• Paxful, a peer-to-peer (P2P) bitcoin marketplace, has officially closed its doors due to various “regulatory challenges” and internal conflicts between two of the company’s founders.
• Former employees have come forward with reports that the firm suffered from unprofessional management and that key resources were depleted as a result of cannabis use from its leaders.
• A separate lawsuit has also been filed by one of the founders against the other, claiming that he was cut out of the company while on paternity leave and that resources had been looted by his co-founder.
Paxful Shuts Down
Peer-to-peer (P2P) bitcoin marketplace Paxful has closed its doors, meaning the digital currency space is still not yet out of the woods when it comes to exterior, negative circumstances. Founded in 2015 by Ray Youssef and Artur Schaback, Paxful saw more than $5 billion in BTC trades at the hands of roughly 12 million users.
Regulatory Challenges
In a recent interview, Ray Youssef claimed that Paxful had been trapped in the doldrums for some time due to „key staff departures“ and „regulatory challenges,“ eventually making it so that the enterprise could no longer operate. He also said he’s been struggling to see eye to eye with his co-founder Schaback, and that their differences eventually got in the way of the firm’s future.
Unprofessional Management
Several reports – either through former employees coming forward or in various lawsuits issued by past staffers – suggested that daily cannabis use from people like Youssef grew into something that aided in the depletion of company resources. These former employees now engaged in lawsuits against Paxful say the enterprise suffered from unprofessional management that got in the way of functionality.
Lawsuits Filed
Schaback is also suing Youssef in a separate lawsuit, claiming he was cut out of company computer networks and data information systems while on paternity leave. He also says Paxful’s coffers were looted by Youssef and his cronies which included an attempt to avoid international sanctions on “transactions into and out of Russia“.
Counterarguments
Youssef is hitting back at these claims stating Schaback was fired from his position as COO due to growing “incompetence and bad behavior“. He added Schaback was a huge contributing factor in closing down Paxful altogether.