PayPal has announced that its US business account holders can now buy, sell, and hold cryptocurrencies directly through their PayPal accounts. With this feature, the platform aims to explore the practical applications of cryptocurrencies for its users. Currently, the crypto sector is under regulatory scrutiny in several regions worldwide, as governments express concerns over the potential for financial instability and misuse of these volatile assets. Despite these fears, millions of individuals and businesses continue to engage with the over 2.4 million cryptocurrencies in circulation, according to CoinMarketCap.
In recent years, PayPal has seen a rise in the demand for crypto services from its userbase. This has been confirmed by Jose Fernandez da Ponte, Senior Vice President of Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, and Digital Currencies at PayPal.
“Business owners have increasingly expressed a desire for the same cryptocurrency capabilities available to consumers. We're excited to meet that demand by delivering this new offering, empowering them to engage with digital currencies effortlessly,” da Ponte said while commenting on the development.
With this service being enabled, US merchants using its platform will be allowed to facilitate cross-chain crypto transfers. The merchants will also have the option to withdraw their crypto savings.
“Today's announcement is PayPal's latest step to increase cryptocurrency's utility by making increased functionality available to millions of merchants in the US,” the company added.
This is a game-changer for businesses using PayPal.
— Faz Hoq (@Faz_Hoq) September 25, 2024
Integrating cryptocurrency directly into business accounts opens up new possibilities for expanding payment options and reaching a more tech-savvy customer base.
As adoption grows, it's going to be interesting to see how…
This, however, is not the first time that PayPal has taken a crypto-friendly step. Back in 2020, the company had announced that it was going to let individual retail customers purchase, sell, and hold crypto assets directly from their PayPal and Venmo accounts. As per da Ponte, the enabling of this service helped the company get more crypto-related insights from its userbase.
Building on these insights, PayPal has regularly been updating its services portfolio with crypto-related features.
Back in 2023, PayPal announced the launch of its own stablecoin, PayPal USD (PYUSD). Pegged against the US dollar, this stablecoin is issued by Paxos Trust Company. In August this year, the PYUSD attained the market cap of $1 billion (roughly Rs. 8,367 crore).
PayPal claims that its services are available in over 200 nations and regions, supporting 25 fiat currencies. For now, PayPal has not disclosed any plans of expanding this crypto feature outside of the US.
