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Most Influential 2021: Ray Youssef
Peer-to-peer bitcoin trading is a powerful force.
By CoinDesk
Updated May 11, 2023, 6:26 p.m. Published Dec 9, 2021, 8:26 p.m.
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Few people expected the Nigerian crypto economy to explode after the country’s central bank and financial regulators banned crypto trading. But it has, and it’s now the eighth-largest crypto market in the world, according to Chainalysis. It continues to grow thanks primarily to peer-to-peer exchanges like Paxful that allow bitcoin to flow easily without touching the banking system. Ray Youssef, the founder and CEO of Paxful, has already taken the exchange global and has worked this year to integrate new features – like Bitcoin’s Lightning network.
The Complete List: CoinDesk’s Most Influential 2021.
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- KuCoin recorded over $1.25 trillion in total trading volume in 2025, equivalent to an average of roughly $114 billion per month, marking its strongest year on record.
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- Altcoins accounted for the majority of trading activity, reinforcing KuCoin’s role as a primary liquidity venue beyond BTC and ETH at a time when majors saw more muted turnover.
- Even as overall crypto volumes softened mid-year, KuCoin maintained elevated baseline activity, indicating structurally higher user engagement rather than short-lived volume spikes.
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