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Paxful, a leading peer-to-peer bitcoin marketplace that aims to bring financial inclusion and access to the underbanked and unbanked in developing countries, has joined forces with OKEx, one of the world’s largest and most diverse cryptocurrency spot and derivatives exchanges.
The strategic partnership will offer several payment methods for new and existing OKEx users to buy bitcoin with over 160 fiat currencies through Paxful’s Kiosk. Users will have access to in-demand payment methods such as bank transfer, gift cards, online wallets, and many more. Overall, the partnership will integrate over 100 million users allowing them the freedom to utilize Paxful’s existing infrastructure and payment options while enjoying the benefits of OKEx’s advanced technology and diversified product suite.
“To help grow the crypto community, industry businesses are increasingly collaborating to uplift each other in providing more options for their users. We admire OKEx’s work and know that our values and strategy are aligned. With this partnership, not only do we open new opportunities for customers on both platforms and increase functionality, but we jointly contribute towards strengthening the overall ecosystem and help make crypto more accessible as a real-world payment method by expanding to different geographic markets,” commented Ray Youssef, CEO, and co-founder of Paxful.
As a result of the new integration, Paxful and OKEx provide easier access to the global cryptocurrency market specifically in the regions of South Africa, and Nigeria, but also in Kenya, Vietnam, Russia, Indonesia, Thailand, UK, India, Argentina, Canada, Chile, Korea, Germany, France, Japan, Poland, Turkey, Ukraine, and Venezuela.
“We’re delighted to partner with Paxful and share very similar goals about onboarding more people to cryptocurrency. Through this partnership, we can reach more users in developing regions using Paxful’s existing infrastructure and payment options and give them exposure to the benefits of OKEx’s advanced technology and diversified product suite. This is a great step forward for us and the crypto space in general,” said Jay Hao, CEO of OKEx.
Removing borders and limitations
With an unbanked population of more than 60%, Africa is a major focus for both Paxful and OKEx. In addition, the continent is also spearheading cryptocurrency adoption around the globe with key drivers being high inflation rates, weak national currencies, inadequate financial infrastructures, and growing economic uncertainty stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. All these conditions are combined with a growing population that is largely young and digital-oriented.
As bitcoin offers more convenient, and fast alternatives for financial transactions, use, and ownership of the cryptocurrency are significantly increasing amongst African consumers.
“Aside from being a decentralized, efficient, and a borderless payment method, one of the most striking features of bitcoin is that it’s considered to be an excellent means of preserving wealth in many countries, especially in uncertain times. It’s often compared to precious metals, specifically gold, in terms of storing value,” Youssef added.
A recent report (https://bit.ly/2ZIRpXj) identifies that bitcoin is of keen interest to many in Africa. Kenya topped the list with 94.7% of all cryptocurrency-related searches attributed to bitcoin, while Nigeria and South Africa had high percentages of 89.4% and 89%, respectively.
Nigeria and South Africa increasing trade volumes
Nigeria and South Africa are emerging as key hubs of the crypto economy on the continent. Nigeria’s use of bitcoin has surged exponentially with recent statistics (https://bit.ly/2VR1ZKD) showing that between May and June this year, the country recorded more than $35 million (R604 136 750) in peer-to-peer bitcoin trades, while rival South Africa saw a transactional value of $7 million (R120 827 350).
The surge in trade volume is attributed to various elements, including uncertainty in the ‘traditional’ economy, increasing education about the crypto-economy, and the emergence of various virtual currency marketplaces in Africa yielding more income-generating opportunities through bitcoin.
For South Africa, Africa’s most advanced economy: overall, the year-on-year increase in trading volume for bitcoin currently stands at 994%. The trading volume for bitcoin was approximately $14 483.48 (R250 000) for the week of June 22, 2019, compared to the trading volume of almost $434 504.27 (R7.5 million) recorded for the same period this year, equating to a year-on-year increase of more than 2800% trading volume for the week.
