Paxful: The way to work with crypto safely

Paxful 4.4

Paxful is a two-in-one platform for users and traders of cryptocurrencies. That is, it is both a crypto wallet and a crypto exchange. It was founded in the United States of America in 2015 and has its headquarters in New York. Today, Paxful has branches in the United Kingdom, Russia, Estonia, Dubai, and the Philippines. This article is an authentic review of Paxful, highlighting its usefulness, safety, account creation process, advantages and disadvantages for users, as well as providing answers to a few frequently asked questions about it.

Pros

Offers P2P exchange with a crypto wallet
Free account opening
User-friendly web and mobile interfaces
Fee-free buying of cryptocurrencies
Wide variety of vendors
Supports 350+ payment systems
Fixed currency conversion fee
Built-in escrow system for safe trading
High security
Fast customer support via live chat

Cons

Large transactions are accepted by only a few vendors
Users could be defrauded if tricked by dishonest traders to do any transaction outside Paxful
Requires ID and address verification (not good for anonymity-conscious users)

What is Paxful?

Paxful is a web and mobile platform where people can buy, sell, and trade Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Tether directly without relying on an automated system. The founders of this platform originally created it to make trading in Bitcoin easier for everyone, including merchants and businesses.

Paxful supports many countries. They include the United States, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Australia, Nigeria, Canada, and India. However, it is not supported in Sudan, Iran, Cuba, North Korea, Yemen, and a few others. More information about Paxful’s available options you can find here.

Today, due to its success, Paxful has more than 6 million users worldwide. The platform lets them use more than 350 payment methods to buy and sell cryptocurrency. Upon becoming a registered customer, you can send/receive cryptocurrencies, safely store your tokens, and keep track of your open trades via its website, iOS apps, and Android apps. In addition, users of Paxful can share the address or QR code of their Bitcoin wallets with their friends and other traders, make Bitcoin-to-fiat conversions, and receive push notifications about their offers.

Regarding payment options, Paxful supports the use of many payment methods for the purchase of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Tether. The accepted payment methods are cash (fiat money), bank transfers, cryptocurrencies, e-wallets like Skrill and Neteller, debit and credit cards, Amazon gift cards, iTunes gift cards, and others.

Is Paxful Safe and Secure?

Yes, Paxful is a safe and secure platform for buying and selling Bitcoin, Tether, and Ethereum. Its safety and security features include its two-factor authentication, risk-based verification process to prevent money laundering, escrow system for secure payments, and blockchain analytics to prevent transactions from being made to any address or external wallet with high risk. Buyers can use any payment method supported by Paxful to make deposits to the sellers' accounts. Paxful offers the sellers to click on the receive payment button only after they have confirmed receipt of the buyers' money from the escrow system. Moreover, if the system detects a fraudulent seller, the seller's wallet is blocked to safeguard buyers.

Paxful Fees

Paxful charges different fees. The main fees can be categorised into three:

cryptocurrency trading fees;
Bitcoin, Tether, and Ethereum sending and receiving fees; and
cryptocurrency conversion fees.

Cryptocurrency trading fees

On Paxful, customers set the rates for buying cryptocurrency, while Paxful charges an escrow fee for the method used in any successful sale of cryptocurrency. So, Paxful allows its customers to use bank transfers, debit/credit cards, digital currencies, online wallets, cash, gift cards, and any other payment method to buy cryptocurrency at zero fees. However, it charges between 3% to 5% for any cryptocurrency sold using various gift cards, 0.5% for selling through bank transfers, and 1% for selling via any other method. For any unsuccessful purchase, cryptocurrency (which was in escrow at the point of initiating the sale) is released back to the seller at no fee.

Bitcoin, Tether, and Ethereum sending and receiving fees

Users of Paxful can use external or internal wallets to receive Bitcoin, Tether, and Ethereum for free. But there are different fees for sending cryptocurrency via different wallet types. For example, if you want to use the internal wallet to send Bitcoin, you can send up to US$1,000 between all cryptocurrencies for free for one month; but after that period, a fee of 1% will be applied to the amount you are sending.

Cryptocurrency conversion fees

Now, regarding currency exchange, Paxful charges a fee of 0.5% for all cryptocurrency conversions.

We advise you to contact Paxful Support to acquaint yourself with the full range of applicable fees on the platform.

How to Create a Paxful Account

The process of creating an account with Paxful is easy and user-friendly. It involves the following simple steps:

Go to the Paxful website using any browser on your computer or mobile phone.
Click a button that says, “Register” at the upper right-hand side of the web page and wait for it to open the page for the registration.
Click “Phone number” or “Email” to create your account with any of them.
Fill the form with the necessary details: your email or phone number, and a strong password that must not be less than 6 characters and must contain at least one lowercase letter, one uppercase letter, one numeral, and one special character.
Click “Create Account” to complete the registration process.
Pass a reCAPTCHA test or slide a button to complete a puzzle if any of them appears to confirm that you are not a robot.
Lastly, you need to verify your email or phone number by entering the code sent to the email address or phone number you provided on the verification web page. Alternatively, you can click the link in the message.
Once the code or link has been automatically confirmed to be valid, you will be redirected to the page for the next information verification. You can click the option to “Verify later”. That’s all. You should see the “Buy Bitcoin (BTC)” page now, implying that your account registration was successful, and you can start trading on your account. Meanwhile, note that you need to pass all verification processes to gain access to more trading opportunities on Paxful.

How to Create a Paxful Account with a virtual number

For some reasons, such as your anonymity or data privacy, you may want to register an account with Paxful using a virtual phone number instead of your personal phone number. Temporary virtual numbers are available on many websites for a small fee. For example, sms-man.com offers cheap and easy-to-use temporary virtual numbers that can be used on Paxful.

FAQ

Is Paxful legit?

Yes, Paxful is 100% legit. It is not a scam. Instead, Paxful takes verification very seriously and is known for blocking the accounts of persons suspected to be scammers. Also, if you read and follow the terms and conditions of using Paxful, you can trade safely and securely on the platform.

Is Paxful regulated?

Partly yes! Paxful is regulated as a Money Services Business in the United States of America, but it is not regulated in many other countries where it operates. While it is open to the worldwide market, it adheres to the requirements of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), which enforces high financial standards in the United States. Hence, it follows certain standards, such as Know Your Customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML), which is like what you can find in many other regulated exchanges.

What is the minimum age requirement to register a Paxful account?

Only persons of the legal age can register an account with Paxful.

How do I withdraw money from my Paxful account?

You can use PayPal, Neteller, Skrill, or any other electronic wallet to withdraw money from Paxful. You can also use any ATM that supports Bitcoin to withdraw cash from your account. To find out whether there is such an ATM near you, click here.

How can I avoid getting scammed on Paxful?

Never accept a seller’s invitation to do any business outside the Paxful platform. You are safe from scammers as long as you trade within Paxful.

Conclusion

Paxful is one of the bestpeer-to-peer exchange and mobile wallet apps for cryptocurrency traders today. It is safe, secure, cheap, user-friendly, and supports the use of many different payment methods for buying cryptocurrencies. Anyone can easily register an account with Paxful using an email address or phone number which could be personal or virtual. However, anyone who trades outside it loses Paxful’s escrow protection and could be scammed. Nevertheless, in general, it is a reliable platform. You can give it a try today.