PayPal’s Crypto Trading and U.S. Customers

PayPal is famous around the world and it offers an online payments system that supports online money transfers. Importantly, it serves as an electronic alternative to traditional paper methods such as checks and money orders. This week, PayPal’s crypto trading, as well as payments, went live for eligible customers who live in the U.S.

According to its updated announcement, the company ended its waitlist for customers, who would like to use cryptocurrency in the U.S. People should keep in mind that trading features a limit of $20,000 per week.

It is worth noting that PayPal ultimately plans to make crypto payments available at 26 million merchants around the globe. The world-famous company will notify users who live in the U.S. about the general availability of crypto services in the next several days. 

According to Dan Schulman who serves as the CEO of the company, the shift to supporting crypto was driven by an inevitable drift toward virtual currencies. Importantly, the shift to digital forms of currencies is inevitable. Virtual currencies offer financial inclusion and access. Moreover, such currencies offer efficiency, speed, as well as resilience to the payments system. 

PayPal, crypto and plans for the future

Interestingly, global services are expected to launch in a couple of months, alongside crypto payments on Venmo. As a reminder, PayPal initially announced its plans to integrate crypto three weeks ago. 

Importantly, PayPal customers will be able to use cryptocurrencies to shop at any shop merchant in its large network in several months. Importantly, in the beginning, the company will support Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin cash as well as Litecoin. 

The company received the first conditional Bitlicense from the New York Department of Financial Services. It is worth mentioning that the department is one of the most hawkish sub-national financial regulators in the U.S. 

Hopefully, in addition to cryptocurrency payments, PayPal users will also be able to purchase crypto directly through the app. Notably, PayPal will feature a cryptocurrency wallet, letting users buy, sell, and hold crypto via the PayPal apps. 

It is one of the largest global payment providers, with 346 million active accounts and $222 billion in volume processed in Q2 2020. 

Interestingly, PayPal was one of the initial founding members of the Libra association. However, the company left the association. Cryptocurrencies have the potential to improve the situation in many countries. Moreover, the company has the opportunity to make cryptocurrencies more popular around the world.