Buy bitcoin with Cash trade
- Type
- Cash
- Works in
- 22 countries
- Last reviewed
- 2026-08-18
Cash trade shows up in 22 of our country guides as part of how people buy bitcoin locally, even though none of the exchanges we track lists it as a direct funding rail. The country guides below explain what that looks like in practice.
Also appears locally as Cash trades, Cash trades (US dollars circulate widely), Cash purchases in bitcoin-accepting communities, Cash US dollar trades (OTC and in person), Cash trades in US dollars, Cash trades via local brokers, Cash trades in major cities, Cash trades in USD.
What is Cash trade?
Cash trade is a category rather than a single scheme: you hand over physical banknotes and receive bitcoin, either face to face with another person, at a crypto ATM, or over a counter at an agent. There is no scheme operator, no clearing system and no chargeback, so the price and the terms are whatever the person or machine in front of you sets. Because it leaves no bank record of the trade itself, regulators treat it as the highest risk funding route, and the FCA says no firm registered with it is approved to run crypto ATM services, so every crypto ATM in the UK is operating illegally.
- Speed
- Settlement is as fast as you and the seller can meet, with the bitcoin normally released within minutes of the cash changing hands.
- Cost
- There is no scheme fee: the whole cost is the spread the seller or the machine operator puts on top of the market price, quoted per trade rather than published as a tariff.
- Limits
- Legality varies sharply by country: the FCA says no firm registered with it is approved to run crypto ATM services, so every crypto ATM in the UK is operating illegally.
Speed and cost describe the rail itself. What an exchange adds on top varies by platform and is shown per exchange below.
Where Cash trade works
Every country guide that lists Cash trade. Dedicated pages exist where at least one recommended exchange takes it.
Burundi
Cambodia
Comoros
El Salvador
Eritrea
Guatemala
Haiti
Honduras
Lebanon
Liberia
Macao
Morocco
Pakistan
Palestine
Somalia
Sri Lanka
Tajikistan
Turkmenistan
Ukraine
Venezuela
Western Sahara
ZimbabweCaveats by country
Where Cash trade exists but comes with strings attached, straight from the country research.
Frequently asked questions
Which exchanges accept Cash trade?
None of the exchanges we track advertises Cash trade as a direct funding rail. Where it appears in our country guides, it is part of how people buy locally, often through P2P marketplaces, so treat it as a local option rather than an exchange feature.
Where can I buy bitcoin with Cash trade?
Cash trade appears in 22 of our country guides: Burundi, Cambodia, the Comoros, El Salvador, Eritrea, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras and more. Each guide lists the exchanges that take it there and how it is named locally.