In this Paxful review you’ll find more information about one of the most popular peer-to-peer exchanges of cryptocurrencies.
Screenshot of the homepage of Paxful.com Go to Paxful.com >>General Overview
- Buy Bitcoin with gift cards and vouchers (iTunes, Amazon)
- Helps you find local people to trade with
- Available in all countries in the world
- Bitcoin is the only available cryptocurrency
Similar to LocalBitcoins, Paxful is a peer-to-peer (P2P) marketplace which connects buyers and sellers to easily trade Bitcoins online. Bitcoin is the sole cryptocurrency being traded on the platform. Paxful makes it easy for users to sell Bitcoin online, much like how eBay allows its users to trade.
Paxful currently has no official mobile app on either the Google Play Store or App Store.
Cryptocurrency support
Paxful supports trades only with Bitcoin. The exchange is more focused on providing a wide variety of payment methods to buy Bitcoin.
Identity Verification
Paxful has a identity verification process to combat fraud and protect the safety of its users’ funds. However, it is not mandatory and you can buy up to $1,000 of cryptocurrencies without Identity verification.
- Users who reach $1,000 in trade volume are required to verify their identity
- Users who reach $10,000 in trade volume must complete address verification
- National identity card (ID)
- Passport
- Driver’s license
- Voter’s card
The photo needs to be a .jpg format. It takes 1-5 minutes to get verified.
Verifying your address will remove any limitations in the amounts you can buy or sell. For verifying your address you need to upload a proof of address document. Typically, it is an electricity bill, phone bill or any bill that has your home address written.
Security
The bitcoin exchange has quite a number of mechanisms in place which act as a safety net to protect users from losing their funds:
- Two-factor authentication (2FA)
(SMS, Google Authenticator, and Authy) - Escrow service
- Dispute system
- User ratings
One of the cons of peer-to-peer marketplaces is that there will be “good peers” and bad ones. This happens on eBay and LocalBitcoins also. Since Paxful is a P2P marketplace with individual sellers and buyers, you’ll surely come across untrustworthy users looking to scam you. Here are some tips to avoid getting scammed when trading on Paxful:
- Ensure all communication is done on their website (so you can easily provide hard evidence in the event of a dispute).
- Do NOT release payment until you’ve verified that the other party has completed the trade.
- Only trade with reputable sellers recommended by Paxful, as they’re usually legit.
Country availability
Paxful allows users from all countries to register and begin trading on the platform (excluding the state of New York, where they don’t have the required operating license). You should note that buyers and sellers have different stances on which countries they’ll trade with. This shouldn’t be a problem with cross-border payment methods such as Western Union and MoneyGram.
Trade Volume
Data from coin.dance shows that weekly volume from Paxful is growing steadily and currently sits around $25 million. This is lower compared to LocalBitcoins.com, which has around $50 million in weekly volume.
The majority of trades on Paxful come from Africa and North America, with Europe following from afar. It recorded a total of over $739 million traded in 2018, leading to a yearly increase of 130.68% compared to 2017.
Payment methods supported
Paxful is famous for accepting payment methods that no other cryptocurrency exchange does. They offer more than 300 payment methods.
Most frequently used payment methods:- iTunes gift card
- Amazon gift card
- PayPal
- Cash
- Bitcoin
- Bank transfers
- Western Union
- Credit/debit cards
- M-pesa
Interestingly, gift cards were the most favored payment method on Paxful in 2019. iTunes gift cards alone made up about 40 percent of the overall trading volume at ($281.6 million), while Amazon gift cards came in second place at $165.9 million, and the bank transfers completed the top three at $48.7 million. During that period, PayPal was the least-used payment method, largely due to the high risk of chargebacks.
Fees
Seller prices vary, so you may need to look around to get your best rate. The fees depend on how risky the payment method is. For example, PayPal usually has the highest fees, around 5-12%, due to chargebacks (money-back requests).
- Free to register and buy Bitcoins
- Sellers are charged 1% for every completed trade
- Bitcoin mining fee
Limits
- Minimum trade amount: 0.01 BTC
- No difference between verified and unverified accounts
To become a pro-trader on the site, you have to have an active account that is more than 150 days old, have received at least 100 positive feedbacks, and have traded at least 20 BTC within a given time period.
This was the Paxful review. Visit the site to check it out. Go to Paxful.com >>