Paxful Reopens a Month After Suspending Marketplace

Popular peer-to-peer (P2P) marketplace Paxful is back online after shutting down services in April 2023.

While the platform is suspended, the Paxful Wallet remains active.

• Paxful, in a blog post on May 8, announced the resumption of the market a month after the platform closed. An excerpt from the announcement reads:

“We know this is a difficult time for many of our users, who were surprised by the sudden suspension, however, we are happy to be back so we can continue to serve the millions of people without financial access.”

• As previously reported by CryptoPotato, the Bitcoin P2P market is closed in April 2023 while the wallet remains operational. Before the platform troubles came to light, Paxful was one of the most popular P2P marketplaces in the industry, with over six million users worldwide.
• Meanwhile, Paxful co-founder and former CEO Ray Youssef cited regulatory hurdles for the P2P market as part of the reason for the market’s closure.
• Youssef also cited the reasons for the departure of staff, adding that a legal dispute between him and another co-founder Artur Schaback further contributed to the forced closure of the company. Youssef described Schaback’s litigation as “nasty,” saying the executive sued the former CEO and the company because he was angry.
• Shortly after Paxful’s suspension, Youssef said he was working to refund customers out of pocket to avoid jail time.
• Before the market change, Paxful was able to unfreeze 88% of customers’ accounts, leaving 3% frozen.
• On April 18, the CEO announced his resignation from a high position.