Peach Bitcoin gives up its escrow key and limits who can sell after a regulator's letter

Peach Bitcoin, a peer-to-peer marketplace that has run without identity checks since 2022, changed how its trades work at the start of September. The platform no longer holds a key to the escrow, and only verified or long-standing users may post offers to sell.

What happened

Peach's founder explained the change in a post dated 31 August 2026 and titled "Peach at a Crossroads". In 2022, he writes, Peach "was allowed by a Swiss SRO", a self-regulatory organisation that supervises financial intermediaries, "to run a KYC-free marketplace with daily and monthly trading limits". It passed independent audits in 2023, 2024 and 2025.

Then: "last month I received a letter". The regulator wants to "requalify and reconsider the compliance agreement" it had itself approved. The post does not name the regulator or give its reasons.

What changed

Peach paused its escrow model. Until now the bitcoin in a trade sat in an address that needed signatures from both the seller and Peach. Now, in the founder's words, "Peach won't have a signature in the escrow anymore". The seller alone controls the coins until release.

To compensate, selling is restricted. An offer to sell can come only from:

• a user who has passed KYC;
• a user Peach has whitelisted by hand (the post says nobody is);
• a user with no lost disputes and more than 60 trades as a seller;
• a user with no lost disputes, more than 30 trades as a seller and more than 80 trades in total.

A user without KYC cannot be in more than one trade at a time. The 2% fee and the in-app dispute process remain.

If you use Peach

If you buy, you are now relying on the seller's record, not on a shared lock. Peach can still mediate a dispute, but it cannot move the coins. Check a seller's history before you pay, and keep first trades small.

If you sell and you are new, the route without KYC is closed until you have the trade count.

Other peer-to-peer markets, with the KYC level of each, are in the exchange category.

What is still open

The founder describes the change as a pause and says that if he loses the argument with the regulator he will not fight the outcome. The marketplace, he writes, "may or may not continue as usual with an escrow model". As of 4 October there has been no further announcement.

A marketplace that works without KYC because a regulator allowed it depends on that permission staying in place. Peach's did, for four years.

Sources: Peach Bitcoin — Peach at a Crossroads, 31 Aug 2026