PayPal & Paxos Partner to Bring Bitcoin & Crypto to 346M Users
3 min readTable of Contents
Quick take:
- Paypal’s US customers can now buy, sell and hold Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies
- PayPal’s 346 Million global customers will soon have access to similar services
- The move was made possible through a partnership with Paxos
- The latter company has built the platform that will power PayPal’s cryptocurrency service
- Mike Novogratz of Galaxy Digital has called the Paypal news ‘as the biggest of the year in crypto’
PayPal has finally unveiled its plans to enter the digital assets industry. Earlier today, the team at PayPal announced that US users can now buy, sell and hold Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies using PayPal’s cryptocurrency service. The news first hit the internet via Reuters who also explained that PayPal customers will be able to use cryptocurrencies to shop at the 26 million merchants using the PayPal network as soon as 2021.
PayPal’s Crypto Service Will First Launch in the US, then The Rest of the World
Users of Paypal in the United States can now purchase, hold and sell Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Litecoin (LTC).
Additionally, the crypto services soon be available to PayPal’s over 346 million active accounts spread out across the globe. Such a move will further boost crypto adoption on a scale no other payment service provider has achieved to date.
PayPal and Paxos Partner to Bring Crypto to Millions
PayPal’s move to start offering cryptocurrency services is as a result of a partnership with Paxos. The latter company has built the backend platform that powers PayPal’s crypto service. The CEO and Co-Founder of Paxos went on to explain the significance of the new PayPal crypto service as follows.
I’m extremely proud we built the platform that powers PayPal’s cryptocurrency service. PayPal shares our commitment to building an open, digital economy.
We build infrastructure solutions specifically for institutions to access an open financial system, making Paxos uniquely prepared for projects of this scale.
We believe what sets us apart is our turnkey, enterprise-grade technology and regulatory licensing.
PayPal Earns the First Virtual Currency Conditional License
In terms of regulation, PayPal has been granted the first virtual currency conditional license from the New York State Department of Financial Services.
How Big is the PayPal Crypto News?
As earlier mentioned, US users of PayPal can now buy, hold and sell Bitcoin and other digital assets. Furthermore, PayPal’s global users of over 346 million will soon have similar access as well as the ability to pay with transact in crypto with over 26 million global merchants.
It is with these facts that the CEO of Galaxy Digital, Mike Novogratz, has termed the PayPal news as ‘the biggest news of the year in crypto’. Below is Mr. Novogratz tweet further explaning the significance of PayPal getting into crypto.
This PayPal news is the biggest news of the year in crypto. All banks will now be on a race to service crypto. We have crossed the rubicon people. Exciting day.
https://t.co/hXpiJEDOb3
— Mike Novogratz (@novogratz) October 21, 2020
