Bitcoin Platform With Over 1Million Nigerian Customers Shuts Down

Peer-to-peer Bitcoin platform, Paxful, with 1.5m users in Nigeria, has announced that it is shutting down its operations.

This was announced by the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Ray Youssef, in a blog post on Tuesday.

He said, “Today, Paxful will be suspending its marketplace. We are not sure if it will come back.

“This will probably come as a big shock to many. While I cannot share the full story now, I can say that we unfortunately have had some key staff departures. Also, regulatory challenges for the industry continue to grow, especially in the peer-to-peer market and most heavily in the U.S. While we work through these issues, we have taken the most secure option and ask you to explore self-custody and trade elsewhere.”

According to Decrypt, Youssef, during a Twitter Space said that the decision to close the platform was also influenced by a lawsuit brought by a Paxful co-founder who is suing Paxful and Youssef after being “kicked out of the company” over a year ago.

“My co-founder sued the company and sued me. I have a lawsuit over my head right now,” he said on the Twitter Space.

Although he did not specifically name the plaintiff, Youssef is likely referring to co-founder Artur Schaback, who filed a lawsuit in Delaware Chancery Court against Youssef in January, based on a court docket hosted on CourtConnect.