Paxful is a peer to peer bitcoin exchange which helps you buy/sell bitcoins locally from/to the seller/buyer just like localbitcoins. This blogpost is a paxful review and how its different as compared to buying the bitcoins from the exchanges/brokers/trading websites like coinbase, bitstamp etc. Further we look at various queries like Is Paxful safe, Paxful affiliate program, how paxful works and various countries supported by Paxful, converting gift cards to bitcoin possibility and much more.
How does Paxful work?
Paxful is a peer to peer bitcoin exchange. Its extremely simple to buy/sell bitcoin on paxful. You just create an account, go your dashboard and paxful will show you the list of buyers/sellers whom you can buy/sell from.
In case you dont find the default paxful offers good enough, you can create your own offer from the dashboard. Paxful will present you the host of users interested in your offer. In case there are no matches, the offer stays open and you will be notified as soon as there is a match.
Once both you and buyer are satisfied with the price, the seller needs to initiate a trade just like in localbitcoins. The seller transfers the bitcoins to the Paxful escrow. Seller can’t cancel the trade from thereon and only buyer can decline/cancel the trader from that point. Once the payment is transferred by the buyer as per the offer, the seller marks the payment as received and bitcoin is transferred to the buyer.
What all Payment methods/currencies are supported to buy bitcoins from Paxful?
There are a host of ways to make payments on Paxful depending upon your country and your preference. Basically the sellers can offer different ways of making payment. The bitcoin will cost you more on certain methods of payments though. For ex, buying bitcoin via credit card or paypal can be costlier than buying bitcoins via direct payments through wire transfer.
Since you are purchasing bitcoins from the local seller only, your local fiat currency is almost always supported. Besides that you can convert gift cards to bitcoin or convert bitcoin to various gift cards like iTunes gift card, amazon gift card etc. Many sellers and buyers support out of the box payment options like paypal, venmo, Visa Debit/credit card payment, facebook messenger payments etc.
Who controls the bitcoins?
Bitcoin control is one of the most important security considerations one most look for in any bitcoin platform/exchange/wallet. This point was reinforced with MtGox hacking incident where the exchange hacking costed a lot of money to many people because it was the exchange who actually controlled the bitcoin.
With Paxful, the control of the currency stays majorly with you apart from the time when the bitcoin is in the Paxful escrow. Once you have received the bitcoin, it might be a better option to move the bitcoin to your own wallet. Have a look at our post on best bitcoin wallets in industry.
Paxful Security features (Is Paxful Safe?)
A lot of people ask us whether we think that Paxful is safe or not. Paxful as a platform supports quite a few security features like 2FA and is as secure as any platform can be.
With that said however, paxful is a peer to peer bitcoin exchange platform and one has to be really careful while dealing with the local buyers and vendors. There are multiple ways with which you can be scammed by the scamming elements. One must follow general cyber security practices while dealing with unscrupulous buyers.
Some of them on peer to peer bitcoin platforms can be to be cautious with new buyers and sellers, try to work only with verified buyers, green and good ranked sellers/buyers doesn’t mean that they wont scam you. Be on your toes all the time while dealing with peer to peer platforms. Paxful blog and their site provides exhaustive list on how to stay safe while trading on Paxful.
What all countries does Paxful work in?
Paxful works in many countries including but not limited to USA, China, Nigeria, India, Russia as of now. They keep on adding countries to their list so you should keep on visiting them even if your country is not supported as of today.
Paxful Fees
Paxful fees is one of the most lucrative factor to chose it over other peer to peer exchanges. They dont charge anything to the buyer. The only charge happens on the seller and that is 1% of the trade amount.
Paxful affiliate program
Paxful has a really generous affiliate program. Affiliates get 2% of the trade amount for a year since the signup of the referred user. You can get started and get your Paxful Affiliate link straight away. Please note that you will need to signup to become the Paxful affiliate. They provide beautiful buttons and frames to integrate with your website or a blog.
Conclusion
Paxful is a great addition to peer to peer marketplace exchanges. They intend to drive a lot of bitcoin value and have many other features as well like Payments with bitcoin etc. Overall, its a must try healthy player in the market.
In case you are interested to get started to buy bitcoins with paxful straight away, the following form will help you do so instantly(ofcourse, we make some affiliate commission once you fill that up.. 🙂 ).
Do let us know your review and experience with Paxful and we are happy to discuss in comments !!
*Disclaimer : Bitcoin investment is a risky proposition and you stand the risk of losing even your principal so invest only as much as you can afford to lose. Please do your due diligence before investments and techpikk is not responsible for any losses caused by your investment decisions in bitcoin.
I trade (that is, buy and sell bitcoins) from liviacoins.com My last trade with LiviaCoins was completed in 30 minutes
Liviacoins seem like the newly built out exchange. The only supported payment methods are western union and Moneygram. The website doesn’t seem to inspiring that much trust.