Paypal to Bitcoin: The Payments Giant Steps Into Cryptocurrency Market

The U.S. accounts will be able to buy and sell cryptos in the upcoming weeks.

paypal to bitcoin

PayPal Holdings Inc. shook up the crypto industry yesterday. The online payments giant confirmed, it is entering the cryptocurrency market and launching its cryptocurrency services.

The U.S.-based company stated that it will allow its customers to buy, sell, and hold digital currencies through their PayPal accounts.

PayPal turning to Bitcoin means the company’s users will be able to spend their digital coins at one of the largest merchant’s networks in the world. PayPal’s network currently covers over 26 million merchants around the globe.

According to the company’s blog post, the U.S. PayPal accounts will be the first ones to buy and sell cryptocurrencies in the upcoming weeks. PayPal plans to add more crypto-related services and to expand to other countries in early 2021.

PayPal to Bitcoin: what does it mean

With over 346 million active users PayPal is one of the most popular services in the online shopping industry. Thus PayPal turning to Bitcoin definitely contributes a lot to cryptocurrency mass adoption.

According to Dan Schulman, president and CEO of PayPal, the shift to digital forms of currencies is inevitable and the company is ready to actively collaborate in shaping the future of global economy:

We are eager to work with central banks and regulators around the world to offer our support and to meaningfully contribute to shaping the role that digital currencies will play in the future of global finance and commerce.

PayPal is not the first mainstream online payment provider to add cryptocurrencies to its services. Other leading fintech companies like Robinhood and Square’s mobile payments Cash App already provide the ability to use crypto services for millions of users.

However, none of them compete with PayPal in terms of active accounts and processed payments amounts. The company has over 346 million active users at the time of publishing and is the most popular option in online shopping.

Bitcoin’s price jump

The news of PayPal launching its own cryptocurrency payment service instantly moved the cryptocurrency markets. Bitcoin jumped up by nearly 7% within the past 24 hours, according to CoinGecko, and even crossed the $13.000 mark on October 22.

paypal to bitcoin

Other cryptocurrencies which will be initially added together with Bitcoin are Ethereum (ETH), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), and Litecoin (LTC). All of them are rallying respectively, with up to 12% increase (LTC) during the past 24 hours.

Crypto market welcomes the news

The PayPal news raised a wave of welcomes and positive reactions on social media. Mike Novogratz, the famous crypto advocate, called it the news of the year in the crypto industry. He also predicts traditional banks to start a fierce competition for crypto services in the future.

In the meantime, Tyler Winklevoss, the CEO and Founder of Gemini claims the power balance between fiat and crypto will change one day when cryptos become the mainstream, and fiats will be overwhelmed.

PayPal though is not new to the cryptocurrency industry. The payments provider was among the founding members of Facebook’s Libra project a year ago, however, pulled out of it months after without proper explanation.

This article is for information purposes only and should not be considered trading or investment advice. Nothing herein shall be construed as financial, legal, or tax advice. Trading forex, cryptocurrencies, and CFDs pose a considerable risk of loss.

Author
Simona Ram

Simona Ram is a senior journalist at DailyCoin, based in Lithuania, who covers the forces and people shaping the Web3 industry and the areas where decentralized crypto assets meet the centralized world. She has experience in business communication within the financial sphere and has a degree in Foreign Languages, which helps her interact effectively with sources from diverse backgrounds. In her free time, Simona enjoys exploring new cultures.