PayPal crypto service is out in reality. PayPal customers with verified identities will soon have access to crypto trading. However, crypto transactions for PayPal business accounts aren’t yet supported.
PayPal will announce later on Tuesday that it has started allowing U.S. consumers to use their cryptocurrency holdings to pay millions of its online merchants globally, a move that could significantly boost the use of digital assets in everyday commerce.
Customers who hold bitcoin, ether, bitcoin cash, and litecoin in PayPal digital wallets will now be able to convert their holdings into fiat currencies at checkouts to make purchases, the company said.
PayPal crypto service will make a difference?
Beginning this week, residents of the United Kingdom will be able to buy, hold and sell cryptocurrencies through PayPal for the first time — marking a significant milestone for a company that began offering digital asset services less than a year ago.
The global payments provider announced Sunday that U.K. customers would soon have access to Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) through PayPal’s website and mobile app. The announcement marks the first expansion of PayPal’s cryptocurrency services beyond the United States — a service that first launched in November of last year.
Read Is it too late to buy bitcoin?
Jose Fernandez da Ponte, a senior executive for PayPal’s crypto division, cited the “digitization of money” during the pandemic as one of the primary motivations for entering crypto in the first place. He continued:
“Our global reach, digital payments expertise, and knowledge of consumer and businesses, combined with rigorous security and compliance controls, provides us the unique opportunity, and the responsibility, to help people in the U.K. to explore cryptocurrency.”
By offering its cryptocurrency services to U.K. residents, PayPal could play a role in increasing exposure to digital assets in the country. It’s reported that, among all European countries, PayPal penetration is highest in the United Kingdom at over 2 million monthly active users.
PayPal hopes its service can change that, as by settling the transaction in fiat currency, merchants will not take on the volatility risk.
“We think it is a transitional point where cryptocurrencies move from being predominantly an asset class that you buy, hold and or sell to now becoming a legitimate funding source to make transactions in the real world at millions of merchants,” Schulman said.
The company will charge no transaction fee to checkout with crypto, and it can use only one type of coin for each purchase.
Read Dogecoin can make you the next billionaire.
PayPal is making crypto again in the game.
PayPal Holdings Inc will announce later on Tuesday that it has started allowing U.S. consumers to use their cryptocurrency holdings to pay millions of its online merchants globally, a move that could significantly boost the use of digital assets in everyday commerce.
Customers who hold bitcoin, ether, bitcoin cash, and litecoin in PayPal digital wallets will now be able to convert their holdings into fiat currencies at checkouts to make purchases, the company said.
The company said that the service, which PayPal revealed it was working on late last year, will be available at all of its 29 million merchants in the coming months.
“This is the first time you can seamlessly use cryptocurrencies in the same way as a credit card or a debit card inside your PayPal wallet,” President and CEO Dan Schulman told Reuters ahead of a formal announcement.
Read Tesla will again accept the bitcoin.
The Bottom Line
Checkout with Crypto builds on the ability for PayPal users to buy, sell and hold cryptocurrencies, which the San Jose, California-based payments company launched in October.
The offering made PayPal one of the largest mainstream financial companies to open its network to cryptocurrencies and helped fuel a rally in virtual coin prices.
Since the start of this year, Bitcoin has nearly doubled in value, boosted by increased interest from larger financial firms that are betting on greater adoption and see it as a hedge against inflation.
PayPal’s launch comes less than a week after Tesla Inc said it would start accepting bitcoin payments for its cars. However, unlike PayPal transactions where merchants will be receiving fiat currency, Tesla said it would hold the bitcoin used as payment.
