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Paxful CEO Ray Youssef highlights Ethereum’s move to proof-of-stake, perceived centralization and token minting ability as reasons for the move.

Peer-to-peer cryptocurrency marketplace Paxful has removed Ether (ETH), Ethereum’s native token, from its marketplace, citing a number of concerns around the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.

Paxful CEO Ray Youssef announced the move in a message to some 11.6 million users of the platform, which he subsequently shared on Twitter.

We finally kicked #ethereum off our marketplace. 11.6m humans safer. Integrity over revenue Who is next ? pic.twitter.com/JTJXa5RYJ8
— Ray Youssef (@raypaxful) December 21, 2022

Youssef highlighted three major concerns around the Ethereum ecosystem which led to the marketplace removing ETH, citing Paxful’s intent to maintain its integrity and efforts to combat ‘economic apartheid’ around the world driven by fiat monetary systems:

“I want to see a world where Bitcoin frees billions of people held back by this evil system, especially those unnecessarily harmed living in the global south.”

Ethereum’s switch from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus was the first reason given for the move. Youssef explained that PoW is the ‘innovation that makes Bitcoin (BTC) the only honest money there is’ and that Ethereum’s transition to PoS has turned ETH into a ‘digital form of fiat.’

Youssef also criticized Ethereum for not being decentralized and cited the protocol's ability to allow the tokenization of assets as a driver of scams and fraud across the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

“The tokens that ETH has spawned have been scams that robbed people of billions. They have stolen valuable momentum away from Bitcoin and cost us years on our mission.”

Paxful’s CEO has also been a vocal advocate for Bitcoin and cryptocurrency self-custody in the wake of FTX’s collapse in November 2022. Youssef implored cryptocurrency users to shift BTC holdings to self-custody storage, with Paxful users also encouraged to follow suit.

Paxful CEO preaches Bitcoin self-custody, advises against crypto exchange

December 12, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Blockchain storage

While some execs chose to double down on assuring the funds’ safety on their platforms, Ray Youssef, the CEO of crypto exchange Paxful, sided with the idea of self-custody.

The case for self-custody grows stronger as investors demand evidence of their assets over crypto exchanges. While some CEOs chose to double down on assuring the funds’ safety on their platforms, Ray Youssef, the CEO of crypto exchange Paxful, sided with the idea of self-custody as he took responsibility for over 11 million users.

The fall of FTX was an eye-opener for investors who predominantly entrusted crypto exchanges with safeguarding their assets. FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, however, broke this trust by misappropriating users’ funds via Alameda Research. Ever since, numerous exchanges had to share wallet information as proof of reserves publicly.

Will be sending an email every week strongly advising our people to never keep savings on any exchange, including @paxful This is the way ! Self custody your savings ALWAYS! pic.twitter.com/DI95Gaa5Y6
— Ray Youssef (@raypaxful) December 11, 2022

In a Twitter post, Youssef distanced himself from “others in the industry,” reiterating that he never touched investors’ money, adding that:

“My sole responsibility is to help and serve you. That’s why today I’m messaging all of our [Paxful] users to move your Bitcoin to self-custody. You should not keep your saving on Paxful, or any exchange, and only keep what you trade here.”

Youssef will send weekly emails to users strongly advising against storing cryptocurrencies on all crypto exchanges, including Paxful. The entrepreneur further highlighted the problem with trusting custodians such as SBF, stating that “you’re at the mercy of […] their morals.”

Thanks to Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin (BTC) — as an asset — is shielded from centralized control and manipulation. Youssef pointed out this unique opportunity that Bitcoin brings to the table — “the chance to finally be in control.”

While he strongly advised users to take total control over their assets, Youssef assured their funds' safety for investors that choose to store their Bitcoin on Paxful.

SBF made the headlines after revealing his plan to start a new business for repaying the FTX investors.

"I would give anything to be able to do that. And I'm going to try if I can," the infamous entrepreneur said when recently asked by BBC during an interview if he’d start a new business to repay FTX users.

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Bitcoin trading volumes post new high in Philippines peso on Paxful

July 14, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

Weekly Bitcoin trading volumes in the Philippines peso were steadily growing on Paxful this year and eventually hit a new high in July.

Despite some level of regulatory uncertainty around cryptocurrency in the Philippines, one platform has recorded a massive influx of Bitcoin (BTC) trading activity recently.

Bitcoin trading volumes in the Philippines have been on the rise over the past few months on the major peer-to-peer (P2P) crypto exchange Paxful.

According to data from the Bitcoin tracking website Coin Dance, Bitcoin trading volumes denominated in the Philippines peso (PHP) have been steadily growing on Paxful recently and eventually hit a new high in July.

Paxful’s Bitcoin trading volumes peaked at 111 million PHP ($1.9 million) during the week ending on July 9, 2022. That was the biggest amount of PHP ever traded against Bitcoin on Paxful.

*Paxful’s weekly Bitcoin trading volumes in PHP. Source: Coin Dance*

The amount of actual Bitcoin traded on Paxful against PHP during that week was 92 BTC, slightly down from the previous week ending on July 2.

A notable influx in BTC trading started in early May, with Bitcoin trading volumes more than doubling over a period of months. As of early May, Paxful’s weekly BTC trading volumes in the Philippines amounted to just around 40 BTC.

Despite the recent upside in BTC trading volumes, the number of Bitcoins traded per week on Paxful in the Philippines is still yet to break the all-time high weekly volumes of 111 BTC posted in August 2020.

*Paxful’s weekly Bitcoin trading volumes in the Philippines. Source: Coin Dance*

The rise of Bitcoin trading on Paxful in the Philippines started amid a massive bearish trend in the cryptocurrency markets, with Bitcoin losing about 50% of its value since early May. BTC trading volumes in PHP surged even higher on Paxful after Bitcoin tumbled below $19,000 in late June.

The significant growth of PHP/BTC trading on Paxful also came amid the weakening local currency coupled with rising inflation. The Philippine central bank will reportedly decide whether to hike interest rates in mid-August amid inflation that is expected to grow above 7% by the end of the year from the current 6.1%.

The overall sentiment around crypto adoption in the Philippines has been rising in recent years as well, with many local firms moving into crypto trading. In April 2022, Philippines-based fintech firm PayMaya reportedly launched a crypto feature allowing users to trade, purchase and spend crypto on their accounts. The firm is among 19 official virtual asset service providers approved by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to offer virtual asset services.

According to Terry Ridon, a local lawyer and convenor at the Infrawatch PH think tank, the rise in crypto adoption in the Philippines is a result of the global Covid-19 pandemic.

“Crypto is becoming more popular in the Philippines because the country started shifting to digital payment systems during the pandemic. The ease of entry into the cryptocurrency markets through various apps has also allowed more people to participate in the sector,” he said in a statement to Cointelegraph.

Paxful

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