Bitcoin is an open monetary network, and despite the sleek-looking centralised exchanges that have become popular on-ramps for people, it isn’t the be-all and end-all of acquiring bitcoin. Every day hundreds of bitcoin are trading hands without hitting an exchange via interpersonal trade, online peer-to-peer networks, bitcoin-based eCommerce and much more.
That is the beauty of having an open protocol running decentralised money, and anyone can tap into the network as long as you have a bitcoin wallet and there are no restrictions to your access. You can send and receive funds at will, and no one will be able to stop you.
When using centralised exchange services, you are taking on custodial risk, and with that comes permissioned access to your bitcoin. Until you take ownership of the bitcoin, you’re working with an IOU, and you’re hoping the service honours that agreement. In addition, you also need to provide a host of KYC and AML documentation to use these services, which can put you at risk and is also a tiresome bother as well as a walled garden to acquiring bitcoin.
If you prefer to skip that drama and want to acquire free-range bitcoin, that is out there in the wild, you can leverage a host of different networks from Bisq to Robosats and even bitcoin vouchers. As bitcoin scales and becomes more programmable with second-layer solutions like the Lightning Network, we’re seeing more ways to get bitcoin into the hands of ordinary people and avoid the creep of KYC and regulation.
One method growing in popularity is trading bitcoin via Telegram, an act that has gone on for some time but is now being formalised into P2P markets with some interesting features, like the ones offered by the Telegram bot @lnp2pbot. LN refers to the Lightning Network, and P2P refers to person/peer-to-peer trading. It doesn’t get more self-explanatory than that.
Now that you know what the bot does let’s see how it works and how you can use it to purchase or liquidate your bitcoin.
What is @lnp2pbot?
@lnp2pbot is an open-source, non-custodial peer-to-peer exchange with no user registration or identity verification, running on top of a Telegram bot. It allows you to buy and sell satoshis (minimum fractional unit of Bitcoin) via Lightning Network.
What are the benefits of using a telegram bot?
- No-web procedure; You don’t take the risk of making a web request, where your data otherwise can be sniffed and acquired.
- No additional apps are required; you don’t need to download or install anything on your mobile; and Telegram.
- No registration is required
- No IP address will be gathered
- No cookies set
- Pure Telegram procedure
- In-app chat with support
- Only spot price, no additional spread
Is the @lnp2pbot free to use?
Yes, the bot is free to use; all you need to do is set up a Telegram account with the “username” activated. If you don’t have a user name, the bot will not activate. So you’ll need to head over to your settings and claim a username first. Once you’ve done that, head back to the chat and initialise the bot and a wallet that supports Lightning Network.
How to buy and sell bitcoin via the Telegram bot
Once you start up the bot you can:
- Publish your order using the /buy or /sell command and follow the instructions.
- You will then need to wait for another user to pick your request using the “Buy” or “Sell” buttons, which can be a pain if you’re looking to secure sats fast, and you’re better off using a bitcoin voucher service on Telegram.
- You can also pick other users’ orders with these buttons!
- Your orders and reputation are visible in the @p2plightning channel, which is a separate chat to the bot.
- If you are selling, the bot will publish the order in the @p2plightning channel in the expectation that another user will take the order. You can cancel this sell order anytime BEFORE another user takes it with the /cancel command.
- Once somebody takes your order, the bot will ask you to pay the Lightning network invoice; such payment will be held, and the order will expire in a maximum lapse of 1380 minutes starting when the order was taken. The bot will reveal who the buyer is, s you can send instructions for the FIAT payment to be made. Once you receive the FIAT payment, you must send funds to the buyer using the /release command.
- If you want to buy, you need to publish your order using the /buy command and wait until a seller takes it. You can cancel the order any time using the /cancel command.
- Once somebody takes your buying order, you need to create a Lightning Network invoice and send it to the bot. After that, you need to contact your seller to get your FIAT payment instructions. Once you pay, the seller should use the command /release, the BOT will send you the sats to your Lightning Network invoice.
- If you are taking a selling order, i.e. you buy, you must create an LN invoice to get your sats and ask the seller to give you the FIAT payment instructions. Once the seller receives the fiat payment, he shall use the /release command to have the sats sent to your wallet.
- If you are taking a buy order, i.e. you sell sats. You must pay the LN invoice. These sats will be held until the buyer makes the fiat payment. You must contact the buyer and give him the info needed to proceed with the fiat payment. Once you receive the fiat payment, you must release the fund held by the bot, you must use the /release command, and sats will be automatically sent to the buyer’s wallet.
- If, at any stance, you cannot carry out the trade, you can use this command /Dispute to call in admins to bring a solution as third parties.
- Before any other user picks your order as a seller or buyer, you can cancel such an offer with the /cancel command.
- If your order has been taken and you want to cancel, you can proceed with a cooperative cancellation if both parties agree. You both should use /cancel command.
Browsing orders on lnp2pbot’s marketplace
If you’re looking to purchase bitcoin, you’ll need to head over the marketplace chat known as lnp2pbot exchange; once you open the exchange chat, you’ll see several orders populated. The order will hold the following content:
- Intention: Selling sats
- Size of transaction: For 375 euros
- Fiat payment method: Receive payment by REVOLUT
- Track record: Has 25 successful trades
- Trade pair type: #SELLEUR
- Premium: yadio.io +5%
- Seller rating: 4.8
(21)
If you’re happy with the seller and want to engage in a trade click the “buy satoshis” button and follow the prompts.
Once you select an order, the lnp2pbot will prompt you with the details of how to fulfil the order.
Since anyone can place an order using this service, it’s important to protect yourself and know the risks involved. Ensure that you use a fiat payment processor that allows you to send the money immediately and in which there is no risk of freezing funds.
If, for any reason, your payment processor puts the payment on pause, and the funds do not arrive in less than 23 hours, the sats will return to the seller, putting the buyer at risk, and I will not be able to force the seller to send the bitcoin again.
If the funds do clear, the seller will then release the funds via the bot, and the satoshis will be sent to the stipulated Lightning wallet.
Are there minimum or maximum limits on the amounts I can trade?
In regards to the bot’s side, there are no limits to the volume of your transaction. However, it will depend on the capacity of the lightning network and the liquidity of the channel that you can find a maximum limit for trade placed at any given moment.
How long does it take to finalize a transaction?
It depends on several factors. Being a P2P exchange, the main variable is the taking of your offer by another person. Your post will be available for up to 23 hours and will then be automatically deleted if it is not taken.
Once an offer is accepted, a 15-minute window is opened to pay the lighting bill and for the bot to contact both parties. From here, they have a maximum time of two hours to complete the operation. After those two hours, the order expires and the sats will be returned to the wallet they came from. For this reason users must only use instant fiat money payment methods.
As both participants are online and agree on immediate payment methods, transactions are almost instantaneous.
What are the fees on trade?
The bot charges a flat rate of 0.6%. It includes the network fee, so there are no additional charges. This commission is paid only by the seller, not the buyer.
While the buyer will naturally cover the bill, the seller puts the costs into the premium they charge on the trades they make.
Get the app
There you have it; now, you can leverage buy and sell orders on a P2P exchange within your Telegram to acquire bitcoin without having to hand over your identification or tie yourself to a specific service provider.
Sure, you’ll have to pay a premium for this additional privacy, but for those who want to build a non-KYC stack, it’s worth the cost. Since you’re using lightning, you’re avoiding on-chain fees and can consolidate funds before moving them into cold storage.
If you’d like to learn more about the app or give it a try, check out the links below.
Are you a bitcoin privacy advocate?
Are you using non-KYC bitcoin exchanges? Which app is your favourite? Do you have one you’d like us to cover? Let us know in the comments down below.
