Ray Youssef, the former Paxful CEO, has commented on the negative impact of high transaction fees on bitcoin adoption in emerging markets. Youssef stated on social media that the recent developments in the bitcoin fee market have pushed users to alternatives such as USDT on the Tron blockchain over bitcoin in Global South countries.
Noones CEO Ray Youssef Criticizes Bitcoin’s High Transaction Fees: ‘We Have Failed the Global South’
The issue of high fees has opened a debate about the current adoption of bitcoin in emerging markets. Ray Youssef, the former CEO of peer-to-peer exchange Paxful and current CEO of Noones, a peer-to-peer crypto marketplace and messenger, has criticized the negative effect that the current state of the fee market has had on Bitcoin adoption, mostly in emerging markets.
Youssef took it to social media to criticize how the fee market is causing bitcoiners in emerging markets to flee to other platforms to transact value, abandoning the original ethos of Bitcoin. He declared:
We have failed the global south.
He remarked that the promise of Bitcoin was being substituted by Tether’s USDT, the largest stablecoin in the cryptocurrency market, on the Tron blockchain. Youssef said that USDT was replacing the store of value and medium of exchange properties of Bitcoin in the global south.
“70% of the world’s population growth shall come from there and they already have 80% of the world’s population. So who exactly is bitcoin serving as a store of value,” he criticized.
Youssef specifically referred to a user who tried to send $1 onchain, only to find out the fee for sending it was $55. “Listen to a King of the Global South. Bitcoin is supposed to be freedom money for the 100%,” he stated. Youssef also showed a conversation with another bitcoiner who complained he had to spend $33 in fees to send $33.
While fees have decreased, the issuance of Runes just after the Bitcoin halving took transaction fees to historic highs of over $200, affecting the feasibility of making small payments.
What do you think about the current fees for Bitcoin transactions? Do you think it affects adoption in the Global South? Tell us in the comments section below.
