Estonian peer-to-peer Bitcoin marketplace Paxful is launching its own wallet app today, May 22nd. The app, which is available for Android and iOS, will work in conjunction with the Paxful website and provide storage services to “all customers.”
“Our hope is that this app will make our platform more accessible to communities around the world,” explained Ray Youssef, Paxful’s CEO and Co-Founder, to Finance Magnates. “The majority of our customers access the website through their mobile devices and this is just another step in that direction.”
App Launched in Conjunction with BTC Workshops Throughout Africa
The app is also being launched in conjunction with a series of educational workshops spread across the African continent throughout 2019.
The announcement of the workshops explained that the workshops are designed to “increase access to the bitcoin economy for many more youths on the African continent,” and will range from Bitcoin basics to “ innovative use cases and business applications.” Attendees of the workshops who download the app will receive free payouts in Bitcoin.
Youssef explained in an official announcement that the workshops are a part of Paxful’s larger mission to further establish the Bitcoin network as a financial system for underbanked individuals and communities. “Our goal is and always will be to empower unbanked and underbanked communities through presenting the entrepreneurial opportunities of bitcoin and peer-to-peer finance,” Youssef told Finance Magnates.
Delegation from the @BlockchainKenya supporting @paxful a peer to peer bitcoin marketplace in Kenya Nigeria and South Africa during a breakfast round-table at Kempinski. #PaxfulCampusTour pic.twitter.com/IUF6kbGynV
— Blockchain Association of Kenya (@BlockchainKenya) May 22, 2019
The exchange is also aiming to “continue to partner with customers and other key stakeholders to ensure they are well informed about the opportunities presented by peer-to-peer finance,” Youssef said in an official statement.
The launch of the app comes several months after Paxful teamed up with digital identity verification company Jumio to improve the exchange’s KYC and AML measures.
The partnership led to some controversy after a small number of Nigerian customers had their accounts blocked in connection with illicit activity that seems to have been uncovered by Jumio.
Tip: When two of your other accounts are banned because you have ignored all warnings, any new accounts will also be banned because YOU are banned. Marketplaces cannot survive with such bad actors. Any other accounts you make will forever be banned. Do not return please.
— Ray Youssef (@raypaxful) April 7, 2019
