2022 witnessed the demise of several platforms across the cryptocurrency industry. Now, Paxful, a prominent peer-to-peer [P2P] firm has decided to halt its operations indefinitely. Ray Youssef, Paxful CEO wrote an elaborate note highlighting the closure on the firm’s website. He started by highlighting how the company saw the exit of prominent team members. Youssef said,
“Today, Paxful will be suspending its marketplace. We are not sure if it will come back. 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.”
The CEO also appeared on a Twitter space and highlighted the repercussions of the lawsuit by the firm’s co-founder Artur Schaback. Youseff added,
“My co-founder sued the company and sued me. I have a lawsuit over my head right now.”
According to him, the lawsuit also caused the departure of senior-level staff members.
Has regulatory pressure put Paxful out of business?
The uncertain and stringent regulations around the crypto-verse in the United States apparently came into play. Youssef stressed the challenges that P2P networks have to face in the region. The Paxful CEO further stated,
“Regulatory challenges for the industry continue to grow, especially in the peer-to-peer market and most heavily in the U.S. While we work through these issues, we have taken the most secure option and ask you to explore self-custody and trade elsewhere.”
The latest news is certainly detrimental to the industry. This restricts people’s options for trading BTC among themselves. It should be mentioned that Paxful is closing business, two months after LocalBitcoin was shut down. Even though sites like Binance offer P2P trading, Paxful, and LocalBitcoin were among the few well-known P2P companies.
He noted how his firm has been “bending over backward” throughout the last five years. Despite the struggle, regulators don’t understand the fact that the firm has been trying to comply with their “high standards.” In addition to these points, several people on Twitter pointed out, how there hasn’t been any drama with regard to the withdrawal of funds.