New York, September 14, 2021 — Paxful, the leading global peer-to-peer fintech platform, today announced its global integration on the Lightning Network.
Over seven million Paxful users will now be able to leverage the power of the Lightning Network, a system built on top of the Bitcoin (BTC) network. The Lightning Network allows users to transfer Bitcoin in a matter of seconds with much lower fees.
This new feature seamlessly blends into Paxful’s platform and enables the company to keep user fees lower than traditional Bitcoin transactions. When users send or receive Bitcoin through the Lightning Network with their Paxful Wallet, their Bitcoin balance is used the same way as if they would transfer it on the Bitcoin network.
All transactions are processed in seconds and Paxful users can utilize the Lightning Network for both transactions with other individuals and to pay for goods or services.
Ray Youssef, CEO and co-founder of Paxful, said:
“Bitcoin is hands down the best financial option for the people who really drive economies forward. But in order for it to succeed and usher in global adoption, we need to overcome the issue of scale. The industry’s greatest chance of Bitcoin scalability is through Lightning, which makes micropayments exceedingly cheaper and faster.
Buying a coffee with Bitcoin will now be a realistic option. Consumers, businesses and even banks are looking for a way to connect the world together and we fully anticipate Lightning to deliver. We’re honored to be one of the first peer-to-peer platforms to offer this technology to our users. It’s a true service aimed at financial freedom.”
Artur Schaback, COO and co-founder of Paxful, said:
“The Lightning Network amplifies the work we’re already doing at Paxful. At its core, Bitcoin was envisioned as a means of exchange. Paxful’s seven million users now have another option to transact micropayments — one that is cheaper and faster than the traditional Bitcoin network.
We’re thrilled to see how our users utilize Lightning and we expect Bitcoin’s use cases to only grow from here.”
Elizabeth Stark, CEO and co-founder of Lightning Labs, said:
“Bitcoin levels the playing field for people around the world, and emerging markets are leading the charge with adoption. At Lightning Labs we’re building technology to bring bitcoin to billions, and Paxful’s integration is a huge step forward in making this a reality.
We’re excited to onboard millions of Paxful users who can now send instant, global, low fee transactions with Lightning. In other words, number of people go up!”
About Paxful
Paxful is a peer-to-peer finance platform for people to make payments, transactions, and send money by buying and selling cryptocurrencies as a means of exchange.
Founded in 2015 by Ray Youssef and Artur Schaback, and completely bootstrapped since then, Paxful is headquartered in New York with offices in Estonia, the Philippines and Russia. The team has doubled in size over the last 12 months, growing to over 400 people.
Paxful’s mission is to help everyone have equal access to finance no matter who or where they are. More than seven million people use Paxful to buy and sell Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and Tether (USDT) with almost 400 different payment methods.
Ray Youssef, co-founder and CEO of Paxful, set up the Built with Bitcoin Foundation to help people have access to education and water. To date, the foundation has built four schools (two in Rwanda, one in Kenya, and one in Nigeria). The Built with Bitcoin Foundation is funded by Paxful and the cryptocurrency community.