Industry veteran Ray Youssef has been appointed CEO of Noones, a financial communications app that aims to connect the global South to the global financial system through peer-to-peer technology.
Youssef has extensive experience in the industry, particularly in the P2P sector, having co-founded Paxful, a popular Bitcoin trading platform, before his relationship with fellow co-founder Artur Shaback fell apart following the company’s collapse. Youssef co-wrote CivKit, which was designed to provide “a blueprint for developers and entrepreneurs to build censorship-resistant, permissionless global marketplaces,” Youssef told The Block in May. Currently, Noones utilizes open source protocols.
Youssef also helped develop Build with Bitcoin, a humanitarian organization that aims to use Bitcoin to improve the financial health of communities across Africa.
“For the past eight years, I have been fighting for financial sovereignty in the global South,” Youssef said in a statement. “I am confident that Bitcoin will play an important role in fostering prosperity on our continent. Our first key goal is to create an interoperable pan-African clearing layer that will bring intra-African trade from single digits to similar levels to intra-European trade.”
‘Nun’ officially launched
According to the platform, Youssef’s appointment marks the “official launch” of Noones, which has amassed more than 400,000 users globally after just four months of operation, with Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, India and the Philippines being its largest markets.
Noones is designed to target the inefficiencies of traditional banking systems, allowing users to transact more freely and faster using peer-to-peer technology. Peer-to-peer marketplaces allow users to buy and sell digital assets directly with others, either in person or online. This is in contrast to traditional cryptocurrency exchanges, which facilitate transactions between buyers and sellers.
The Noones app is a marketplace where users in 190 countries can trade Bitcoin and stablecoins using over 400 payment methods, including gift cards, mobile money, bank transfers and other cryptocurrencies, and Messenger where most peer-to-peer transactions take place. It consists of: location.
Noones also plans to work with leading suppliers in Africa to introduce wallet functionality for bill payments.
Youssef said he is passionate about Bitcoin’s potential to help eradicate poverty and give the Global South a greater voice in the global financial ecosystem. “The Internet, mobile phones and the wave of disruptive startups have failed to actually destroy money,” Youssef said. “Noons believes Bitcoin is the way. New financial tools are creating unprecedented, borderless opportunities, and these tools have and will continue to empower people in ways never seen before.”
Paxful blowout and Youssef’s Noones connection
Founded in 2015, Paxful recorded $5 billion in total volume traded on its platform in 2021, with Nigeria, China, India, Kenya, and the United States ranking among the top five countries by volume. At the time, it boasted about 9 million users and was named one of the most influential companies of 2022 by Time.
However, Paxful closed its marketplace in April this year, two months after rival LocalBitcoins shut down as the peer-to-peer market dwindled due to the industry’s difficult regulatory conditions. Yousseff said the lawsuit filed by Paxful co-founder Artur Shaback “brought down the entire high-level team,” and that Paxful was considering migrating to other options for non-US users, including platforms like Noones, with Youssef stepping down as CEO. claimed to have provided it.
“Shaback decided to sue me because he wouldn’t get his nine-figure salary if the company dissolved,” Youssef told The Block last May. “Then it was purely out of greed.”
Shaback said the two “had differences over Paxful’s business direction and governance” and that Youssef migrated Paxful’s IP, user base, wallet records and passwords to Noones.
“He couldn’t take me with him because I am a U.S. resident,” Shaback said in an email to The Block at the time, adding that he may not pursue the lawsuit and instead seek a settlement because it would take time and resources. .
Youssef then announced plans to resume peer-to-peer transactions through the CivKit initiative, stating that CivKit will use “Know-Your-Peer oracles” instead of “Know-Your-Customer.” KYC is terrible.” Despite this, Noones still requires a KYC onboarding process, the statement said.
Shaback later said Paxful was back up and running under the leadership of a Delaware attorney.
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