Paxful review & 1 testimonial for paxful.com (04.2024)
- Overview: is Paxful safe?
- Pros & Cons of Paxful
- Services, Paxful Provides
- Currencies & Payment Systems
- Paxful fees
- Buying and selling limits
- Supported countries
- Customer service
- Verification at Paxful
- Deposit/withdrawal speed
- Customers' testimonials
- FAQ about Paxful
- Paxful vs other exchanges
- Conclusion: is Paxful legit or scam?
What is Paxful in a nutshell? It's maybe not the most popular, yet respectable, rather an aged exchange service (p2p marketplace) working with 1 cryptocurrency: you can Exchange service started the business May 2015, it's a fully compliant, licensed financial company. Besides the cryptocurrencies exchange, Paxful also provides other services, for example, Merchant Services.
This P2P Marketplace
welcomes customers from
255
countries
(including your country: United States!).
It serves the US and allows registrations from
all the
56
states and territories.
Unfortunately we couldn't yet collect enough data about the order processing speed from the actual customers,
maybe you know how fast Paxful processes the orders? If you do, please
share the knowledge!
Thanks a lot!
Depending on the order details, you may need to verify your account
Based on all these facts, our verdict is the following: Paxful is a legit, but promising, although not yet reviewed much by our visitors place to exchange Bitcoins, an interesting exchange that we believe will get some nice feedback pronto!
Overview: is Paxful safe?
Paxful was founded by Ray Youssef, Artur Schaback. Paxful CEO is Ray Youssef; other notable people are holding various positions in firm, for example Dmitry Moiseev (VP IT), Meiko Neuman (VP Operations), Tom Gerrity (VP Operations).
Pros & Cons of Paxful
Although Paxful is not yet rated by our visitors, common sense tells us it should have both strong sides and some downsides. Let's check it out:
- It's very stable and reliable exchange service operating from 2015.05. Fully compliant and regulated business, service provided by licensed financial company.
- Almost all the countries in the world are welcomed here! Feel free to check if your country is allowed to register an account.
- Built-in escrow makes the process almost perfectly safe, especially when you are buying crypto.
- Only 1 digital currencies. It's a pity, but there are no fiat payment systems available for exchange with cryptos. Another downside is that this exchange does't allow crypto-to-crypto swaps.
- The quality of service, speed, etc. varies from seller to seller; the platform itself has almost zero impact on these.
Seems that there are not so many cons, but a lot of pros. We hope you will enjoy your experience exchanging at Paxful! Try Paxful today and let us know how you like it!
Services, Paxful Provides
The platform provides the following cryptocurrency exchange-related services:
- Provides merchant services (accepting cryptocurrency at e-stores, etc.)
So Paxful is something bigger than just a place to exchange digital currency. According to our statistics, 68% of the competition provide less services, many just allow the buying and selling, so this p2p marketplace is among the champions in this field!
Currencies & Payment Systems
Paxful provides the service of various cryptocurrencies exchange. 1 digital currencies one into another. The following cryptocurrencies are available to Bitcoin (BTC).
If you are not sure, which one of these electronic currencies you are most interested in, you are welcome to read our guides. For example, these: Top 10 cryptocurrencies to invest in 2024.
Paxful fees
Since Paxful is a P2P marketplace, every seller is free to set the fee he wishes. So the fee depends on the offer and can be virtually any amount, although most of the dealers charge very reasonable fees. It's a market, after all! Feel free to browse the offers to check the fees for your country, preferred currency and bank or payment system!
Buying and selling limits
The business model of P2P market is based on fact that every seller has his own terms of the trade. Hence we can't provide you with min/max amounts Paxful allows to buy and sell, it really varies from dealer to dealer. Please check it by yourself!
Supported countries
Platform allows the users from 255 countries to use the exchange. The following countries are supported by the p2p marketplace:
- Afghanistan (AF)
- Aland Islands (AX)
- Albania (AL)
- Algeria (DZ)
- American Samoa (AS)
- Andorra (AD)
- Angola (AO)
- Anguilla (AI)
- Antarctica (AQ)
- Antigua & Barbuda (AG)
- Argentina (AR)
- Armenia (AM)
- Aruba (AW)
- Ascension Island (AC)
- Australia (AU)
- Austria (AT)
- Azerbaijan (AZ)
- Bahamas (BS)
- Bahrain (BH)
- Bangladesh (BD)
- Barbados (BB)
- Belarus (BY)
- Belgium (BE)
- Belize (BZ)
- Benin (BJ)
- Bermuda (BM)
- Bhutan (BT)
- Bolivia (BO)
- Bosnia & Herzegovina (BA)
- Botswana (BW)
- Bouvet Island (BV)
- Brazil (BR)
- British Indian Ocean Territory (IO)
- British Virgin Islands (VG)
- Brunei (BN)
- Bulgaria (BG)
- Burkina Faso (BF)
- Burundi (BI)
- Cambodia (KH)
- Cameroon (CM)
- Canada (CA)
- Canary Islands (IC)
- Cape Verde (CV)
- Caribbean Netherlands (BQ)
- Cayman Islands (KY)
- Central African Republic (CF)
- Ceuta & Melilla (EA)
- Chad (TD)
- Chile (CL)
- China (CN)
- Christmas Island (CX)
- Cocos (Keeling) Islands (CC)
- Colombia (CO)
- Comoros (KM)
- Congo - Brazzaville (CG)
- Congo - Kinshasa (CD)
- Cook Islands (CK)
- Costa Rica (CR)
- Côte d’Ivoire (CI)
- Croatia (HR)
- Cuba (CU)
- Curaçao (CW)
- Cyprus (CY)
- Czech Republic (CZ)
- Denmark (DK)
- Diego Garcia (DG)
- Djibouti (DJ)
- Dominica (DM)
- Dominican Republic (DO)
- Ecuador (EC)
- Egypt (EG)
- El Salvador (SV)
- Equatorial Guinea (GQ)
- Eritrea (ER)
- Estonia (EE)
- Ethiopia (ET)
- Falkland Islands (FK)
- Faroe Islands (FO)
- Fiji (FJ)
- Finland (FI)
- France (FR)
- French Guiana (GF)
- French Polynesia (PF)
- French Southern Territories (TF)
- Gabon (GA)
- Gambia (GM)
- Georgia (GE)
- Germany (DE)
- Ghana (GH)
- Gibraltar (GI)
- Greece (GR)
- Greenland (GL)
- Grenada (GD)
- Guadeloupe (GP)
- Guam (GU)
- Guatemala (GT)
- Guernsey (GG)
- Guinea (GN)
- Guinea-Bissau (GW)
- Guyana (GY)
- Haiti (HT)
- Heard Island and McDonald Islands (HM)
- Honduras (HN)
- Hong Kong SAR China (HK)
- Hungary (HU)
- Iceland (IS)
- India (IN)
- Indonesia (ID)
- Iran (IR)
- Iraq (IQ)
- Ireland (IE)
- Isle of Man (IM)
- Israel (IL)
- Italy (IT)
- Jamaica (JM)
- Japan (JP)
- Jersey (JE)
- Jordan (JO)
- Kazakhstan (KZ)
- Kenya (KE)
- Kiribati (KI)
- Kosovo (XK)
- Kuwait (KW)
- Kyrgyzstan (KG)
- Laos (LA)
- Latvia (LV)
- Lebanon (LB)
- Lesotho (LS)
- Liberia (LR)
- Libya (LY)
- Liechtenstein (LI)
- Lithuania (LT)
- Luxembourg (LU)
- Macau SAR China (MO)
- Macedonia (MK)
- Madagascar (MG)
- Malawi (MW)
- Malaysia (MY)
- Maldives (MV)
- Mali (ML)
- Malta (MT)
- Marshall Islands (MH)
- Martinique (MQ)
- Mauritania (MR)
- Mauritius (MU)
- Mayotte (YT)
- Mexico (MX)
- Micronesia (FM)
- Moldova (MD)
- Monaco (MC)
- Mongolia (MN)
- Montenegro (ME)
- Montserrat (MS)
- Morocco (MA)
- Mozambique (MZ)
- Myanmar (Burma) (MM)
- Namibia (NA)
- Nauru (NR)
- Nepal (NP)
- Netherlands (NL)
- New Caledonia (NC)
- New Zealand (NZ)
- Nicaragua (NI)
- Niger (NE)
- Nigeria (NG)
- Niue (NU)
- Norfolk Island (NF)
- Northern Mariana Islands (MP)
- North Korea (KP)
- Norway (NO)
- Oman (OM)
- Pakistan (PK)
- Palau (PW)
- Palestinian Territories (PS)
- Panama (PA)
- Papua New Guinea (PG)
- Paraguay (PY)
- Peru (PE)
- Philippines (PH)
- Pitcairn Islands (PN)
- Poland (PL)
- Portugal (PT)
- Puerto Rico (PR)
- Qatar (QA)
- Réunion (RE)
- Romania (RO)
- Russia (RU)
- Rwanda (RW)
- Samoa (WS)
- San Marino (SM)
- São Tomé & Príncipe (ST)
- Saudi Arabia (SA)
- Senegal (SN)
- Serbia (RS)
- Seychelles (SC)
- Sierra Leone (SL)
- Singapore (SG)
- Sint Maarten (SX)
- Slovakia (SK)
- Slovenia (SI)
- Solomon Islands (SB)
- Somalia (SO)
- South Africa (ZA)
- South Georgia & South Sandwich Islands (GS)
- South Korea (KR)
- South Sudan (SS)
- Spain (ES)
- Sri Lanka (LK)
- St. Barthélemy (BL)
- St. Helena (SH)
- St. Kitts & Nevis (KN)
- St. Lucia (LC)
- St. Martin (MF)
- St. Pierre & Miquelon (PM)
- St. Vincent & Grenadines (VC)
- Sudan (SD)
- Suriname (SR)
- Svalbard & Jan Mayen (SJ)
- Swaziland (SZ)
- Sweden (SE)
- Switzerland (CH)
- Syria (SY)
- Taiwan (TW)
- Tajikistan (TJ)
- Tanzania (TZ)
- Thailand (TH)
- Timor-Leste (TL)
- Togo (TG)
- Tokelau (TK)
- Tonga (TO)
- Trinidad & Tobago (TT)
- Tristan da Cunha (TA)
- Tunisia (TN)
- Turkey (TR)
- Turkmenistan (TM)
- Turks & Caicos Islands (TC)
- Tuvalu (TV)
- Uganda (UG)
- Ukraine (UA)
- United Arab Emirates (AE)
- United Kingdom (GB)
- United States (US)
- Uruguay (UY)
- U.S. Outlying Islands (UM)
- U.S. Virgin Islands (VI)
- Uzbekistan (UZ)
- Vanuatu (VU)
- Vatican City (VA)
- Venezuela (VE)
- Vietnam (VN)
- Wallis & Futuna (WF)
- Western Sahara (EH)
- Yemen (YE)
- Zambia (ZM)
- Zimbabwe (ZW)
Does Paxful allow the users from United States (US)?
Yes, paxful.com allows the registrations from the United States! P2P Marketplace permits the users from 56 states and territories to register at and use the services exchange provides:
- Alabama (AL)
- Alaska (AK)
- American Samoa (AS)
- Arizona (AZ)
- Arkansas (AR)
- California (CA)
- Colorado (CO)
- Connecticut (CT)
- Delaware (DE)
- District of Columbia (DC)
- Florida (FL)
- Georgia (GA)
- Guam (GU)
- Hawaii (HI)
- Idaho (ID)
- Illinois (IL)
- Indiana (IN)
- Iowa (IA)
- Kansas (KS)
- Kentucky (KY)
- Louisiana (LA)
- Maine (ME)
- Maryland (MD)
- Massachusetts (MA)
- Michigan (MI)
- Minnesota (MN)
- Mississippi (MS)
- Missouri (MO)
- Montana (MT)
- Nebraska (NE)
- Nevada (NV)
- New Hampshire (NH)
- New Jersey (NJ)
- New Mexico (NM)
- New York (NY)
- North Carolina (NC)
- North Dakota (ND)
- Northern Mariana Islands (MP)
- Ohio (OH)
- Oklahoma (OK)
- Oregon (OR)
- Pennsylvania (PA)
- Puerto Rico (PR)
- Rhode Island (RI)
- South Carolina (SC)
- South Dakota (SD)
- Tennessee (TN)
- Texas (TX)
- U.S. Virgin Islands (VI)
- Utah (UT)
- Vermont (VT)
- Virginia (VA)
- Washington (WA)
- West Virginia (WV)
- Wisconsin (WI)
- Wyoming (WY)
Americans are welcome to exchange various cryptos that are supported by the p2p marketplace.
Please visit the exchange's website to check the offers that are currently active!
Customer service
Verification at Paxful
The paxful.com may require the customers to pass through the user identification (account verification) process. The company may require you to verify some information about your identity; the details depend on order amount, exchange direction, payment systems used, etc.
And remember that since this is a P2P market, every seller or buyer creating an ad is free to determine his own terms. Some dealers require KYC, some — don't. You'll see all the details during an order creation.
According to the customers surveys results, the average time to verify an account at Paxful is the following:
Sorry, we haven't yet collected enough data. Do you know, how fast p2p marketplace does account verification? Kindly let us know, too. Thank you very much!
Deposit/withdrawal speed
Unlike all other exchange platforms, the P2P marketplace has almost no control over the funds delivery speed. In fact, it all depends on the dealer: if him or her will be fast, your monies are in wallet in no time. But if he/she is not — that's a completely different story!
The good thing is that you always can see the data about average escrow release, etc. before doing an exchange: choose the dealers with good feedback and nice stats and you should never ever have any problems!
Customers' testimonials
There are currently no users testimonials about the Paxful. Do you have any experience using this p2p marketplace? If you do, please say a couple of words about it!
FAQ about Paxful
Does Paxful holds my funds?
Yes, it does. Although you can always withdraw the funds to your e-currency wallet "by default" Paxful holds your balance at it's own hot storage wallet. Funds are kept on the escrow accounts, this is how P2P markets operates; but it's much safer to store your funds at other place.
Is Paxful a good p2p marketplace?
Although we have not enough users' reviews yet, we analyzed the information we have. Feel free to get acquainted with the details reading this review or just jump to the conclusion!
Is Paxful licensed? Does it hold e-money license?
Yes, Paxful, Inc (entity doing business as Paxful exchange) is licenced and regulated financial company. It holds Money Transmission license and is regulated by the FinCEN of the United States.
Is Paxful registered with the FINCEN?
Yes, Paxful, Inc aka Paxful is registered with the U.S. Financial Intelligence Unit as Money Services Business (MSB); FinCEN registration number is 31000181349511, 31000181349509.
Does Paxful provide services for the merchants willing to accept crypto?
It is! You may accept payments in all the cryptocurrencies supported by the Paxful and get paid in fiat or your preferred crypto.
Is Paxful a ripoff?
It is not a ripoff, although we have not rated Paxful yet due to lack of user testimonials, it complies with our standards. Feel free to read the whole this review to understand why or check our conclusion: is Paxful legit or scam.
Paxful vs other exchanges
Let's compare paxful.com to other similar exchange services with more or less the same features: others of p2p marketplace type mostly. Besides, seems reasonable to compare the platform with the exchanges having similar rating and serving (mostly) the same geographic, etc. Remember that if you wish to find the exchange offering the best price to buy/sell Bitcoin and 50 other cryptos, check the best rates to buy bitcoin and crypto in United States!
Paxful vs CEX
Let's compare the key features of these two platforms to see which one suits you best:
- CEX is a trading platform Paxful is a p2p marketplace, it has a different business model (feel free to read about the differences between trading platform and p2p marketplace)
- CEX had started the business July 2014 Paxful started the business May 2015 (cex.io is working for 10 months longer time).
- cex.io has all the required business licenses and permissions Paxful has all the required business licenses and permissions (both exchange services operate using the same approach to the business, utilizing a same legal model).
- Besides buying, selling and exchanging cryptocurrencies, cex.io provides the following extra services: Lending, Margin Trading, Faucets (small amounts of cryptos for free) and the Staking, MasterNodes, etc. (passive income opportunity) Paxful provides us with less services, related to the crypto exchange: it just exchanges cryptos.
- CEX supports 33 cryptocurrencies and tokens Paxful allows to swap just 1 crypto (Paxful works with 32 cryptocurrencies & tokens fewer).
- CEX allows registrations from 224 countries; United States is among the supported ones You may register at Paxful if you reside in one of 255 countries; it serves United States among others (Paxful supports more countries worldwide).
- During the account verification CEX usually asks for 3 documents and/or procedures (id verification, phone confirmation, selfie) and it takes a day or two in most of the cases User identification at Paxful usually consists of some (it depends) different procedures (Paxful's KYC policy requires the customer to take less actions or to provide less data).
Although the final decision, which exchange — CEX or Paxful — is better is up to you, we'll try to help you with the decision. Both exchanges are great, since at least one of them is not yet rated at our platform, we recommend you look at the list above and decide, what is most important for you!
If you feel like need more comparison versus other exchanges, feel free to check these:
Paxful vs Coinbase
Let's compare the key features of these two platforms to see which one suits you best:
- Coinbase is a e-wallet Paxful is a p2p marketplace, it has a different business model (feel free to read about the differences between e-wallet and p2p marketplace)
- Coinbase had started the business June 2012 Paxful started the business May 2015 (coinbase.com is working for 2 years and 11 months longer time).
- coinbase.com has all the required business licenses and permissions Paxful has all the required business licenses and permissions (both exchange services operate using the same approach to the business, utilizing a same legal model).
- Besides buying and selling cryptocurrencies, coinbase.com provides the following extra services: ATM Cards, Merchant Services and the Staking, MasterNodes, etc. (passive income opportunity) Paxful provides us with less services, related to the crypto exchange: it just exchanges cryptos.
- Coinbase supports 21 cryptocurrencies and tokens Paxful allows to swap just 1 crypto (Paxful works with 20 cryptocurrencies & tokens fewer).
- Coinbase gives the gifts to the customers Paxful has neither gifts or cashback available (Paxful & Coinbase both provide the same bonuses for customers).
- Coinbase allows registrations from 39 countries; United States is among the supported ones You may register at Paxful if you reside in one of 255 countries; it serves United States among others (Paxful supports more countries worldwide).
- During the account verification Coinbase usually asks for 2 documents and/or procedures (id verification, phone confirmation) and it takes a day or two in most of the cases User identification at Paxful usually consists of some (it depends) different procedures (Paxful's KYC policy requires the customer to take less actions or to provide less data).
Although the final decision, which exchange — Coinbase or Paxful — is better is up to you, we'll try to help you with the decision. Both exchanges are great, since at least one of them is not yet rated at our platform, we recommend you look at the list above and decide, what is most important for you!
If you feel like need more comparison versus other exchanges, feel free to check these:
Paxful vs TransCoin
Let's compare the key features of these two platforms to see which one suits you best:
- TransCoin is a broker Paxful is a p2p marketplace, it has a different business model (feel free to read about the differences between broker and p2p marketplace)
- TransCoin had started the business May 2018 Paxful started the business May 2015 (Paxful operates 3 years and 0 months longer).
- transcoin.me has all the required business licenses and permissions Paxful has all the required business licenses and permissions (both exchange services operate using the same approach to the business, utilizing a same legal model).
- Besides the digital currencies exchange, TransCoin provides no extra services Paxful provides more exchange-related services: it just exchanges cryptos.
- TransCoin supports 1 cryptocurrency Paxful allows to swap just 1 crypto (Paxful & TransCoin are working with the same number of digital currencys).
- TransCoin allows registrations from 255 countries; United States is among the supported ones You may register at Paxful if you reside in one of 255 countries; it serves United States among others (Paxful & TransCoin support the same number of countries and territories).
- During the account verification TransCoin usually asks for some (it depends) documents and/or procedures User identification at Paxful usually consists of some (it depends) different procedures (Paxful & TransCoin require the client to pass through the — more or less — the same process during the verification).
Although the final decision, which exchange — TransCoin or Paxful — is better is up to you, we'll try to help you with the decision. Both exchanges are great, since at least one of them is not yet rated at our platform, we recommend you look at the list above and decide, what is most important for you!
If you feel like need more comparison versus other exchanges, feel free to check these:
Paxful vs Kraken
Let's compare the key features of these two platforms to see which one suits you best:
- Kraken is a trading platform Paxful is a p2p marketplace, it has a different business model (feel free to read about the differences between trading platform and p2p marketplace)
- Kraken had started the business July 2011 Paxful started the business May 2015 (kraken.com is working for 3 years and 9 months longer time).
- kraken.com has all the required business licenses and permissions Paxful has all the required business licenses and permissions (both exchange services operate using the same approach to the business, utilizing a same legal model).
- Besides buying, selling and exchanging cryptocurrencies, kraken.com provides the following extra services: Mobile wallet, OTC trading, Margin Trading, Futures Trading and the Staking, MasterNodes, etc. (passive income opportunity) Paxful provides us with less services, related to the crypto exchange: it just exchanges cryptos.
- Kraken supports 35 cryptocurrencies and tokens Paxful allows to swap just 1 crypto (Paxful works with 34 cryptocurrencies & tokens fewer).
- Kraken allows registrations from 234 countries; United States is among the supported ones You may register at Paxful if you reside in one of 255 countries; it serves United States among others (Paxful supports more countries worldwide).
- During the account verification Kraken usually asks for 2 documents and/or procedures (id verification, address confirmation) and it takes a day or two in most of the cases User identification at Paxful usually consists of some (it depends) different procedures (Paxful's KYC policy requires the customer to take less actions or to provide less data).
Although the final decision, which exchange — Kraken or Paxful — is better is up to you, we'll try to help you with the decision. Both exchanges are great, since at least one of them is not yet rated at our platform, we recommend you look at the list above and decide, what is most important for you!
If you feel like need more comparison versus other exchanges, feel free to check these:
Paxful vs EXMO
Let's compare the key features of these two platforms to see which one suits you best:
- EXMO is a trading platform Paxful is a p2p marketplace, it has a different business model (feel free to read about the differences between trading platform and p2p marketplace)
- EXMO had started the business May 2013 Paxful started the business May 2015 (exmo.me is working for 2 years and 0 months longer time).
- exmo.me has all the required business licenses and permissions Paxful has all the required business licenses and permissions (both exchange services operate using the same approach to the business, utilizing a same legal model).
- Besides buying, selling and exchanging cryptocurrencies, exmo.me provides the following extra services: Cash codes, OTC trading and the Margin Trading Paxful provides us with less services, related to the crypto exchange: it just exchanges cryptos.
- EXMO supports 24 cryptocurrencies and tokens Paxful allows to swap just 1 crypto (Paxful works with 23 cryptocurrencies & tokens fewer).
- EXMO allows registrations from 255 countries; United States is among the supported ones You may register at Paxful if you reside in one of 255 countries; it serves United States among others (Paxful & EXMO support the same number of countries and territories).
- During the account verification EXMO usually asks for 3 documents and/or procedures (id verification, address confirmation, selfie) and it takes a day or two in most of the cases User identification at Paxful usually consists of some (it depends) different procedures (Paxful's KYC policy requires the customer to take less actions or to provide less data).
Although the final decision, which exchange — EXMO or Paxful — is better is up to you, we'll try to help you with the decision. Both exchanges are great, since at least one of them is not yet rated at our platform, we recommend you look at the list above and decide, what is most important for you!
If you feel like need more comparison versus other exchanges, feel free to check these:
Conclusion: is Paxful legit or scam?
Now it's time to draw a conclusion, is paxful.com a scam or is it a legit exchange? We hadn't yet collected enough testimonials to assign Paxful a rating, but according to our research it should be a good exchange. We have found no evidence that this p2p marketplace is a scam so it should be save to deal with. Let's summarize what we like most (and what we don't) about the Paxful:
- It is licensed, regulatory compliant financial company
- The p2p marketplace holds users' funds
- This company has being in the business for a long time; exchange was started 8 years and 11 months ago
- Exchange supports 1 cryptocurrencies
- Paxful allows registrations from 255 countries; people from United States may use the service