After a month-long absence, the peer-to-peer Bitcoin exchange Paxful announced it is back online on Monday, May 8th. The exchange first announced it is shutting down its operations in a surprise post on April 4th. At the time, Paxful stated that the move may or may not be temporary.
Paxful Back Online After A Month-Long Absence
This Monday, Paxful, a Bitcoin peer-to-peer exchange announced it is back online. According to its announcement, the platform is not yet fully operational and will gradually restore functionality over the coming days. Paxful shut down unexpectedly on Tuesday, April 4th.
While the initial announcement on the shutdown stated that the move is likely permanent, Paxful later clarified that the suspension of operations is more likely to be temporary. The platform’s CEO, Ray Youssef, also explained that the decision was reached due to a combination of regulatory challenges and several important staff departures.
Throughout the month-long shutdown, wallets remained operational and users had access to their funds. Additionally, in mid-April, Paxful’s chief executive officer, Ray Youssef announced he is resigning from his post.
Crypto Industry Remains Resilient Despite Mounting Challenges
The current year has proven to be a period of contradiction for the digital assets industry. On the one hand, cryptocurrencies, and cryptocurrency-related companies have seen a major recovery from the “crypto winter” of 2022. On the other, there have been multiple challenges coming both from the regulators and from within the sector itself.
Since New Year, US regulators have increasingly been cracking down on digital assets both through enforcement actions and through new proposed legislation. The SEC has targeted multiple cryptocurrency companies and is likely to file a lawsuit against Coinbase in the relatively near future. Additionally, the White House has repeatedly confirmed it has a rather harsh stance toward digital assets and has unveiled a proposal for a punitive tax to be levied on cryptocurrency miners.
Despite these challenges, the industry has seen a significant rally since January. Bitcoin, for example, rose from around $16,000 on New Year’s Day, to over $27,000 on Monday, May 8th. NFTs have also seen a major resurgence, in large part due to the emergence of aggregator marketplaces and BTC Ordinals. The recovery has also sparked some controversy, and the recently-increased gas fees and blockchain congestion have caused a renewed debate on whether developments like Ordinals are ultimately good for the ecosystem.
This article originally appeared on The Tokenist
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