People in the US can now use cryptocurrency for their PayPal transactions. In a significant move that marks a breakthrough for cryptocurrency, PayPal has just announced that its users in the States can make purchases over the platform with bitcoins (BTC), bitcoin cash (BCH), litecoin (LTC) and ether (ETH) in their PayPay digital wallets. This move from one of the largest mainstream financial companies will certainly pave the way for more commerce players to embrace cryptocurrency as an alternative mode of payment. Industry analysts say that the initiative has already boosted virtual coin prices.
PayPal has been working hard since last year to introduce this feature that will no doubt delight the growing number of cryptocurrency users. PayPal CEO and President Dan Schulman told Reuters that “This is the first time you can seamlessly use cryptocurrencies in the same way as a credit card or a debit card inside your PayPal wallet”. He further added, “We think it is a transitional point 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”.
PayPal users, who have already been able to buy, sell and hold cryptocurrencies, will now only need to convert their cryptocurrency to fiat currency (‘normal currency”) for purchases. In other words, merchants will be receiving the payments in fiat currency, not crypto, which will remove any hesitancy by merchants who are unfamiliar with cryptocurrency. On the other hand, to encourage the use of crypto, customers will not be charged any transaction fee. Only one type of cryptocurrency can be used for each purchase.
Users outside the US will just have to be a little patient as PayPal will soon extend the feature to the rest of its 361 million users. Over 29 million merchants worldwide will stand to benefit from this segment of customers who prefer to trade in cryptocurrency.
