Due to growing demand from its customers, crypto exchange Paxful has launched a peer to peer (P2P) trading of Gold and Bitcoin in addition to its other services.

Paxful which is the global peer to peer marketplace for Bitcoin will reportedly be the first one to facilitate the users to buy and sell gold in exchange for Bitcoin.

The COVID-19 crisis has mounted an interest in gold investment across the world which is considered a safe haven for long time investment and even in the time of crisis. Paxful has tapped this space in the market and brought together the traditional and digital finance on its platform.

Press release from Paxful states that the action has been taken in response to the growing demand from its customers. As per the company, “Gold is seen as the safe investment in times of crisis for its transparency, high utility and ability to be traded anywhere in the world.  

How the transaction will take place?

At the Paxful platform, the users can purchase Bitcoin from the vendor while exchanging the gold and vice- versa.

The press release states that if the transaction volume exceeds USD 50, the user will be asked to furnish his KYC details in compliance with the anti-money laundering (AML) policy. Bitcoin will remain the escrow for trading and the exchanged gold should be delivered within 21 days of the transaction.

African Market - Paxful’s major marketplace for Bitcoin-based Trading 

As per the official reports, in 2019, Paxful had facilitated more than USD 1.6 billion worth of Bitcoin backed P2P transactions which came majorly from the African region. It garnered 60 % of its trade volume from the African markets last year. Thus Paxful has eyed upon the African markets while offering this new trading facility.

Ray Youssef, CEO, and co-founder of Paxful commented that they have evaluated the demand for the trading of Bitcoin with gold and it is quite high. He further added, “Vendors on platform expressed a great interest in the addition of gold as a payment method. Gold has been used as a store of value for millenniums and its importance to the economy has rarely dwindled. We believe by adding a gold payment option to the platform we can continue to drive our mission of financial inclusion in places such as Africa, where hi gold concentrations will grant them access to Bitcoins they may have not been able to purchase otherwise."

US based Paxful offers around 300 types of payment methods for the trading of Bitcoins including bank transfers, online wallets, mobile recharges, and cash in person among several others. Paxful claims to have over 800,000 customers and millions of transactions in Bitcoin so far.

The new service will be available in 16 countries across the world. 

Jayashree Ingle

CBW - External Analyst

INDIA