About
Ray Youssef
Person of the year
CoinDesk named Ray Youssef Person of the Year in 2021
Unlocking the potential
When Ray gave talks about crypto in the global South and explained the opportunities it presented, he saw people’s eyes light up when they recognized the potential. “They were emotional. They were excited. People in the West don’t understand how crypto can change lives.” Ray knew people in the Global South just needed a shot, a path towards success, because they were hungry for opportunities.
Ray was shocked the first time he went to Sub-Saharan Africa and met the people there. He was in awe when he went to Nigeria. The longer he stayed, the more he kept asking himself the same question – why aren’t these people as rich as the people in the West? It was the same wherever he went in the Global South – India, the Philippines, El Salvador, Columbia, Vietnam.
Life story
As a boy, helped his family run their newsstand at Columbus Circle, NYC
Taught himself to code, became interested in tech
Started Fun Hi, a social network business based on tokens – ahead of its time
Hurricane Katrina – on the ground in the aftermath of the hurricane. Learned how to “give-back” by helping to rebuild The New Orleans Cathedral Academy – the first school opened after Hurricane Katrina. Learned the fundamentals of philanthropy from Sister Mary-Rose and the nuns of the New Orleans Academy.
Occupy Wall Street, Zuccotti Park, NYC. Spoke as a first-hand witness at rallies to explain the Arab Spring. Realized that the money system causes most of the world’s problems. Decided to do something about it.
First Bitcoin meet-up at Webster Hall, NYC. Met Bitcoin pioneers, entrepreneurs, developers. Began to frequent the Bitcoin Center in NYC regularly. Made contacts.
Homeless. Very little savings from previous businesses. Convinced he could make crypto work to help solve problems, but could not find the right path.
Spearheaded crypto adoption in the Global South, particularly in Africa and especially in Nigeria.
Paxful reaches 10m users of its platform (after 7 years of operation).
Founds and becomes CEO of NoOnes, a crypto peer-to-peer app based in the Global South. Follows a business plan that better serves the people of the Global South by providing financial products and opportunities tailored to their needs. Included in the business plan is a model that gives back 50% of company profits to “citizens” of NoOnes.
The therayfund.com is created to continue the work begun by Built with Bitcoin in 2017, including a goal to build 100 schools in the Global South.
As a boy, helped his family run their newsstand at Columbus Circle, NYC
Graduated from Baruch College, NYC, with a history degree.
Taught himself to code, became interested in tech
First start-up: Matrix M, a very successful ringtones business based in NYC
Started Fun Hi, a social network business based on tokens – ahead of its time
Left business to re-charge and pursue self-development. Physical fitness, exploring new cultures. Lived on the West Coast, trained – boxing, had some amateur MMA bouts. Traveled all over Asia – incl. Thailand, Myanmar/Vietnam/Japan – climbed Mt Fuji.
Hurricane Katrina – on the ground in the aftermath of the hurricane. Learned how to “give-back” by helping to rebuild The New Orleans Cathedral Academy – the first school opened after Hurricane Katrina. Learned the fundamentals of philanthropy from Sister Mary-Rose and the nuns of the New Orleans Academy.
Went to Egypt to “help-out” during the Arab Spring. Was fighting with the rebels in Tahrir Square, Cairo, and was wounded. Interrogated by the military and eventually released. Learned that “putting your body on the line to protest” does not work.
Occupy Wall Street, Zuccotti Park, NYC. Spoke as a first-hand witness at rallies to explain the Arab Spring. Realized that the money system causes most of the world’s problems. Decided to do something about it.
The money system “rabbit-hole.” Researched the money system. First deep-dive into Bitcoin, something he had earlier dismissed as “Internet funny money.” Read Satoshi Nakamoto’s white paper.
First Bitcoin meet-up at Webster Hall, NYC. Met Bitcoin pioneers, entrepreneurs, developers. Began to frequent the Bitcoin Center in NYC regularly. Made contacts.
First crypto start-ups. None could gain traction.
Homeless. Very little savings from previous businesses. Convinced he could make crypto work to help solve problems, but could not find the right path.
Discovered a way to make money trading gift cards for crypto. Converted one of his old servers to a new business – co-founded Paxful, one of the biggest crypto peer-to-peer exchanges in the world.
Spearheaded crypto adoption in the Global South, particularly in Africa and especially in Nigeria.
Founded and became Executive Director of Built with Bitcoin (BwB). Funded by Paxful and based upon the lesson learned from the nuns in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. The goal was to “give back in the right way,” by providing education, clean water, and power infrastructure for people in the Global South so they have the same opportunities as people in other parts of the world. The first school was built in Rwanda in 2017. To date, more than a dozen schools have been built, in addition to infrastructure projects such as clean water, solar power, and community halls. (Funding was cut when Ray left Paxful.)
Paxful reaches 10m users of its platform (after 7 years of operation).
Ray resigns from Paxful and gives up all of his shares due to a conflict with his co-founder over the direction of the company, and his inability to continue his mission to provide financial solutions to the people of the Global South as a company based in the U.S.
Founds and becomes CEO of NoOnes, a crypto peer-to-peer app based in the Global South. Follows a business plan that better serves the people of the Global South by providing financial products and opportunities tailored to their needs. Included in the business plan is a model that gives back 50% of company profits to “citizens” of NoOnes.
NoOnes reaches 2m users of its platform (after 2 years of operation).
The therayfund.com is created to continue the work begun by Built with Bitcoin in 2017, including a goal to build 100 schools in the Global South.
Building the new world
When Ray was two years old, his parents took him to the U.S. from his birthplace in Egypt because they saw no opportunities in their homeland. This deeply personal history still motivates Ray to help drive change in the world. “People shouldn’t have to leave their homes to be successful. That’s not right,” he says. “My parents had to leave their homeland and go to a place where most of the people there didn’t want them around. It was tough on my mother and father.”
Ray says, “I talk at events all the time about this idea in the West that Africa is just a place of poverty, disease, and corruption. When I tell them that narrative is a false one, I often wonder how many people in the audience truly believe me. There are many vested interests quite happy for the rest of the world to think the Global South is a backwater. They want all the investment and opportunities for themselves. That’s natural.”
Ray believes that building the new world in the Global South requires focus on rebranding the region, especially in Africa. He says we have to create value by providing products and opportunities that unlock the potential of the region, and we have to ensure the profits generated in the region stay there.
Healthy Mind, Body & Spirit
Ray has been an entrepreneur all of his adult life, and he’s been working-out for almost as long. He was born into a Muslim family, but only took his faith seriously after reevaluating his life in his early 30s – it became a watershed in his life. His spirituality connected to his mind/body philosophy gives him the power and faith to continue his mission to bring about change in the world.
In early adulthood, Ray tried boxing and later trained for two years as a mixed martial artist (MMA). He even had some amateur fights, and he continues to train and work on his mind, body and spirit connection. Ray says, “Sometimes I do more of one than the other, but I’ve come to realize that all those parts of my life go together. I’m usually working or I’m working-out, and they feed off each other. Together with my spirituality and my family, they are the core components of my life.”