thecoinrepublic.com
- Modifying peer-to-peer infrastructure with peer-to-peer finance
- The best way to take on the unbanked into the world of cryptocurrency
- Helping build Bitcoin-funded schools across Africa
Ray Youssef, the co-founder of Paxful story, reminds one of Robert Bruce and the spider. Ray faced 11 business failures, and today the young technocrat is building Bitcoin-funded schools across Africa as head of the Built with Bitcoin Foundation. Ray Youssef is also helping buy and sell cryptocurrency as CEO of Paxful.
Youssef has just returned from El Salvador, which has become the first country to adopt Bitcoin as a legal tender. 70% of the El Salvador population does not have access to banking services. Paxful and its Peer Peer financial networks spell hope for the developing world.
Peer-to-peer infrastructure is the key
Youssef immigrated to the USA when he was two and got his first PC when he was 19. He learned to code and worked as a senior software engineer at early smartphone company YadaYada for two years before embarking on his entrepreneurial path. Most of his startups were unsuccessful, but he doggedly kept trying, and soon success came in the form of his new company, MatrixM. It went from like $0 to $1 million in revenue in less than six months. Working at MatrixM, Youssef realized that peer-to-peer infrastructure, and then still in its infancy, was the key to getting access to a broader audience.
Peer-to-peer finance
Youssef applied his theory with peer-to-peer finance. Youssef said that developed nations could benefit from it. However, the need in emerging economies, like throughout much of Africa, is much greater. Youssef was aware of the difficulties people face while transacting money, even if they have a bank account. Even if a person has a debit card, he can spend a fixed amount in a month. For a Visa Card, the limit is $100. As a result, it becomes a nightmare to send money outside the country. Traders in Africa cannot buy cheap goods from China and have to go through a tortuous process to get their money across.
Birth of Paxful
Youssef came to know about a method to profit by selling gift cards for BTC. Initially, he thought it was a scam. However, it worked, and later, Youssef scaled it up. Soon Youssef and Schaback, his partner, were convinced about the system’s viability and decided to set up a platform trading cryptocurrency for gift cards, seeing it as the best way to take on the unbanked into the world of cryptocurrency. Finally, after 72 hours of coding, Paxful was live.
Today Paxful enables users to trade in cryptocurrencies through a hundred different methods, which is also profitable. The platform boasts over 6 million users and is supported by a staff of almost 500 workings in nine offices across the globe. Nigeria is the company’s biggest market and also the part-time home of Youssef. Youssef hopes that Nigeria becomes a tiger economy and will lead Africa in the next century.