In an effort to take cryptocurrencies mainstream, PayPal will soon support Bitcoin purchases.
On Wednesday, PayPal announced upcoming support for buying, holding, and selling select cryptocurrencies including Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, and Litecoin. It will arrive on the PayPal app for US users in the coming weeks; PayPal-owned Venmo will get it in the first half of 2021.
One potential game changer here is PayPal allowing people to use crytocurrency to purchase real goods from its 26 million merchants, beginning in early 2021.
“Consumers will be able to instantly convert their selected cryptocurrency balance to fiat currency, with certainty of value and no incremental fees,” PayPal said. “In effect, cryptocurrency simply becomes another funding source inside the PayPal digital wallet.”
PayPal’s announcement is designed to help cryptocurrencies gain some mainstream adoption among its 346 million active accounts. According to PayPal, it’s only a matter of time before more financial institutions begin incorporating the technology, prompting the company to jump on board the crypto bandwagon.
“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,” PayPal CEO Dan Schulman said in a statement.
To offer the feature, the company is tapping Paxos Trust Company, which has been helping businesses add cryptocurrency trading functions to their apps. PayPal has also secured “a first-of-its-kind conditional Bitlicense,” from New York’s Department of Financial Services to run the cryptocurrency trading functions.
As PayPal begins rolling out the feature, the company is going to supply educational content to users on the risks and opportunities with cryptocurrency trading.
“There are no service fees when buying or selling cryptocurrency through December 31, 2020, and there are no fees for holding cryptocurrency in a PayPal account,” the company added.
