Paxful, a P2P bitcoin marketplace, has announced the launch of gold as a trade option. The new service will allow users to trade Bitcoin with physical gold.

Ray Youssef, CEO of Paxful, said,

“With the recent economic downturn, people still prefer gold as a safe investment, with some already reporting shortages of supply. In a way, it’s even symbolic to trade the gold with virtual gold, aka bitcoin.”

Paxful’s P2P Gold Transfers May Take 21 Days

Paxful will be the escrow provider that facilitates customers to use gold as a payment method. Youssef said, “We assessed the demand for buying and selling bitcoin with gold, and it’s surprisingly high. So, adding gold was the next natural step for us.”

The P2P exchange offers a simple and secure process of transferring digital currency with physical gold. The process moves in a simple loop: once a transaction starts, Bitcoin will be stored in Paxful’s escrow. The gold owner, seeking Bitcoin, then makes the transfer and the Bitcoin owner confirms its acquisition. The complete transaction process must be completed within 21 days or the deal will enter dispute intervention.

Initially, the exchange isn’t imposing any restriction on transaction size. Regardless, consumers have to meet Paxful’s KYC verification requirements in order to meet global regulatory demands.

Paxful intends to expand its platform by offering additional services and entry into the gold trade could be a lucrative venture. Currently, the platform is offering various types of payment plans for buying Bitcoin, including bank transfer, walk-in pay, and online wallets. This segment, though, is highly competitive. As exchanges of all kinds concentrate the cryptocurrency trading market, smaller firms have to innovate to survive.