Ray Youssef Says '99.99% Of' Bitcoin Influencers Are Fake: Without BTC 'They Would Be Waiting Tables'

Ray Youssef, former CEO of Paxful, a leading peer-to-peer global finance platform, took a jab against Bitcoin BTC/USD influencers. 

What Happened: Youssef argued that “99.9% of Bitcoin influencers are fake” and suggested that many of them would have been working in other industries, such as "waiting tables", if it wasn’t for the rise of Bitcoin. 

He alleged that these influencers secretly engage in promoting and boosting lesser-known cryptocurrencies, referred to as “shi*coins,” in addition to Bitcoin.

"Even with Bitcoin they all secretly dabble in and pump shi*coins. The noise they make holds us back. Very few people move the needle," he said.

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Why It Matters: Paxful was founded by Youssef and Artur Schaback in 2015, and has positioned itself as a peer-to-peer Bitcoin marketplace, connecting buyers and sellers worldwide to facilitate seamless cross-border financial transactions. 

While Paxful initially supported trading in multiple cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and Ether ETH/USD, the platform made the decision to suspend Ether trading in December. The reason cited for this move was Ether’s transition from a proof-of-work to a proof-of-stake network consensus mechanism.

Price Action: At the time of writing, BTC was trading at $26,182.36, down 0.80% in the last 24 hours, according to Benzinga Pro.

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Photo by Roman Samborskyi on Shutterstock