• Launched in June ‘23
• Over 10,000 registered traders
• WalletChat-powered communication enabling trades
P2P trading is the default way users outside of Western countries trade between fiat and crypto. The initial platform LocalBitcoins was the original meeting place but trading has since moved to platforms offered by CEXs like Binance P2P.
However, a new breed of P2P exchanges is coming to the market now, leveraging smart contracts and cheaper L2s to enable fully self-custodial and private peer-to-peer trading between two users. WalletChat’s in-app messaging widget is the perfect plugin to offer a decentralized and private communication channel between traders.
Better Fiat On/Off Ramping for Emerging Markets
OpenPeer started after its two co-founders were struggling to onramp users into a self-custodial DeFi wallet they were building. Their users who primarily lived in emerging markets wanted to buy stablecoins to use for remittances and savings. However, most of the popular onramp options had rates 10% higher than P2P rates, lacked local payment methods and had minimums too high for those who wanted to try out an app with a small amount of money. Many of these problems were due to the excessive costs of moving money in emerging markets with antiquated banking systems and strict regulation.
The OpenPeer team realized that the only way to get users in emerging markets onto any on-chain product - whether that be a wallet, dapp, or game – was to bring the on-chain experience to P2P trading. It was a similar tactic adopted by Binance, who launched their P2P exchange as an onramp into their core products in 2019, only to become the largest P2P exchange within 24 months.
Today, OpenPeer is an on-chain P2P exchange where anyone can connect their wallet such as Metamask or Trust Wallet, and freely trade between fiat and crypto with local P2P merchants. Soon any on-chain application will be able to connect to OpenPeer’s merchant network to enable localized and cost-efficient onramping for their users.
Powered by WalletChat
“Being able to message the other party you’re trading with is a core piece of infrastructure in any P2P exchange. As a small team we were able to add this feature within a day by leveraging WalletChat’s easy widget so our users could communicate easily and privately.”
- Josh, OpenPeer, Co-Founder & CEO
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While every P2P platform offers some sort of messaging, OpenPeer wanted to ensure that messages were fully encrypted between its users, after all they are building a decentralized P2P exchange that requires no intermediary. Building the chat platform from scratch would have been a tough task, and the small team needed to focus on building core features like their decentralized escrow system.
WalletChat enabled them to integrate a decentralized and encrypted chat that fit perfectly into the platform. Sign-in on the widget automatically happens as users authenticate themselves with OpenPeer through WalletChat’s SSO add-on. Users are instantly able to chat with each other when trading, to ensure fast and smooth transactions.
Becoming the Gateway Between Fiat and Crypto
OpenPeer is working towards being the default way people in emerging markets move between crypto and fiat. The team is working on some exciting features to bring that reality to life:
• Onchain App Integrations: OpenPeer is launching an SDK that any on-chain application can integrate to on or offramp users in emerging markets. Wallets, dexes, games and casinos will soon be able to connect their users with local P2P merchants on OpenPeer’s network.
• Buy/Sell Any Token: Soon you will be able to buy any token on any chain simply by paying fiat to a local P2P merchant selling USDT. OpenPeer is integrating swap and bridge protocols to offer a quick checkout-like experience for all on-chain assets.
• Merchant Tools and Incentives: P2P merchants are the lifeblood of crypto ecosystems in emerging markets. Without them there would be no way for users to trade between crypto and fiat in many countries with soaring levels of crypto adoption. OpenPeer is launching more tools for merchants to quickly validate payments, process trades and earn rewards.
Keep an eye out for OpenPeer as their presence grows in more countries and consider using it as a way to trade between crypto and fiat.
Are you an on-chain project developer? Reach out to learn how to integrate web3 messaging to increase your transaction completion rate, drive engagement, and stand out from your competition, now.
“WalletChat has been one of our earliest and best partners. Their support is extremely quick and they’ve been responsive to adding requested features to improve our user experience. I can’t recommend working with them enough!”
- Josh, OpenPeer, Co-Founder & CEO
