $29.5 million for 2019, which is around 10 per cent more than 2018.
In 2018, LoaclBitcoins recorded a revenue of $26.9 million. At present, the firm reported a downfall in annual operating income by 6 per cent to $19.8 million.
Staff of the firms are expanded as the platform has strengthened their know-your-customer (KYC) requirements in the third and fourth quarters of last year, with the firm’s headcount increasing from 26 to 43.
2019 was an invaluable learning experience for LocalBitcoins
“2019 was an invaluable learning experience for us, as we implemented anti-money laundering and know-your-customer (KYC) regulations,” said LocalBitcoins chief executive Sebastian Sonntag.
“As expected, undesired activity was driven away from the platform and the implementation of KYC itself was a challenging process. Despite these, we were able to deliver growth and excellent earnings.”
LocalBitcoins indicated that 1.46 million new users have joined them last year, with around 913,000 active users generating $2.8 billion in volume over 15.6 million trades, which indicates an average trade size of $179.49.
Sonntag said that the platform has continued to show signs of strength this year, with new customers sign-ups increasing 50% from roughly 4,000 in January to 6,000 today.
However, despite the optimism shown by Sonntag for LocalBitcoins near-term outlook the year has seen its rival platform such as Paxful take over as the top P2P exchange by trade volume since early June according to data published by UsefulTulips.
