By Chinenye Anuforo
Paxful, peer-to-peer finance platform, has reached 10 million users as it marks its seventh anniversary.
The company was founded in 2015 with a simple mission – to advance a truly global economy by building a financial system that serves the 100%, not just the 1%.
Building a strong presence in Africa since its inception, Paxful has played a role in Africa’s trajectory as the leader of the financial revolution and Ray Youssef, CEO/founder of Paxful, says it’s Africans who are really leading the way.
Globally, nearly $3 billion was traded on Paxful in 2021. Narrowing in on Nigeria, trade volume was over $760 million last year and Nigerian users have climbed over the two million mark. And despite the global financial crisis, Paxful is seeing that peer-to-peer and interest in Bitcoin is not slowing down. In the first half of 2022, trade volume in Nigeria reached nearly $400m, showing us that the emerging markets are still hungry for Bitcoin.
Youssef says, “While many parts of the developed world are fixated on the speculative activity of Bitcoin, people in Africa are teaching us about its true use cases and the opportunity it presents for greater financial inclusion.” He adds, “We do not want to downplay what’s happening in the market and the economic situation globally, but this is an opportunity for companies in the ecosystem to zoom out from the short-term focus and put effort into how and why Bitcoin creates an alternative financial option.”
Along their journey, Paxful has put financial education at the forefront of their mission, executing several initiatives on the continent. In 2021, they opened the PaxNaija Education Center to empower Nigerians through Bitcoin education, hosted several campus tours and workshops to encourage entrepreneurship, and met with hundreds of community members to help increase financial literacy. In the same year, Paxful gave a donation to the Human Rights Foundation to fund the Qala Fellowship, a program that aims to find and grow local Nigerian talent, starting with developers, to help them build careers in the Bitcoin space.
As part of Paxful’s mission to support emerging markets, Youssef also co-founded the Built With Bitcoin Foundation , a non-profit organisation dedicated to creating equal opportunities by providing clean water, access to quality education, sustainable farming and humanitarian support – all powered by Bitcoin. The foundation has built eight schools across the continent, with two of them in Kaduna State, Nigeria.
In seven years, Paxful has grown into an organisation with nearly 400 employees globally and offices around the world. Paxful is committed to growing its footprint around the world, and empowering users to take control of their financial future.