PayPal Holdings, Inc. today announced the launch of a service enabling its customers to buy, hold & sell cryptocurrency directly from their PayPal accounts, & signaled its plans to significantly increase cryptocurrency’s utility by making it available as a funding source for purchases at its 26 million merchants worldwide.
“The shift to digital forms of currencies is inevitable, bringing with it clear advantages in terms of financial inclusion and access; efficiency, speed and resilience of the payments system; and the ability for governments to disburse funds to citizens quickly,” said Dan Schulman, President & CEO, PayPal, in a press release. “Our global reach, digital payments expertise, two-sided network, & rigorous security & compliance controls provide us with the opportunity, & the responsibility, to help facilitate the understanding, redemption & interoperability of these new instruments of exchange. We are eager to work with central banks & regulators around the world to offer our support, & to meaningfully contribute to shaping the role that digital currencies will play in the future of global finance & commerce.”
To increase consumer understanding & adoption of cryptocurrency, the company has introduced the ability to buy, hold & sell select cryptocurrencies, initially featuring Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash & Litecoin, directly within the PayPal digital wallet. The service will be available to PayPal account holders in the US in the coming weeks. The company plans to expand the features to Venmo & select international markets in the first half of 2021. PayPal said the service was enabled in the US through a partnership with Paxos Trust Company, a regulated provider of cryptocurrency products & services.
PayPal has also been granted a first-of-its-kind conditional Bitlicense by the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS).
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Image credit: PayPal
