Paxful, a global peer-to-peer Bitcoin platform, has announced the appointment of Roshan Dharia as the new Interim Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. This comes after a brief shutdown period of the exchange prior to the departure of Co-Founder and former CEO Ray Youssef.

According to a press release sent to Bitcoin Magazine, Dharia will be responsible for strengthening operations and exploring strategic alternatives for the company. With years of experience in similar roles, Dharia expressed his enthusiasm, stating, “It’s a great honor to become CEO of Paxful. Over the last eight years, Paxful has been a pioneer in establishing the real use cases of Bitcoin and helping millions of people in the process.”

Previously a senior executive at TrustToken (now known as Archblock), Dharia led the DeFi institutional lending business. He also founded and built the investment platform PTHL Affiliates, specializing in distressed private company acquisitions and turnarounds.

Srinivas Raju, the Custodian of Paxful, expressed his confidence in Dharia’s leadership, stating, “I’m delighted that Roshan has joined Paxful and will take over day-to-day management of the company. I’m confident under his leadership the business will keep building a financial system that truly serves the 100%.”

Youssef’s recent departure at Paxful was reportedly a result of a feud involving a myriad of accusations and legal disputes with co-founder Artur Schaback, who is currently the COO of the exchange.

Since its establishment in 2015, Paxful has experienced significant growth, attracting over 12 million users worldwide and facilitating billions of dollars in trades on its platform, according to the press release. 

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The former CEO of Paxful, Ray Youssef, has told users of the peer-to-peer bitcoin marketplace that he is no longer in control and therefore cannot vouch for “anything that is happening there now.” Youssef also told a user who claimed to have been scammed on the platform that he too has been banned from the platform.

Former CEO Tells Users to ‘Trust No One’

The former CEO of Paxful, Ray Youssef, has again reminded users of the peer-to-peer platform on May 9 that he left the company weeks ago and as such he cannot “vouch in any way for anything that is happening there now.” While he urged users to “trust no ones,” Youssef however said he will soon provide an update about a trust “set up to make any frozen funds whole.”

I am no longer the CEO of Paxful and have no control over anything happening there. They banned me too. Good luck and trust no ones. #selfcustody https://t.co/c8Hh9mFXdk pic.twitter.com/IPOVnsp14x

— Ray Youssef (@raypaxful) May 11, 2023

The remarks by Youssef, who has repeatedly tweeted about his falling out with his co-founder at Paxful, follow reports suggesting that the P2P (peer-to-peer) marketplace was back up just a few weeks after it was shut down.

Paxful Says It Is Taking Steps to Solve Functionality Issues

As reported by Bitcoin.com News in early April, Paxful was forced to shut down by factors including the departure of key staff and regulatory challenges. Some reports also suggested that Youssef’s falling out with fellow Paxful co-founder Artur Schaback had also contributed to the marketplace’s abrupt shutdown.

It’s been a good week. Let’s keep building. pic.twitter.com/Xie4XTQpYv

— Paxful (@paxful) May 11, 2023

However, a tweet shared by Paxful’s official handle on May 10 thanked users for their patience when the marketplace was down. The tweet also suggested that steps were taken to solve functionality issues.

“Thank you to the community for your patience, as we continue to gradually restore functionality to the marketplace. We are aware that some users’ accounts are mistakenly banned and our team is working to fix the issue,” Paxful said in a tweet.

Meanwhile, in another tweet, Youssef told a user who claimed to have been scammed on the platform that he no longer had any control and he too was banned. The former CEO also reiterated the same messages to other users that similarly asked about their blocked funds. When asked about what finally caused him to leave Paxful, Youssef said: “It is a wild story bro. We need a [Twitter] spaces.”

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Terence Zimwara

Terence Zimwara is a Zimbabwe award-winning journalist, author and writer. He has written extensively about the economic troubles of some African countries as well as how digital currencies can provide Africans with an escape route.