PayPal allows cryptocurrencies

PayPal has announced it will allow customers to buy, sell and hold Bitcoin and other crypto coins using its online wallets. Starting in early 2021, customers will also be able to use these virtual coins to shop at the 26 million connected merchants.

With PayPal joining the cryptocurrency market today, the global use of virtual coins will probably get a massive boost. But the news should also prepare PayPal’s network for new digital currencies, that may be developed by central banks and corporations, the payments company explains.

“We are working with central banks and thinking of all forms of digital currencies and how PayPal can play a role”, CEO Dan Schulman said in an interview.

First the US, then ‘some other countries’

First, account holders in the US will be able to buy, sell and hold cryptocurrencies in their wallets. Then, the service will be expanded to PayPal’s digital wallet Venmo, and some other countries. This will probably happen in the first half of next year.

PayPal isn’t the first mainstream fintech company allowing its customers to buy, sell and hold cryptocurrencies. Mobile payments provider Square for example already enables this. But PayPal is a major player with a very big reach: it has 346 million active accounts around the world and processed about 187 billion euros in payments in the second quarter of this year.