Payment processing giant Paypal announced on Thursday that “all eligible Paypal account holders in the U.S. can now buy, hold, and sell cryptocurrency directly with Paypal.” The news follows the company’s announcement to support crypto assets at the end of October.
Paypal’s New Relationship With Crypto Assets
On October 21, 2020, the payment firm Paypal announced that it would soon support bitcoin (BTC), ethereum (ETH), bitcoin cash (BCH), and litecoin (LTC). The company said the Paypal customers would be able to buy, sell, and hold the virtual assets.
On November 2, 2020, Paypal CEO Dan Schulman discussed the company’s cryptocurrency support during an earnings call. Schulman revealed plans for Venmo support and increased crypto-asset purchasing limits to $15k.
Paypal’s initial statements also detailed that in early 2021, customers would be able to use crypto assets with its 26 million merchant network.
After the original Paypal announcement, a number of crypto proponents criticized the company for not allowing the transfer of digital assets to external wallets. “You currently are not able to send crypto assets to family or friends, use crypto assets to pay for goods or services, or withdraw crypto assets from your cryptocurrencies hub to an external cryptocurrency wallet,” Paypal’s service terms note.
Paypal’s service terms also stress: “Buying and selling crypto assets is inherently risky” and crypto assets are “not insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).”
Paypal Opens the Gates
The topic of Paypal’s entry into the crypto asset space started again on Thursday when a number of U.S.-based customers found out the waitlist is over.
“We are pleased to announce that all eligible Paypal account holders in the U.S. can now buy, hold and sell cryptocurrency directly with Paypal,” the company announced on Thursday, November 12, 2020.
Hundreds of millions of active #PayPal accounts in the United States just woke up to this #bitcoin message! pic.twitter.com/NY9VALS2In
— Altcoin Daily (@AltcoinDailyio) November 12, 2020
After Paypal CEO Dan Schulman revealed the increased purchasing limits to $15k last week, on Thursday the company raised the limit again to $20,000. “Due to initial demand from our customers, we’ve also increased our weekly cryptocurrency purchase limit from $10K/week to $20K/week,” Paypal said.
A number of Twitter users tweeted about receiving a message from Paypal on Thursday morning that said Paypal’s crypto services were now available to all U.S. customers.
What do you think of Paypal’s entry into crypto space? Tell us what you think in the comments section below.
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