P2P cryptocurrency exchange Paxful has announced significant growth over the 12-month period leading up to October 2019. It now has over three million wallet addresses, with 800k of those having been added in the last year. A large proportion of new users are based in developing countries, with the US also representing a growing market.

Paxful reports that trade has increased 65 percent to 15 million trades over the last year. Along with the US, most new users are based in Ghana and Nigeria. However, the exchange has also seen significant growth in India and Kenya. During the first week of October alone, CoinDance shows $40m worth of trade volume in India, and a further $30m in Kenya.

Cryptocurrency a Safe Haven Amid Economic Uncertainty?

The countries showing growth concur with trends seen elsewhere in the crypto markets. Earlier this week, Crypto Briefing reported that trading volumes for BTC against the Chinese Yuan were up on LocalBitcoins, a competitor to Paxful in the P2P trading space. In this case, the increase could be attributed to the growing threat of a recession in China. Given the geographical profile of Paxful’s growth, economic uncertainty could be the reason for the growth in the developing countries mentioned.

On the other hand, Paxful attributes its growth in trading volumes to other reasons, with Ray Youssef, CEO and co-founder of Paxful stating:

“It’s an exciting time in the cryptocurrency industry, and even more so for peer-to-peer trading. In fact, we just conducted a study which stated that more than half of Millennial and Generation Z respondents are interested in peer-to-peer trading as opposed to simply owning crypto or purchasing on exchanges.”

The study mentioned by Youssef also found that 70 percent of respondents were already familiar with P2P cryptocurrency exchanges.

Furthermore, Paxful has also been working to provide education on the use cases of cryptocurrencies and peer-to-peer finance, with a focus on remittances. Earlier this year, the company undertook a tour of university campuses in Kenya and South Africa. The program provided information for cryptocurrency novices, but also more advanced classes covering use cases and business applications for more crypto-savvy attendees.

Paxful and Binance In, LocalBitcoins Out?

Whatever the reasons behind the growth, the increased trading volumes and influx of new users at Paxful seem to indicate that competition in the P2P exchange space is hotting up. Binance has recently opened a P2P exchange in China, with CEO Changpeng Zhao indicating in a tweet that we can expect more to follow.

Meanwhile, P2P exchanges also have the opportunity to snatch market share from the original P2P trading platform, LocalBitcoins. After implementing a new KYC process which came into effect at the start of October, global trading volume has dropped dramatically.

The post P2P Exchange Paxful Hits 3m Wallets During 2019 Growth Spurt appeared first on Crypto Briefing.