From P2P Veteran to Next-Level Growth – Looking to Monetize Smarter, Not Harder (Since 2013)

Hey BHW family


I've been in the P2P crypto game since 2013 — started with LocalBitcoins (50,000+ trades back in the day), then moved on to Binance, Commex, Bybit, KuCoin, and now Telegram Wallet. Today, I’m a Verified Merchant on Telegram Wallet with over 18,000 trades and counting.


After more than a decade in the trenches, I’ve built a ton of experience, strong buying networks, and even helped some students get into the game. One bonus of mentoring? I can help them buy crypto much cheaper than retail, which is a nice side hustle by itself.


But here’s the thing… I’ve hit a ceiling.


I’d love to scale income without scaling hours spent trading. I’m at a point where I want to shift from grinding to growing.


Here’s what I’ve been thinking about:

• Launching an educational product or info-business
• Tapping into affiliate marketing opportunities
• Building social media presence / becoming a thought leader
• Creating a Swap service (like ChangeNOW but niche-specific)
• Expanding into other markets, but unsure how to approach it yet

If you’ve been down this path or are exploring something similar — I’d love to hear your thoughts.


Any advice, feedback, or even questions about my P2P journey are super welcome. Happy to share my lessons and help others avoid common pitfalls. Maybe we can even collaborate


Cheers,
OG Trader, 2013–Now

Yeah, P2P can be risky — like most things in crypto, it comes with its own minefield. But I’ve been dancing through it since 2013, and here’s how I stay (mostly) sane:


I usually stick to small trades — think microinvestors, miners cashing out, people needing gas fees, or folks earning crypto online. From day one, I got into the habit of asking buyers, “Why do you need crypto? Why here? What’s the plan?” — and you'd be surprised how honest people are when you ask like a human.


My personal golden rule? I never accept a deal for more money than I’m ready to lose and still sleep well at night. It keeps things peaceful.


On most major P2P platforms, I only accept payments where the sender's name matches the account. If it’s a third-party payment, I hit the refund button without blinking. Sadly, Telegram Wallet doesn’t have that feature (yet), so I rely on extra caution and pattern recognition.


Now, banks... oh boy. For years they looked at my account like it was a sci-fi mystery. Imagine $5K bouncing in and out 300 times — they’d ask, “Why so many zeros if it’s the same five grand?” I know some collectors have the same issue. But eventually, I figured out how to play their game, and now we coexist (mostly).


Here’s what I think are the real legal landmines in P2P:


0. Some smart ass buyer that will call his bank after deal complete and shout that that transfer is totally unknown to him. That's the worst thing. Banks do not contact me, or refund him, but mark my account # as a suspicious destination.

1. Third-party payments – always risky, always refund-worthy.
2. Banks thinking it’s a business – when really, it’s just a hobby that pays in satoshis.
3. Dirty crypto – darknet funds are a big no-no. Thankfully, Telegram Wallet has some serious AML in place.

So yeah, P2P isn’t for the faint of heart, but if you treat it like a craft (and not like a gold rush), you can stay out of trouble and even have some fun along the way.

MysticRaptor said:

So you are doing this just as an individual ? No company , nothing ?
About taxes I know it is different from place to place but do you keep records of every movements done across all platforms like Binance, Commex, Bybit, KuCoin ?
Do they ever asked you for all detailed records ? I think its hard to keep track of everything across so many platforms when the profit margins are so small right ?
Or do you hire a professional to do that for you ?

Click to expand...

U shuld stick to what u do. Please return me my money.

I use good old Google Sheets to track ins and outs. Nothing fancy — just rows, columns, and the eternal feeling that something’s always missing. Every time I think it's perfect, surprise! A number’s off, or I forgot to note that one “tiny” trade.


When banks decide to bless me with an account freeze and a request for “proof,” it turns into a full-blown quest. Picture this: I fire up a bash script that opens Chromium on every deal page and takes a screenshot. Then I run those through ImageMagick and jpegoptim to shrink them like Marie Kondo would, so they fit into zip files under 10MB (bank rules, not mine). After hours of suffering and a few existential thoughts, I end up with 10+ zip archives no one will ever read. At least, I hope no one reads them.


Fast forward to 2024–2025: some banks got bold. “Please provide a detailed report of all transactions across all your bank accounts… since the dawn of time.”
I politely declined, closed the accounts, and lit a virtual candle in their memory.


Oh, and sometimes they ask for my crypto wallet addresses. That’s when I go full Web3 patriot. I had a lawyer draft a letter explaining how such a request violates the very spirit of cryptocurrency. Then I dropped a mic — I mean, 100 freshly generated Electrum addresses.


Anyway, great question — I’m actually working right now on a script to automate @wallet accounting straight into Google Sheets. Because if the spreadsheets won't fix themselves, at least the script might.

chickenlittley said:

U shuld stick to what u do. Please return me my money.

Click to expand...

It works that way: you continue texting me: return my money

I open a p2p appeal on fraudulent activity. Your account will be suspended.
As telegram is quite a techy thing, you will get all new accounts on wallet p2p market also locked fastly.

Not worth it, bro.

Amazing experience and background, wish you the best for your journey

martice said:

It works that way: you continue texting me: return my money

I open a p2p appeal on fraudulent activity. Your account will be suspended.
As telegram is quite a techy thing, you will get all new accounts on wallet p2p market also locked fastly.

Not worth it, bro.

Click to expand...

martice said:

It works that way: you continue texting me: return my money

I open a p2p appeal on fraudulent activity. Your account will be suspended.
As telegram is quite a techy thing, you will get all new accounts on wallet p2p market also locked fastly.

Not worth it, bro.

Click to expand...

Sorry I was not referring to u. Sorry to crash your post. Please do delete if it is not appropriate.

Solid plans
What have you done to put them in practice so far?

Spicy Chromosomes said:

Solid plans
What have you done to put them in practice so far?

Click to expand...

In 2024, I seriously explored the idea of launching an accountless coin swap service — a typical “swap” exchange — using a white-label solution from a well-known provider. While technically it worked, the economics turned out to be barely viable due to partner markups and fee structures.

To make things worse, I ran into an unpleasant situation with a link-building contractor — I managed to recover the funds, but lost valuable time and, frankly, a good chunk of enthusiasm.

Later that year, I started experiencing issues as a user of such services — including the one where I was actually a partner. These repeated problems made me reevaluate the entire “swap” experience, even though I’d been a regular user for quite a while.

Now, in 2025, I’m considering a comeback with a much simpler version of a swap service — a Telegram Mini App (TON-based) that I’d try to build myself. The initial idea was to offer small bonuses or incentives to my P2P buyers, and maybe this lightweight format will fit the purpose better.

good information we appreciate it mate good luck with your work

If you package your knowledge right, you could dominate the crypto ed niche easy.

Binance restricted my account when i go full blown on P2P and mentioned the reason that i was doing some dummy trading, I don't remembered the word they used something like I was just rotating money or something. After that 1 week restriction i never try to do P2P full time otherwise its very lucrative. I am also following P2P since the rise and fall of localbitcoins.com it was best one during initial times but due to btc rising txn costs they closed doors.

martice said:

Hey BHW family


I've been in the P2P crypto game since 2013 — started with LocalBitcoins (50,000+ trades back in the day), then moved on to Binance, Commex, Bybit, KuCoin, and now Telegram Wallet. Today, I’m a Verified Merchant on Telegram Wallet with over 18,000 trades and counting.


After more than a decade in the trenches, I’ve built a ton of experience, strong buying networks, and even helped some students get into the game. One bonus of mentoring? I can help them buy crypto much cheaper than retail, which is a nice side hustle by itself.


But here’s the thing… I’ve hit a ceiling.


I’d love to scale income without scaling hours spent trading. I’m at a point where I want to shift from grinding to growing.


Here’s what I’ve been thinking about:

• Launching an educational product or info-business
• Tapping into affiliate marketing opportunities
• Building social media presence / becoming a thought leader
• Creating a Swap service (like ChangeNOW but niche-specific)
• Expanding into other markets, but unsure how to approach it yet

If you’ve been down this path or are exploring something similar — I’d love to hear your thoughts.


Any advice, feedback, or even questions about my P2P journey are super welcome. Happy to share my lessons and help others avoid common pitfalls. Maybe we can even collaborate


Cheers,
OG Trader, 2013–Now

Click to expand...

I would suggest to go for educational product or/and info-bsuniess - there are so many wannabes and fresh blood in p2p

Congrats with keeping it profitable that long!!!

martice said:

Hey BHW family


I've been in the P2P crypto game since 2013 — started with LocalBitcoins (50,000+ trades back in the day), then moved on to Binance, Commex, Bybit, KuCoin, and now Telegram Wallet. Today, I’m a Verified Merchant on Telegram Wallet with over 18,000 trades and counting.


After more than a decade in the trenches, I’ve built a ton of experience, strong buying networks, and even helped some students get into the game. One bonus of mentoring? I can help them buy crypto much cheaper than retail, which is a nice side hustle by itself.


But here’s the thing… I’ve hit a ceiling.


I’d love to scale income without scaling hours spent trading. I’m at a point where I want to shift from grinding to growing.


Here’s what I’ve been thinking about:

• Launching an educational product or info-business
• Tapping into affiliate marketing opportunities
• Building social media presence / becoming a thought leader
• Creating a Swap service (like ChangeNOW but niche-specific)
• Expanding into other markets, but unsure how to approach it yet

If you’ve been down this path or are exploring something similar — I’d love to hear your thoughts.


Any advice, feedback, or even questions about my P2P journey are super welcome. Happy to share my lessons and help others avoid common pitfalls. Maybe we can even collaborate


Cheers,
OG Trader, 2013–Now

Click to expand...

This is so cool! I’m a strong supporter of P2P because I’m my opinion it’s the truest from of decentralization and what crypto is all about. I was very sad to see LocalBitcoin (and LocalMonero) close shop when they did.

Good luck on your endeavors!

martice said:

But here’s the thing… I’ve hit a ceiling.


I’d love to scale income without scaling hours spent trading. I’m at a point where I want to shift from grinding to growing.

Click to expand...

It's wild having someone around who's been in crypto since day one.

You've probably seen all the crap this market throws at us. Someone should just build an ecosystem that fixes some of that, traders would eat it up. Could def make some money off that.

Saw a coder here wanting to cash in on his skills in crypto too. Maybe team up with someone on BHW and build a platform that solves some of the market's BS? Like the KYC nightmare on exchanges, MEV on DEXs, or how crypto's blocked in sanctioned countries, etc.

Thanks again for all the thoughtful replies — it’s been really cool reading everyone’s takes. Some of you brought up things I’ve been quietly thinking about myself, so I figured I’d share a few thoughts back.

On the topic of knowledge sharing
I’ve always believed P2P is one of the most misunderstood yet powerful parts of crypto. It’s been my day-to-day for over 10 years, but I’m still surprised how many questions people have, even those who’ve been in the space a while.
Lately, I’ve been thinking — maybe there’s a way to structure and share some of what I’ve learned over the years. Nothing big or flashy, just a well-organized way to answer common questions and help others avoid the pitfalls I went through.

If anyone would find that useful, I’d be happy to share more — maybe through a mini series of posts or some notes I’ve already written down over time. No sales, no fluff — just real stuff that worked (or didn’t).

As for building tools / teaming up —
Some of the ideas mentioned here really resonate. There’s so much friction in P2P still — from KYC to platform limits to general inefficiencies. I’ve tried a few things on the backend to improve my own setup (automating spreadsheets, scripting screenshots for compliance, etc.) and would love to explore more of that.
Not pitching anything, just saying: if someone’s already building something interesting or wants to bounce ideas — I’m around.

Appreciate all the stories and insights in this thread — it’s rare to have open convos like this that aren’t just shills or moonboy noise. Happy to keep the discussion going.