Just last year, Paypal started to adopt cryptocurrencies such as BTC, BCH, ETH & LTC. Although some are skeptical about it because it is said that in crypto “Not your keys, not your coins” is like a custodial wallet or just like a bank that holds the keys for you, or taking in charge of their customer's assets. Despite that, Paypal's crypto adoption made an impact on crypto as it has 29 million users worldwide. After that, some major coins especially the four chosen coins rising in value.
Image Source: CryptoCrunchApp
Just today Tuesday, PayPal Holdings Incorporated announced that they will start allowing U.S consumers in using their crypto holdings to pay at millions of its online merchant globally. These moves made by PayPal can relatively boost the usage of digital assets in everyday commerce.
Customers who are holding Bitcoin, Ether, Bitcoin Cash, and Litecoin in their PayPal digital wallets can now convert their holdings into fiat currency at checkouts to make purchases, said the company.
This service revealed by PayPal which they are working on late last year is now available at all of its 29 million merchants in the coming months.
“This is the first time you can seamlessly use cryptocurrencies in the same means as a credit card or a debit card inside your PayPal wallet,”
... said Dan Schulman (President and CEO of PayPal) to Reuters ahead of the formal announcement.
This offer made PayPal one of the largest mainstream financial companies that open its network to cryptocurrencies which able to help in fueling a rally on virtual coin prices.
Checking out with Crypto enables PayPal users to buy, sell and hold cryptocurrencies, which was already launched by a California-based payment in San Jose, last October.
The increased interest from larger financial firms made Bitcoin nearly doubled in value since 2021 started, which are betting on greater adoption and used it as a hedge against inflation.
Paypal's launch is less than a week later after Tesla Inc (Elon Musk Tweet) announced they would start accepting Bitcoin payments for buying cars. While Tesla holds the Bitcoin which was used as payment, PayPal transactions will be merchants receiving fiat currency.
While the asset is still in a nascent stage gaining friction among its mainstream investors, it has yet to become a widespread form of payment due to its continued volatility.
PayPal is hoping that their service can change that by settling their transactions into fiat currency so that the merchants will not take on volatility risk.
“We think it is a transitional case where cryptocurrencies move from being predominantly an asset class that you buy, hold and or sell to now becoming a legitimate funding source to make transactions in the real world at millions of merchants,” Schulman said.
PayPal will not charge transaction fees to check out with crypto, while only one type of coin must be used for each purchase.
Source: Reuters.com
Closing Thoughts
The Crypto market is almost sideways since yesterday, especially Bitcoin traded from $55k-57k. Upon PayPal's news release it surges up to $59k trying to break $60k again, as of writing this article.
With this PayPal news, I think crypto adoption will going to rise as it has millions of users and merchants.
Hooray!!!
