Consumer complaint received 2021-12-02
Company: Paxful Holdings, Inc.
State: NJ
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Virtual currency
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
Hello, I am writing to file a formal complaint against Paxful XXXX, owners of Paxful.com. the company over the past year has been setting themselves up for a large exit scam to make away with their customers bitcoin. How do I know this? 1. They have absolutely no contact or messaging info within the United States. Every XXXX address listed is now defunct, and XXXX for the state in which they are registered in, Delaware, says that the company is unregistered or unable to be reached. There only office now is allegedly located in XXXX meaning that they could easily make off with money from frozen accounts without any consequence 2. They have banned every member on XXXX from speaking up about the ordeal, and also the CEO has blocked me on all social media for asking about their compliance methods 3. Since i spoke out on XXXX, DOZENS of fellow USA traders have messaged me outlining the exact same way their crypto wallets have been frozen on the site with large balances due to compliance 4. Each trader who has spoken up, is fully verified, including ID, address, email, mobile number, AND facial recognition software via XXXX XXXX. Yet coincidentally, all of us have had accounts frozen? 
6. Multiple people who have messaged me have said they it has been anywhere from 3 months to over a year with no response from the company whatsoever 7. Those who did have their money restored, said that Paxful didnt gave any heads up or explanation as to what happened, they literally logged on and by chance it was available for withdraw. 
8. When i asked to close my account and withdraw my money, they said it cant be done until the compliance review is finished, which is absolutely ridiculous. The money was not made by trading on the platform, the money was sent from my personal finances to fund the account to trade. Compliance should not withhold money that was not made on the platform and they have no right to hold it. 
9. In the TOS it specifically states that if the cryptocurrency is left dormant in the wallet for an extended amount of time, then it becomes unclaimed property, meaning the company now has the right to claim it as there own. 
10. Subpar customer support + no way to reach them for litigation or any civil suits to reclaim losses= the company has free reign to do as they please This company DOES NOT deserve to do business in the United States. Every other exchange, from XXXX to XXXX ensures that your crypto is safe, and even when an account is closed or frozen from trading, they allow you to withdraw your money in a timely fashion. The entire company needs to be investigated and shut down in the USA and forced to do business elsewhere unless they can guarantee their customers that their money is safe. 

**Here is a link to a XXXX article featuring a joint complaint from a collection of users in XXXX XXXX https : XXXX Direct quote : In XXXX, thousands of cryptocurrency investors and traders have reportedly lost access to millions of dollars. Paxful Incorporated, a major cryptocurrency services firm based in XXXX, is accused of large-scale fraud, reportedly suspending the accounts of XXXX users ***Attached are pics of numerous unaddressed complaints from the paxful XXXX board, everyone exhibiting the same issues, some for more than a YEAR. 
Also is a copy of the Delaware XXXX XXXX XXXX response that the company is either unregistered, unreachable, or no longer in business, meaning they should not be allowed to operate in the states at all.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation