Paxful, a global peer-to-peer bitcoin marketplace, announced
its official 2019 growth metrics. On the
heels of a November high, in which the company saw nearly USD $30 million in
P2P Bitcoin trades—a steady uphill trend since the platform’s inception in
2015—they are sharing a deep look into key markets and overall growth since
launch.
On its platform, Paxful sees bitcoin (BTC) trades
denominated in most national fiat currencies across methods such as gift cards,
bank transfer, and online wallets. The payment methods expanded since launch
and now lists more than 350 ways to buy and sell BTC.
 |
| bitcoin marketplace |
As a result of cryptocurrency adoption, Paxful has seen
significant growth since inception. In 2015, the platform reported $5.9M in USD
trade volume which has steadily increased by 25 percent or more year on year.
At the close of 2017, they reported more than $500M in USD trade volume, with
2019 tripling that number closing at more than $1.6B. In addition, they have
seen 1 million wallets added in the past year, which is a vast difference from
the 97K opened in 2015. Recently, Paxful reported having more than 3 million
wallets registered on the platform.
"We started
initially as a payment processor for brick & mortar merchants. The product
was great and it worked with the few merchants we had but there was still the
unsolved problem of an easy way of buying bitcoin. That’s how Paxful was born,
we realized peer-to-peer was still in its infancy and had a lot of room for
improvement. Who would’ve thought that as we celebrate our 5th year in 2020, we
would have over 200 employees across four global offices united in building
this peer-to-peer marketplace for people around the world," said said
Artur Schaback, COO and co-founder of Paxful.
Emerging markets
accelerate platform growth:
2019 has also marked
a year of great growth in emerging markets. According to Paxful’s data team,
Ghana and India, and Nigeria lead in emerging market usage. Ghana alone has
seen 33K new users join the platform in 2019, while South Africa remains one of
the top markets for Paxful on the continent. Trade volume in new markets has
also seen significant growth with Hong Kong reporting a 132 percent increase
year on year, Vietnam coming in at 200 percent, and Indonesia with a striking
400 percent increase since 2018.
Speculation is not
the future of bitcoin:
Utility is the future
of cryptocurrency and as people begin to understand the use cases of bitcoin
and incorporate them into their everyday lives, its mainstream adoption becomes
vast and apparent. With remittance providing users in Europe, Africa, Asia, and
beyond a chance at financial freedom, they are obtaining more value for their
money while P2P finance works to solve liquidity problems for entire countries.
"Now, we’re
changing the face of personal finance using the power of peer-to-peer
transactions. I remember being homeless in New York helping a single mother buy
her first bitcoin. It was a struggle for her to copy and paste a bitcoin
address," said Ray Youssef Chief Executive and co-founder of Paxful.
Comments
Post a Comment