Reactions have been pouring in
from the cryptocurrency community after Paxful, a peer-to-peer (P2P) platform for
trading Bitcoin (BTC), announced on Wednesday that it “will be suspending its marketplace.”
Paxful Founder and CEO, Ray Youssef, in a blog post published on Wednesday on
platform’s website said the platform was closing down due to key staff exit and
regulatory challenges.
“This will probably come as a
big shock to many. While I cannot share the full story now, I can say that we
unfortunately have had some key staff departures. Also, regulatory challenges
for the industry continue to grow, especially in the peer-to-peer market and
most heavily in the U.S.,” Youssef explained.
Yousef noted that he was not
sure if the platform will be restored after it is shut down. The Paxful Founder
urged customers to withdraw their funds and self-custody, noting that “all
customer funds are all accounted for”.
I’m not withdrawing my btc from @paxful until everyone else gets theirs out first 😓 pic.twitter.com/v0hq62SQaB
— Ray Youssef (@raypaxful) April 5, 2023
The Chief Executive also noted that the platform is offering its non-US users “easy migration” to other
platforms such as Noones, which is a newly-established P2P platform dedicated
to the Global South.
@paxful has signed a deal with @noonesapp These guys are legit and will serve the Global South even better. Everyone is already there. #Bitcoin https://t.co/K6VCIXZvzE
— Ray Youssef (@raypaxful) April 4, 2023
In December, Paxful suspended
the trading on Ether on its platform, permitting only BTC since then. The P2P
platform cited the Ethereum Merge, the switch of the Ethereum blockchain from a
proof-of-work to proof-of-stock, as the reasons for the suspension.
Paxful removed ETH from their marketplace in December and is now closing the platform.
“Revenue is nice but integrity trumps all” pic.twitter.com/rd8HfNEPOY
— Eden Au (@0xedenau) April 4, 2023
Paxful was launched in the
United States in 2014 but focused its services in Africa, a region that has one of the highest cryptocurrency adoption in the world. The P2P BTC trading platform’s
closure comes two months after its Finland-based rival, LocalBitcoins, also shut down, citing “very cold crypto winter.”
now with paxful and localbitcoins gone, binance p2p is the last major p2p fiat onramp standing. people hate on binance but p2p is essential in places where banking access is cut off
