Major online payments company PayPal today announced the launch of a service that will allow its customers to buy, sell and hold bitcoin, along with other select cryptocurrencies, directly from their PayPal accounts. This could create a brand new on-ramp to BTC for a huge new consumer base with interest in digital payments, as the service has some 300 million users.
PayPal will also make bitcoin available as a funding source for purchases at its network of 26 million global merchants, which should net significant adoption and advancement of the bitcoin circular economy.
“To increase consumer understanding and adoption of cryptocurrency, the company is introducing the ability to buy, hold and sell select cryptocurrencies, initially featuring Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin, directly within the PayPal digital wallet,” according to the company announcement. “The service will be available to PayPal accountholders in the U.S. in the coming weeks.”
- PayPal also announced that cryptocurrency services will be expanded to Venmo, its popular mobile payments service, as well as international markets, in the first half of 2021
- The service has been made possible through a partnership with Paxos Trust Company, which has regulatory approval to provide crypto products and services
- As part of the effort, PayPal received a “conditional” BitLicense from the New York State Department of Financial Services, which it called a first-ever type of grant. The crypto-specific business license was established in 2015 and has barred many other groups from offering Bitcoin-related services.
- In addition to citing its desire to explore “the next generation of financial services infrastructure,” PayPal noted that recent interest in digital currencies has been propelled by the COVID-19 pandemic
