Paxful pulls ether, citing centralization and scams used to steal billions

Companies • December 21, 2022, 8:13AM EST

Quick Take

CEO Ray Youssef slammed the use of ether, calling it essentially a form of fiat.

Paxful is removing ether from its crypto marketplace tomorrow, linking related tokens to scams that have “robbed people of billions.”

“Revenue is nice, but integrity trumps all,” CEO Ray Youssef said in an email to users.

Youssef said that by switching to proof-of-stake over proof-of-work earlier this year, ether has become “essentially a digital form of fiat.”

“ETH is not decentralized. It is controlled by a small group of people and one day you will need permission to use it,” Youssef wrote. “The tokens that ETH has spawned have been scams that have robbed people of billions.”

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About Author

Christiana is a long-time journalist who has written about markets in the Americas, politicians who stashed cash in their underwear and high-end heels, to name just a few. She previously spent six years at Bloomberg, and her work has appeared in the WSJ, LA Times, Insider, Vogue Business and more. Christiana has a bachelor's degree in English from Pace University and a master's degree in journalism from New York University. She completed a master's degree in media psychology for fun.