Ray Youssef
Bio
- From Cointelegraph (3-2023):
"Ray Youssef is the co-founder and CEO of Paxful, one of the world’s largest peer-to-peer platforms for buying and selling Bitcoin. His journey as an entrepreneur has been difficult, with two successful startups and 11 failed ones, which he has said taught him many lessons.
Youssef grew up humbly in New York City, born to Egyptian parents who had migrated to the United States. He studied history at Baruch College but discovered a passion for computers and, in 1999, started working at phone company YadaYada as a senior software engineer. In 2001, he founded MatrixM, a ringtone pioneer. From 2005 through 2015, he ran a series of failed startups. Youssef discovered Bitcoin in 2011 but left New York to support the Egyptian revolution and forgot about the cryptocurrency. He found himself in trouble after joining protests in downtown Cairo, nearly dying on the first night of fighting and getting arrested by the military as a suspected CIA agent.
Back in the U.S., he encountered his current business partner, Estonia native Artur Schaback, at a Bitcoin meeting. The two got along well and started discussing setting up a Bitcoin payment solution company. They launched Paxful, Youssef’s 13th and most successful business.
Youssef also founded the Built With Bitcoin Foundation, a nonprofit organization using Bitcoin to provide access to clean water, quality education, healthy food and a healthy environment via sustainable farming."
Occupations
Paxful; co-founder & ex-CEO, closed down (4-4-2023).
