Peer-to-peer trading platform Paxful has made the surprising decision to remove Ether (ETH) from its marketplace. Paxful CEO Ray Youssef gave several reasons for the move, including the implications of the Ethereum blockchain’s recent move to Proof of Stake.
Paxful breaks away from Ether
Popular platform for peer-to-peer cryptocurrency trading, Paxful will no longer host Ether (ETH) on its marketplace. The decision was made on Twitter by Ray Youssef, Paxful’s CEO:
“We have finally kicked Ethereum out of our marketplace. 11.6 million humans better protected. Integrity before revenue Who’s next?”.
We finally kicked ethereum off our marketplace. 11.6m humans safer. Integrity over revenue Who is next? pic.twitter.com/JTJXa5RYJ8
– Ray Youssef (@raypaxful) December 21, 2022
In a text associated with his tweet, Ray Youssef explains why such a decision was taken:
The biggest problem in the world is economic apartheid. It is the root of all human suffering. I want to see a world where Bitcoin frees billions of people held back by this evil system, especially the needlessly harmed people living in the global South. That’s why I created Paxful – to accomplish this MISSION. That’s what really motivates me, it comes from the heart, and it’s personal to me. “
So, according to him, the only way to solve the problem he raises would be through Bitcoin. Thus, other cryptocurrencies (such as Ether) would be irrelevant and would be decoys that would slow down Bitcoin’s progress among the masses.
Ray Youssef adds that the removal of Ether from Paxful is the result of 3 major concerns around the Ethereum ecosystem:
- Since Ethereum’s move from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake, ETH is now just a digital form of fiat currency: “proof-of-work is the innovation that makes bitcoin the only honest currency out there.”
- The Ethereum blockchain is controlled by a small group of people and is therefore not decentralised;
- Tokens in the Ethereum ecosystem have “spawned scams that have stolen billions of dollars from people”.
However, the platform still hosts the USDT and USDC stablecoins, both of which are partially “hosted” on the Ethereum blockchain, as well as being pegged to a fiat currency, in this case the US dollar. If one understands Ray Youssef’s vision correctly, then these highly centralised stablecoins should suffer the same fate as ETH on Paxful. It would appear not.
On Twitter, he said that “stablecoins are essential for real use cases”.
Since the fall of FTX, Ray Youssef has been a strong advocate of the idea that individuals should be in charge of storing their cryptocurrencies themselves and has urged them to “never keep their savings on an exchange, including Paxful.
