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    Crypto Broker

3.9

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This broker is below average. Average Rating for Crypto Brokers is 4.3.

Main features

  • check
    Direct peer-to-peer exchange
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    Low fees
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    Mobile + web

Crypto Broker at a Glance

Spread

0% - 1%

Platform

Mobile + web

Trading fees

5$ per withdrawal

Wallet included

No

smiling face icon

Cool

Peer-to-peer trades

Peer-to-peer trades

sad face icon

Not cool

Verry few cryptos available

Verry few cryptos available

Deposit types

  • Credit/Debit card

    Credit/Debit card

  • Bank Transfer

    Bank Transfer

  • Over 180 online wallets

    Over 180 online wallets

Licenses or Regulations

  • FCA, CySEC, DNB

    FCA, CySEC, DNB

Supported currencies

  • Bitcoin

    Bitcoin

  • Ethereum

    Ethereum

  • Tether

    Tether

Countries available

  • 190+

    190+

Updated:

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Author:

Sortter Team

alex manea

Fact-checked:

Alex Manea

Quality checked

Paxful Review 2023: We Tried It So You Don’t Have To

Nowadays, it is difficult to acquire Bitcoin through mining, so more and more people are opting to buy Bitcoin on peer-to-peer cryptocurrency exchanges. Paxful is a peer-to-peer exchange and digital wallet provider that supports more than 300 payment methods for customers to buy Bitcoin in more than 190 countries worldwide.

As peer-to-peer marketplaces for buying cryptocurrencies are growing in popularity, platforms such as Paxful provide a much-needed trading solution to novice and experienced investors in countries with no other alternatives to accessing bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

What is Paxful?

Paxful is a peer-to-peer exchange platform established in 2015 by a team of developers whose goal was to simplify access to Bitcoin. The platform provides a direct exchange where buyers and sellers of cryptocurrencies can meet and transact with each other directly.

The buyer deposits cash through Paxful's payment methods such as prepaid VISA, Gift Card Code, or Western Union to the seller's account. Once the seller confirms receipt of funds from Paxful's escrow service, they release Bitcoins to the buyer directly. Sellers can accept over 300 different payment methods, not to mention a capacity to accept over 85% of international buyers.

The platform is available globally, and the minimum purchase amount in Paxful is only $10. Another advantage of Paxful over centralized exchanges is that users do not need to create a username or password to access the marketplace - they only need their email address.

If you reside in any country where centralized cryptocurrency exchange platforms are banned or unreachable for some reason, Paxful is one of the best solutions, as you can use it from any location where there is internet access.

While Paxful is a well-known crypto exchange, it does not match the popularity of Kraken or Gemini. We have more information available on Kraken on our review page. For more information on the latter, check out our Gemini review page.

Is Paxful Safe?

Even though Paxful is not a regulated entity in any country where it is available, its platform comes with KYC(Know Your Customer) and AML (Anti-money laundering) processes that secure the overall marketplace.

What's more, Paxful generates a new wallet for its user with every deposit and withdrawal session thereby reducing the likelihood of a hack. Over the years, Paxful has tightened security on user accounts by using ID verification and two-factor authentication, which uses Google Authenticator.

If you are trading more than $1500, you will need to provide an ID verification. This peer-to-peer exchange also comes with an escrow service that holds the bitcoins in escrow until both parties are satisfied with the trade. Paxful wallet is user-friendly as it supports multi-sig wallets. This feature gives users alternatives in how they want to set up the security of their wallets.

Additionally, the platform's wallets are provided by BitGo, the most popular and secure bitcoin wallet service in the industry.

Platform & Features

Security

The Paxful wallet is provided by BitGo, which supports multi-sig wallets, therefore, giving users a security alternative. This peer-to-peer exchange also comes with an escrow service that holds the bitcoins in escrow until both parties are satisfied with the trade.

Paxful also provides a rating system for sellers and buyers to encourage good behavior and cultivate a trusted trading environment. While the escrow service helps the system solve the issue of trust between platforms users, the rating system helps users easily identify trustworthy actors.

Paxful Trading Interface & Verdict

The Paxful's trading interface is very easy to use. You get access to a mobile trading app as well as a desktop trading app.

You only need to click on the "New Order" button to place a bid or ask an order to a seller or buyer to open a trade. The platform allows vendors to set up advertisements, thus attracting more buyers by listing their crypto offers on Paxful's Facebook page or putting them on the platform's Instagram.

Paxful Fees

Fees are pretty low when trading on Paxful. You can expect to pay between 1% service fee for processing withdrawals from the exchange to your credit card bank account. For instance, while there is no fee for buying Bitcoin on Paxful, most sellers will pay between 0.1% to 5% in transactional charges.

Payment methods supported by Paxful

As a peer-to-peer exchange and digital wallet provider, Paxful accepts most fiat money transfers, including PayPal, Western Union, VISA/Mastercard gift cards, Amazon Gift Cards, and many more. In addition to these payment methods, Paxful also supports the exchange of Bitcoin with more than 300 payment methods.

Customer Support

In addition to the smooth, clean and adaptable user experience on Paxful, you can also expect a robust customer support system when you need to troubleshoot an issue. Paxful is built with customer support in mind thanks to its comprehensive FAQ section as well as forums and 24hour daily monitoring of accounts.

See How Paxful Compares to Top Crypto Brokers

Fees & Commissions

Paxful vendors set their own rates for the cryptocurrency they are selling. These rates vary based on factors such as your identity verification status, after which point you want to pay, and what currency combinations you're interested in.

For every successful sale, Paxful charges a 1% fee. The fee is charged to sellers and is automatically deposited into escrow alongside the amount requested by the client. In layman's terms, this means that each time you make a sale using the Paxful platform, you will be charged 1% of the total bitcoins in the deal. The money will go into escrow until both parties complete the trade successfully; then and only then can you decide to release funds or not.

There are no fees on Paxful for buying cryptocurrency.

Available Coins

With over 300 payment methods, Paxful offers users a chance to buy and trade the following cryptocurrencies:

  • Bitcoin
  • Tether USDT
  • Ethereum

How to Open an Account

Step 1: Sign Up To Paxful

This is one step all users need to follow to start trading on the platform; It's quite easy and only requires you to fill a few fields such as name, email address, password, mobile number, and country of residence. After completing this step, you will be redirected to a page where you will be required to confirm your email address via a link sent on that email.

Step 2: Verification of Paxful Account

Paxful requires all traders to create an account before they can start trading on their platform. This is done by verifying the provided information and providing some information about the trader's identity, such as its name, date of birth, and phone number.

Step 3: Deposit and Withdrawal methods

After you have created a new account on the Paxful website and verified it successfully, you can now begin to Buy or Sell Cryptocurrency using major payment methods offered by the Paxful platform. Some of these methods you can use to deposit funds include PayPal, Western Union, Skrill(Moneybookers), Bank transfer, and Credit cards, to mention only a few.

How to Trade Crypto on Paxful

On Paxful, to purchase bitcoins, you must click on 'Buy Bitcoin' and then choose your payment method. A wide variety of payment methods are available: over 300 options.

Buying bitcoin on this wallet app is as easy as can be. You'll know you got a good rate when you compare different vendors.

When browsing on the marketplace, there will be various prices offered to you. However, before contacting a buyer or seller, ensure that he/she has been verified by Paxful's team of experts. Most consumers prefer sellers with ratings of over 200 for their products.

Before you pay, make sure to review the seller by looking at their profile picture or verifying their ID. If it's all set up, type in how much money you want to spend, and your transaction will be put into an escrow until the seller hands over their cryptocurrency. Once they do, release the funds in escrows and buy the coins.

Once you placed an order with the Paxful wallet app, the funds will be held in escrow until a bitcoin seller fulfills their obligation of sending the coins over to you. This process may take a little bit longer to receive the coins in your wallet.

Once you buy or sell bitcoin using Paxful Wallet, it is held on their platform in an escrow until the transaction has been completed successfully. The money will be kept secure even if something goes wrong with the seller's delivery of the product you bought or vice versa. This ensures that the buyer or seller will never lose more than what was agreed to.

The best part about the Paxful wallet app is that you can sell bitcoin with them even if it does not belong to you at all. As of now, over 87 thousand vendors have been verified and they comprise over 30 thousand buyers from around the world.

Paxful Customer Support

Paxful has an extensive FAQ section, as well as a knowledge-based help center. In addition, Paxful offers support through the live chat box you can access through the Paxful logo on the site or the app. Paxful does not offer their phone number.

Conclusion

With the Paxful wallet app, you can buy and sell bitcoin and Ethereum while being in control of your money the entire time. It offers users a wide variety of choices in payment methods, the most preferred option being bank transfers. Also, all payments are held in secure escrows until both parties have received their end of the deal. This feature helps to develop trust between buyers and sellers.

The best part about the Paxful wallet app is that you can sell bitcoin with them even if it does not belong to you at all. As of now, multiple vendors have been verified, and the platforms comprise thousands of buyers from around the world.

If you don't feel Paxful is the right fit, check out our crypto exchange comparison tool to find the best exchange for you.

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Unsure if this broker is for you?

FAQ

  • Paxful is a peer-to-peer finance platform for trading crypto. Peer-to-peer means that users trade with real people. Here, you can buy, sell, and store many cryptocurrencies. There are many security measures taken by Paxful to make sure it is a safe marketplace for users.

  • Paxful makes it really easy to find suitable offers since it has over 300 payment methods. Paxful gives users complete control over their money. Besides being extremely secure, they also have their own dedicated 24/7 customer support team that can help you out if any issues arise.

  • To trade on Paxful, for instance, Bitcoin, log into your account and click on Wallet. There, click on Receive and copy the address of your Bitcoin wallet, or simply use the QR code. Enter your Paxful wallet address into the ATM, website, or app, and confirm sending Bitcoin to your Paxful wallet.

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Author

Sortter Team

Sortter bases all its content on professionalism and expertise. Some of our articles have been written in collaboration with Sortter's versatile and skilled experts in the financial sector.

Everything you find on Sortter is based on reliable data and unbiased information. We combine our 10+ years finance experience with readers feedback. Read more about our methodology