Users of the peer to peer trading platform Paxful will no longer be able to trade Ethereum (ETH). The second largest cryptocurrency has simply been removed from the platform. Ray Youssef, the CEO of Paxful, justifies this move by the fact that Ethereum’s current features corrupt its integrity. As of this December 22, 2022, Paxful’s 12 million users will therefore only be able to trade Bitcoin and USDT.
Ethereum (ETH) lacks integrity says Paxful
Through an email sent to all Paxful users, Ray Youssef, the CEO of the platform announced a very strange decision: as of December 22, Ethereum (ETH) will be removed from the platform. Until then, this peer-to-peer trading platform offered its users the trading of only three cryptos: Bitcoin, Ethereum and USDT. But then why delist the second largest cryptocurrency?
The CEO of Paxful believes that the Ethereum cryptocurrency has lost all integrity. Ray Youssef accuses Ethereum (ETH) of misrepresenting the crypto’s original philosophy and compromising the industry’s momentum. There are three main grievances with ETH!
First, Ray blames Ethereum (ETH) for its new mining protocol. Indeed, last September, Ethereum switched from proof of work to proof of stake to reduce its energy consumption. If this passage rejoices the environmental organizations like GreenPeace, it is not the case of the CEO of Paxful.
For Ray Youssef, the proof of stake makes Ethereum a digital form of fiat currency. What makes crypto an honest innovation is proof of work, he said.
Second, the Paxful CEO accuses the Ethereum cryptocurrency of being centralized. Indeed, unlike Bitcoin, which is completely decentralized, Ethereum (ETH) is controlled by a group of people. Ray Youssef fears that one day, the group managing Ethereum will impose restrictions on its users, as is already the case for CBDCs controlled by central banks.
Finally, the CEO of the Paxful platform considers Ethereum (ETH) as a machine for producing scams. Indeed, thanks to tokenization, Ethereum (ETH) facilitates the creation of several tokens. Unfortunately, these tokens include scams that have caused investors to lose billions. These scams tarnish the reputation of the crypto and slow down the momentum of Bitcoin, laments Ray Youssef.
Loss of revenue for Paxful and strong reactions from the Ethereum community
Paxful’s CEO is under no illusion that Ethereum’s withdrawal will cause his platform to lose money. Nevertheless, Ray Youssef believes that the emergence of the industry and the protection of its users are worth more than the financial gains.
Our industry is under attack, which means our responsibility to protect our users is greater than ever. We’re not perfect, but we will always do the right thing, even if it’s not popular and even if it costs us money.
Ray Youssef, CEO of Paxful
As Ray Youssef expected, the announcement of the withdrawal of Ethereum was strongly commented. Beyond the strong congratulations of the maximalists, Ray collected the criticisms and mockery of Ethereum fans.
On Twitter, several Internet users are for example castigating the fact that Paxful is removing Ethereum (ETH) from its platform while maintaining USDT transactions with the ERC20 network. “That’s like saying the Internet is worthless and Bitcoin is valuable,” said one user. In a sarcastic tone, an Ethereum fan even calls Paxful an unknown exchange that claims to be losing money by removing Ethereum from its platform.
Paxful’s decision to delist Ethereum (ETH) will continue to pit maximalists and non-maximalists against each other. What everyone agrees on is the hope that Paxful will continue its plans to promote Bitcoin and continue to make Bitcoin more accessible to people in countries like Nigeria where centralized platforms are banned.
I dream of a world where every citizen has total control over themselves, including their finances. I believe that Bitcoin is one of the tools that will achieve this revolution. Since 2019, I am learning about this cryptocurrency and spreading the word around.
