It’s not every day that you hear Nigerians are calling a company a scam – especially given the infamy of the Nigerian prince who is looking to give away his millions. However, one group of disgruntled crypto traders from Nigeria have filed complaints with the Nigerian Foreign Affairs Ministry over claims if unfair punishments on their accounts – some of which had funds deducted and some were closed down. Paxful slammed the claims as prosperous, stating that the accounts violated its terms of service agreements.
Meet LocalBitcoins 2.0
Paxful and LocalBitcoins share a number of similarities, but Paxful is far easier to use and comes with more than 300 payment methods. Users can create an account and then choose to buy or sell Bitcoin through the site. Buyers and sellers are matched based on volume and trade size, with sellers being given a cut of the commission for selling their Bitcoin through the platform. Claims that these fees have been excessively high, Bitcoin never making it to the buyer’s account and accounts being closed before the Bitcoin can be withdrawn have all been filed against Paxful, but Paxful has vehemently defended itself.
Breaking the Terms of Service Agreements
Paxful allows users to buy iTunes vouchers through its platform in exchange for Bitcoin, and Paxful claims that those accounts that have been shut down have been illegally reselling these vouchers. They buy the vouchers from Paxful with their Bitcoin and then sell them on for large amounts of profit – which is then used to restart the entire process once more. However, several Tweets from Paxful and Paxful’s CEO – Ray Youssef – have been leaning towards the rude side, hinting that all Nigerians are scammers and con artists – thanks for that, mysterious Nigerian prince!
Warning to all scammers who think tweeting or contacting me will help. I will double your suspension time at the very least. No room for bad actors.
— Ray Youssef (@raypaxful) April 7, 2019
Bitcoin Soaring in Popularity in Nigeria
A lot of entrepreneurs in Nigeria have been opting to accept Bitcoin for their goods and services – especially those that deal with supplies outside the country. Due to the fact that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) restricts how many exchanges can hold the Naira, many online stores don’t accept it. To counter this, businesses instead opt to pay in Bitcoin, so do get their hands on Bitcoin, they accept it from customers. Paxful has been instrumental in allowing customers to pay bills in Bitcoin, but if this scandal rolls on then the entire system could fall apart.
The Paxful saga is far from over in Nigeria, and the United Global Resolve For Peace (UGRFP) claims that Paxful has been dishing out unfair punishments. The next few days are critical for Paxful in how it handles the situation, but the most likely outcome could simply be banning Nigerians from accessing the platform.
