OKEx Taps Paxful to Provide New Fiat-to-Crypto On-Ramps

Crypto exchange OKEx is partnering with peer-to-peer marketplace Paxful to enable new fiat on-ramps for its customers.

Paxful said in an emailed statement Monday the move would benefit its own users by providing better liquidity and ease of access. According to the statement, Paxful would work as a fiat-to-cryptocurrency ramp for OkEx and its services will allow users to buy bitcoin with over 160 different national currencies, including the euro, pound sterling, Indian rupee and Thai baht. 

“With this partnership, we hope to make crypto more accessible as a real-world payment method,” said Ray Youssef, CEO and co-founder of Paxful, in the statement. 

According to Paxful, the partnership will also make it possible for users to access a variety of trading options on the OxEx platform including option trading on OKEx’s DEX platform.

“Through this partnership, we can reach more users in developing regions using Paxful’s existing infrastructure and payment options,” said OKEx CEO Jay Hao in the emailed statement. 

Regarding Paxful’s immediate plan to push into new markets, co-founder Artur Schaback said the firm was looking at several countries in southeast Asia including Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. According to data gathered by analytics firm Useful Tulips, Paxful’s trading volume in the southeast Asia region has gained sharply over the last year. 

Although the firm’s stated goal is to further financial inclusion using cryptocurrency, Schaback also admits that, “regulations will always be a concern in a budding industry.”

As recently as Wednesday, Paxful had also announced via Twitter that it was discontinuing all transactions made through the state-owned Bank of Venezuela due to U.S. sanctions.