Ray is a founder and the CEO of Paxful, the global peer-to-peer platform with over twelve million users. The company was named a TIME100 Most Influential Company for 2022. A proud African immigrant, Ray grew up in the middle of Hell’s Kitchen during the 80s and 90s while working at his parents' newsstand. Prior to launching Paxful, Ray started out as an entrepreneur, founding a series of start-ups including a successful digital ringtone business. Ray then wanted to see the world—getting into mixed martial arts (MMA) and training with the legendary Dub Huntley, marching in Tahrir Square against corruption in the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, and participating in Occupy Wall Street. He realized that the fundamentals of our financial system were broken, but that Bitcoin offered a way for anyone, anywhere to access the global market. Paxful was born from that idea. He is also a contributor for Bitcoin Magazine.

Ray also founded the Built With Bitcoin Foundation, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit dedicated to creating equitable opportunity by providing clean water, access to quality education, sustainable farming, and humanitarian support – all powered by Bitcoin. To date, the foundation has built and repaired thirteen schools and education centers, seven solar projects, and over a dozen water and farming systems serving hundreds of thousands of people across the globe.