PayPal launches Cryptocurrency service! PayPal launches cryptocurrency service, allowing people to buy, hold, and sell digital currency on its site and applications.
The online payments company added crypto after months of rumors of it doing so. The company declared that their adding crypto was a significant milestone on the path to mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.
Bitcoin investors agreed: Prices rose 5% on the news Wednesday. Dan Schulman, PayPal’s president and CEO, said that the efficiency, speed, and resilience of cryptocurrencies gave people financial inclusion and advantages. He also said that the shift from physical to digital currencies was “inevitable”.
“Our global reach, digital payments expertise, two-sided network, and rigorous security and compliance controls provide us with the opportunity, and the responsibility, to help facilitate the understanding, redemption and interoperability of these new instruments of exchange,” Schulman said in a statement.
PayPal will allow users to hold and exchange Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, and LItecoin using the company’s digital wallet. US based customers will receive crypto services within the next few weeks – but won’t be able to pay for products and services using cryptocurrency until early 2021. Venmo customers and select international customers won’t have access to crypto services until some time in the first half of 2021.
PayPal’s stock rose following the opening bell as investors reacted positively to PayPal’s shift. The company’s stock has more than doubled since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.
PayPal isn’t the only company betting on cryptocurrencies. Square spent $50 million to buy more than 4,700 bitcoins earlier this month.
What do you think? Let us know on our Facebook page!
