Do not keep money on exchanges: Paxful CEO.

Paxful CEO Ray Youssef advises not to keep money on exchanges, only keep the tradable amount. Instead, go for self-custody.
Paxful to remove Ether from its exchange.
SBF might start a new business to repay FTX users.

Since the collapse of FTX, crypto users’ confidence is at an all time low. To regain the lost trust, exchanges are adopting the Proof-of-Reserve mechanism. And the case for self-custody is stronger than ever as investors are demanding evidence of proper handling for their assets on exchanges.

Most industry CEOs have chosen to double down on ensuring the safety of funds’ on their platform. Ray Youssef, the CEO of Paxful, flanked the idea of self-custody, as he took responsibility for 11 million users on his exchange.

The FTX saga has been an eye-opener for all the investors, who have principally been trusting crypto exchanges with safeguarding their assets. Sam Bankman-Fried supposedly broke this sacred trust as he mishandled users’ funds via Alameda Research. Since then, many exchanges worldwide have publicly shared their wallet information as Proof-of-Reserve.

In his tweet, Youssef had distanced himself from “others in the industry,” saying again that he never touched any money from its investors.

“My sole responsibility is to help and serve you. That’s why today I’m messaging all of our users to move your Bitcoin to self-custody.”

He strongly feels that anything kept on exchange should be only for trading purposes; the rest should be kept in self-custodial wallets. This will minimize risks for both the involved parties.

Youssef will send weekly emails to the users, counseling them against storing cryptocurrencies on all crypto exchanges; he is including his Paxful in the list. He then advertised the problem of trusting the custodians, such as Sam Bankman-Fried. He noted that once they have custody of users’ assets, the user is at their mercy. And the moral values of a person with so many funds at arm’s length are dubious.

Bitcoin by its default mechanism is invulnerable to manipulation and centralized control. BTC brings the unique opportunity “the chance to finally be in control.”

Youssef has been advocating against keeping their assets on exchanges, and all this while he is assuring that users storing Bitcoin on Paxful need not worry about safety.

He is also planning to remove Ether as a tradable asset from Paxful. He feels it lacks integrity when compared to Bitcoins’ ecosystem.

Founder CEO of Satoshi’s Journal pointed out earlier that Ethereum is a poorly designed protocol. This has been considered the main reason for delisting the asset from the exchange.

SBF has been in the headlines since FTX’s collapse, but recently he made headlines when he proposed his plans to start a new business to repay FTX investors. He was speaking to the BBC and was asked if he’d have a chance to start a new business to repay FTX users.

“I would give anything to be able to do that. And I’m going to try if i can.”

Andrew is a blockchain developer who developed his interest in cryptocurrencies while his post-graduation. He is a keen observer of details and shares his passion for writing along with being a developer. His backend knowledge about blockchain helps him give a unique perspective to his writing