The History of Paybis
Founded in 2014 by Innokenty Isers, Konstantin Vasilenko and Arturs Markevich, visionaries who collectively saw the future potential of cryptocurrencies fairly early-on, Paybis started out initially as nothing more than a thought experiment.
During these early stages the three friends were more involved with the gaming industry, coming as they did from a background of competitive e-sports. Initially working on the development of a gaming platform, the trio eventually chose to ditch that idea and focus solely on Paybis in response to the increased demand for cryptocurrencies.
On 22 May 2014, the domain was bought and by mid-2015 the exchange had officially commenced operations.It was during this time that Konstantin Vasilenko officially joined the company, leaving behind his position as CRM Delivery Manager in Accenture (throughout their history, Paybis has not received any external funding or investments and is fully self-funded by its founders).
In the first year of operations, the three young founders were more focused on the technical aspects of Paybis’ platform, improving its usability, interface, and security. Consequently it was only a year later that the platform really started taking off, and with that it became a truly viable cryptocurrency exchange platform.
Paybis currently holds key partnerships with Israel-based payment processor Simplex, cryptocurrency exchange Kraken and BlueOrange bank. The exchange supports BTC and ETH purchase with credit cards, as well as LTC, XRP, BCH, NEO and is one of the first cryptocurrency exchanges (aside from Binance) to support BNB coin.
In September 2018, Paybis created a subsidiary company called CryptoCash – the first cryptocurrency embassy in the Baltics. CryptoCash’s physical headquarters are located in Riga, while Paybis’ head offices can be found in Edinburgh.
The Pros
Account sign-up is quick and can be done manually or using Facebook/Google logins. Paybis adheres to both AML and KYC laws, so you will need to validate your identity during the buying process. In general this seems to be really quick, with validation coming in a matter of seconds (and ID-verification taking no longer than five minutes, at most).
Overall the service runs smoothly and responsively; it serves as a user-friendly (if not particularly glamorous) interface with no distractions or unnecessary features. The website is nice and responsive, making purchases via mobile browser a breeze too.
On top of that, Paybis is very proud of its online reputation. The support team are very active across the web including Bitcoin related Reddit threads and an exclusive Paybis subreddit, where they appear to be very helpful in answering questions and actively joining discussions in the industry (which is impressive to see, honestly).
There are not many angry customers to find in these forums. While some users have been frustrated by what is perceived (correctly, in my opinion) as a high fee structure, others are extremely impressed with the customer support, and online have expressed their appreciation for this feature vociferously and often.
Additionally but importantly, Paybis’ UI streamlines the buying process; providing a multitude of options for buying cryptocurrency on their homepage with a stylish but minimalistic interface, making it both an easy-to-use and accessible option for all crypto-enthusiasts.
The Cons
The main complaint voiced over Paybis’ services –as we briefly touched on earlier – is the relatively high cost of their platforms usage. Fees differ dramatically based on payment method (though are clearly stated at the start of the buying process, at least).
Credit and debit card purchases come with a hefty 10% fee, which is well above the industry standard and Paybis puts a 5% markup on top of the normal card transaction fee as well. The cheapest way to buy is using SEPA Euro transfers (which have a competitive 1.5% fee).
While Paybis styles themselves as a worldwide cryptocurrency exchange, it does in fact have certain country restrictions. Even though their customer support claims they serve every country, in practice things are a little different.
As can be seen on their ToS, the service is not available on some locations, including certain US States such as New York, Florida and Nevada –meaning that while it is mostly a global service, Paybis is best suited to UK, Europe and USA customers, simply due to the currency selection of GBP, EUR and USD.
Additionally, if you live in one of the following countries then you are not eligible to buy and sell coins on Paybis: Albania, Bahamas, Barbados, Botswana, Cambodia, Ghana, Iceland, Iran, Jamaica, North Korea, Mauritius, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Panama, Syria, Uganda, Yemen, Zimbabe, Afghanistan, Cuba, Iraq, Kyrgystan, Lebanon, and Sudan.
It is important to note that Paybis offers a shorter list of supported cryptocurrencies than some of their competitors within the industry, though the list of Coins that they do offer is still none too shabby and increasing:
Bitcoin, Doge, BNB (Bep20), BNB(Bep2), USDT (TRC20), USDT (ERC20), ETH, LTC, USDC, Link, YFI, Shib, AXS, Aave, ENJ, BAT, Perp, Sxp, Crv, Nmr, Hot, Sand, KNC, MKR, Comp, WBTC, DAI, SUSHI, CHZ, UNI, XRP, BCH, XLM, TRX.
Paybis also recently added the ability to pay for your coins using Apple Pay so you can now simply buy crypto with just one click using iPhone, iPad, or MacBook.