Paxful and Bitmart form JV to help Africa’s unbanked population

The integration is set to allow users to make payments via Paxful on the BitMart platform, marking the first efforts of the latter in joining the fast-growing peer-to-peer financial revolution.

Paxful promotes a global peer-to-peer payment logistics platform for the future, allowing direct bitcoin transactions to be made from user to user, which eliminates the need for third-party interactions. With a focus on emerging markets and the unbanked, they provide a space for users to send, receive and store bitcoin.

With this partnership, users will have direct access to one of the world’s largest digital asset trading platforms, providing increased visibility and more than 180 additional trading pairs.

Traders are seen to make globally scaled transactions to obtain bitcoin on Paxful, which can then be exchanged for different types of currency or even reinvested into other assets on the exchange.

According to the World Bank's Global Financial Inclusion database based on information from more than 140 countries:

· Two billion people worldwide are completely unbanked.

· About 20 per cent of unbanked adults receive wages or government transfers in cash.

· Women make up just over half (55 per cent) of unbanked people worldwide.

· The proportion of people with bank accounts worldwide grew from 51 per cent to 62 per cent between 2011 and 2014.

· The goal of this integration is to provide education, opportunities, and allow the unbanked, underbanked and overbanked to participate in a growing peer-to-peer financial ecosystem.

Sheldon Xia, founder and CEO of BitMart, said, “With this partnership, investors will now have direct access to multiple payment approaches including bank transfers, gift cards, debit/credit cards, and cash deposits, lowering the barriers to entry for new adopters of digital currency investment.”