Key takeaways:
- Paxful, a crypto exchange with a large Nigerian user base, shuts down.
- The exchange was known for providing easy peer-to-peer crypto trading.
- Here are five platforms its 1.5 million Nigerian customers could turn to.
On April 5, 2023, Ray Youssef, CEO of Paxful — an Estonia-based peer-to-peer (P2P) crypto exchange — announced that the company was closing its doors to its 9 million users. Youssef cited regulatory problems as one of the reasons for the shutdown.
However, a report by CoinDesk has shed more light on drug use and other illegal activities going on at the company.
Paxful's biggest market was Nigeria, with over 1.5 million users who traded $1.5 billion worth of cryptocurrencies on the platform between 2015 and 2020.
The company's demise leaves 1.5 million Nigerian users looking for another crypto P2P platform to trade their cryptocurrencies.
One Paxful user who has been using the platform for two years said it was a place that connected the world when it came to P2P trading. He added that some of the perks of the platform were the reduced entry barrier and multiple payment methods for traders, including gift cards and Venmo.
With Paxful gone, the user has been looking for alternatives to Paxful that offer the same perks.
In no particular order, here are five platforms that can serve as an alternative to Paxful.
Remitano
Remitano is a crypto exchange that offers P2P crypto transactions. Its P2P interface allows buyers and sellers to exchange crypto with local currencies.
Binance
Like Paxful, Binance also offers P2P services to its users. The only downside to the platform is that it is packed with features and might be overwhelming for new users, however, it has a lite mode that's easy for new users to use. Binance P2P interface is relatively safe and easy to understand. It has responsive customer service that helps resolve P2P disputes.
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Bybit
According to the Bybit website, P2P trading on the platform allows users to buy and sell crypto to each other at an agreed-upon price. Users interested in selling cryptocurrencies post sell-ads on the platform, and interested sellers then select who meets their needs.
Bitget
Bitget has perhaps one of the most user-friendly P2P interfaces on the market. It allows buyers to easily filter which crypto asset, price, quantity and payment method they want.
Bundle
Bundle has two P2P options. An express P2P option that allows users to sell crypto straight to their account without transacting with anyone. However, its Cashlink P2P option allows users to choose which buyers and sellers they want to transact with.
This is not an exhaustive list of possible alternatives to Paxful.
