P2P crypto app NoOnes said EU sanctions had nothing to do with its platform. Weeks later, it shut down because of them

NoOnes, the peer-to-peer crypto exchange supported by Paxful co-founder Ray Youssef, is shutting down after saying EU sanctions made the business unsustainable, less than a month after telling users the sanctions didn't involve its platform.

The exchange said in an X post that it's winding down after more than three years and 2.5 million users, with its P2P marketplace closing on Aug. 21 and the platform shifting into withdrawal-only mode.

NoOnes blamed the decision directly on sanctions.

That, according to NoOnes, increasingly caused transfers to be delayed, rejected or restricted by other exchanges and services until continuing the business was "no longer sustainable."

But as The Coinformer noticed that is a very different description from the one NoOnes gave users after the European Union published the sanctions package in July.

First, the sanctions had "no connection" to NoOnes

The EU measure names NoOnecrypto Inc., a Panama-linked company, among non-EU financial and crypto companies Brussels says significantly frustrate the purpose of its sanctions against Russia.

• The designation was published on July 23 and is scheduled to take effect on Aug. 23.
• NoOnes responded on Aug. 4 by drawing a hard line between itself and the sanctioned company.
• It called NoOnecrypto Inc. a "separate legal entity" with "no connection with the management or operation of the NoOnes platform."

Neither NoOnes nor the company currently operating the platform had been named by the EU, it said and the designation "do[es] not involve the NoOnes platform or its current operator."

"Your funds remain safe, and NoOnes continues to operate normally and securely," the company told users. NoOnes didn't identify that current operator in the announcement.

• Older copies of NoOnes pages captured elsewhere also carried copyright notices identifying NoOneCrypto Inc. and describing "NOONES" as its trademark.
• That doesn't by itself establish what legal relationship existed when the EU sanctions were imposed. Corporate structures can change and NoOnes says the sanctioned company is separate from its current operator.
• But it makes the company's earlier insistence that NoOnecrypto had no connection with the platform much harder to square with its own historical public materials.

Then partners started walking away

By August, the distinction apparently wasn't enough for NoOnes' counterparties.

In an earlier service notice, NoOnes said that because of the "ongoing EU sanctions situation," partners could no longer support several of its services.

• The exchange began shutting down swaps, its Visa product, crypto off-ramps, its gift-card store, Lightning Network support and most USDT withdrawal networks on Aug. 17.
• It also warned that external compliance providers could change the risk ratings attached to NoOnes wallets because of the sanctions listing.
• Days later, NoOnes went further and announced the whole platform would wind down.

The EU listing of NoOnecrypto Inc. formally takes effect on Aug. 23, two days after NoOnes closed its P2P marketplace. But compliance companies and commercial partners appear to have reacted to the designation before its effective date.

NoOnes is now urging customers to withdraw their balances as soon as possible, preferably by Aug. 23. Bitcoin withdrawals and USDT withdrawals over TRON remain available while the platform winds down.

Ray Youssef's second P2P act ends too

The shutdown also brings an uneasy end to Youssef's attempt to revive the P2P crypto model following Paxful.

• Youssef co-founded Paxful in 2015 and turned it into one of the largest P2P Bitcoin marketplaces, particularly across Africa and other emerging markets.

But Paxful abruptly suspended its marketplace in April 2023 amid a bitter dispute between Youssef and co-founder Artur Schaback, key staff departures and what Youssef described at the time as increasingly difficult regulatory conditions.

As Paxful was going offline, Youssef was already pointing its users toward NoOnes, then described as a P2P Bitcoin "super app" aimed at the Global South.

Youssef wasn't exactly mourning it. "Paxful might be closing down, but I'm powering up," he said after the 2025 announcement while serving as NoOnes CEO. Less than a year later, NoOnes is winding down too.