After a bumper trading year in 2018, leading global peer-to-peer Bitcoin marketplace, Paxful, is continuing its mission of facilitating financial inclusion to the under banked across the globe.
Through interactions with customers, the company has gained valuable insights on how consumers are evolving their use of digital currencies, with bitcoin becoming more mainstream in everyday lifestyle and business transactions, rather than investment or speculative trading.
The marketplace has seen significant growth in digital currency transactions on the African continent in recent years, with the surge largely spearheaded by students and graduates under 25 years.
“Africa leap-frogged to the forefront of peer-to-peer finance adaptation. In 2018, our user base in Africa doubled, with most customers being between 18 and 24,” said Artur Schaback, COO and co-founder of Paxful.
To increase access to the bitcoin economy for many more youths on the African continent, Paxful is launching a series of educational workshops across Africa in 2019.
This education initiative has kicked off in South Africa and Kenya.
Nigeria and Ghana students will be trained latter in the year.
The workshops will cover the very basics about bitcoin for novices and also further expand on innovative use cases and business applications observed around the world for more experienced attendees.
“As a values-driven company, we want to make the bitcoin economy accessible for everyone, especially the underbanked. To this end, we would like to reach as many young people as possible to help them understand the digital currency market and transact safely and with confidence. Our aim is to continue to partner with customers and other key stakeholders to ensure they are well informed about the opportunities presented by peer-to-peer finance,” said Ray Youssef, CEO and co-founder of Paxful.
This latest initiative forms part of Paxful’s proven commitment to education, which includes building two schools in East Africa under their #BuiltWithBitcoin charitable initiative, as well as providing scholarships to young women in the Middle East. The company aims to build 100 schools across Africa and expand their scholarship programs.