P2P Marketplace Paxful Announces Operations Closure

Ray Youssef, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and founder of peer-to-peer Bitcoin marketplace Paxful announced the sad closure of the platform. Although he did share the full story behind the closure, he cited key staff departures as well as regulatory challenges which have become the reality in the United States, as some factors that have influenced the suspension of the marketplace which delisted Ethereum (ETH) last year.

“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,” Youssef announced, adding that “While we work through these issues, we have taken the most secure option and ask you to explore self-custody and trade elsewhere.”

This is not the first time that Paxful CEO is preaching self-custody. In December, after the implosion and bankruptcy filing of the FTX exchange, Youssef advised users to try out self-custody instead of having their assets in crypto trading platforms which can collapse.

“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,” he announced, adding that “you’re at the mercy of […] their morals.”

Paxful CEO Blames Lawsuit With Co-Founder

On the matter of key staff departure, Youssef claimed that a lawsuit filed by Paxful co-founder Artur Schaback was responsible for driving away all the senior-level team members. He said this during a Twitter Space event that was held on Tuesday. Schaback filed a lawsuit in the Delaware Chancery Court against Paxful and Youssef after more than one year of being “kicked out of the company.” 

“His litigation team was really nasty,” Youssef said. “They drove away all of our senior-level staff who just couldn’t deal with this guy anymore,” and as of last Friday, Paxful had no engineers, compliance team members, or security personnel working in the company. However, an engineering team has been created to take charge of the platform’s digital wallet.

A Paxful spokesperson who wants to remain anonymous confirmed that “Artur Schaback is a co-founder and current board member of Paxful.”