Jack Dorsey’s crypto firm TBD has partnered with Paxful co-founder Ray Youssef to launch a decentralized peer-to-peer (P2P) crypto trading platform.
The new venture, called Civilization Kit (Civ Kit), will be built on Nostr, a decentralized network protocol for distributed and free social networking systems, according to the project’s white paper released last month.
The launch of Civ Kit comes shortly after Youssef’s P2P bitcoin marketplace, Paxful, which was popular in countries such as Nigeria and Kenya, shut down amidst regulatory pressure and internal conflicts.
Civ Kit intends to create a network of decentralized, non-custodial bitcoin marketplaces, which could reach thousands, Youssef said during a recent episode of The Scoop, a weekly interview podcast by crypto media The Block.
He claimed that Civ Kit will lead to thousands of plug-and-play P2P marketplaces around the world, adding that the decentralized identity tech developed by Jack Dorsey’s company TBD would play an important part in the process.
Previously, Youssef had called Civ Kit “the next evolution of Bitcoin.”
“We spent millions on compliance, but even that still wasn’t enough,” he said in an interview.
“And then to make things worse, in the middle of January, my co-founder decided to sue the company and myself. The litigation got really nasty and he scared away our best people. My entire chief level staff resigned. I had no operational staff.”
Paxful Shuts Down Amid Internal Conflicts
Paxful was founded in 2015 and facilitated P2P crypto trading, meaning users exchanged Bitcoin for cash, gift cards, mobile money, and other forms of currency through the platform.
In early April, the marketplace announced that it is suspending operations following internal conflicts between Youssef and Paxful’s co-founder Artur Schaback.
More specifically, the latter accused Youssef of shutting him out of the operation, withholding key details about the platform’s business dealings, and making fraudulent fund transfers.
Paxful has encouraged users to move their funds to non-custodial wallets or other platforms, such as the newly-created Noones P2P bitcoin marketplace.
Noones offers similar functionality to Paxful, including wallet, listing service, marketplace, and escrow, with Lightning Network functionality set to become available in a few weeks.
Civ Kit, however, intends to go further than Noones and Paxful, enabling anyone to build a decentralized Bitcoin-based marketplace on top of its ecosystem, Youssef said.
“It is possibly the most exciting thing since Bitcoin. This will allow anyone – community or nation state – to build their own decentralized marketplace. My dream is that there are 1,000 options running all over the world.”
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Today, the crypto firm co-founded by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, just announced a venture with Paxful CEO Ray Youssef. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but it is a move that could revolutionize the peer-to-peer (P2P) marketplace.
Square, founded by Jack Dorsey, has purchased a minority stake in both Ray Youssef’s blockchain-based payment processor and its P2P cryptocurrency exchange platform, Paxful. The company did not disclose how much Square purchased the stake for, but the news is the latest in Dorsey’s string of investments in the crypto space.
Paxful is an online cryptocurrency exchange platform run by Youssef, allowing its users to trade digital currencies. It has been active since 2015 and offers bitcoin services. This new venture will create a network of buyers, sellers, wallets, and vendors for both digital currencies and to make online payments.
The P2P exchange market is becoming increasingly popular, with companies like Square and Paxful wanting to capitalize on its potential. The partnership will enable Paxful to connect its customers directly to both individuals and major payment businesses, expediting transactions and facilitating the transfer of assets.
Youssef expressed enthusiasm regarding the new venture and said that this move will help provide people around the world with financial freedom and access to the services they need. “We’re thrilled to announce this partnership and use our shared vision of witnessing prosperity through economic equality around the world,” he said. “Paxful has been changing lives in emerging markets since 2015, and our partnership with Square is a fantastic journey for us.”
Overall, the collaboration between Square, the crypto firm co-founded by Jack Dorsey, and Ray Youssef’s Paxful could be a game-changer for P2P exchanges with its potential to revolutionize the industry.
