LocalEthereum, New and Improved

Published

This blog post was published before LocalEthereum became LocalCryptos.

We’re excited to introduce an updated LocalEthereum that will make buying and selling ETH even easier than it was before.

When we started LocalEthereum in 2017, our mission was clear: users having full ownership of their ETH on a secure platform, making us the obvious choice for ETH to fiat currency transactions. With end-to-end encryption and a self-custodial decentralised web application, LocalEthereum maintains the privacy, decentrality, and security of ETH’s buyers and sellers.

Since then, our platform has only grown, amassing over 100,000 users in 130 countries. We’re thankful for the continuous feedback of our new and veteran users, which has allowed for us to bring you our new and improved interface.

Based on feedback and a bit of trial-and-error over the years, the new LocalEthereum is available in 12 languages, and promotes ease of use and transparency amongst buyers and sellers. This of course, is in addition to the various bug fixes we’ve made that many loyal, long-time LocalEthereum users are familiar with. No more broken pages or lagging balances!

Here are some specific features we’ve added and improvements we’ve made. As always, we want to hear from you on how we can do better.

Previously, LocalEthereum users were only able to search offers by payment method and location. Due to a high number of requests, we’ve launched an advanced search to include local currency (e.g. Euros, USD), offer limits (e.g. only users that accept $100 trades), and custom text (e.g. usernames, headline search).

Notification Sounds

Enabled by default, you’ll now receive a short notification sound when you have a new message. Many users want to be responsive, but also continue to browse. This is easily disabled in the account settings.

User “Last Online” Indicator

Another widely requested feature, the “last online” indicator gives buyers and sellers better insights on when to expect a response, and encourages transparency between all parties.

Integration with WalletConnect

Users now have the ability to log in with WalletConnect-enabled wallets. WalletConnect is a protocol for wirelessly connecting decentralised applications to new Ethereum wallets such as the beautifully designed Rainbow (iOS) or Pillar (Android & iOS).

Even More Wallets (Portis and Fortmatic)

We added compatibility with two more wallets that don’t require any downloads or tedious setups.

Portis enables anybody to create a wallet using only an email and password. Their mission is to simplify the blockchain for as many people as possible, and we’re on board with that! You can now log in to LocalEthereum with a portable Portis wallet.

Fortmatic is a new kind of no-setup-needed wallet tied to a phone number. The wallet works in any web browser and protects transactions with tamper-resistant hardware. With Fortmatic, you can now log in and trade using only your phone number — no password or software needed.

New Languages

Previously, LocalEthereum was only available in English, Spanish, Russian, and Chinese. We’ve since expanded to include those and:

If you have any questions or concerns, check out our blog and “About Us” page to see if we can shed some light. Want to talk to us directly? Shoot us a message.

— LocalEthereum Team