Tag: cryptocurrency market

  • PayPal allows crypto buying and selling

    PayPal has announced that its users in the United Kingdom (UK) will now be able to purchase, sell, and hold bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies starting this week, Reuters has reported.

    Customers will be able to buy bitcoin, ether, litecoin and bitcoin cash through their PayPal wallets online or on the mobile app.

    “The pandemic has accelerated digital change and innovation across all aspects of our lives— including the digitisation of money and greater consumer adoption of digital financial services,” said Jose Fernandez da Ponte, Vice President and General Manager, Blockchain, Crypto and Digital Currencies at PayPal.

    “Our global reach, digital payments expertise, and knowledge of consumer and businesses, combined with rigorous security and compliance controls provides us the unique opportunity, and the responsibility, to help people in the UK to explore cryptocurrency. We are committed to continue working closely with regulators in the UK, and around the world, to offer our support—and meaningfully contribute to shaping the role digital currencies will play in the future of global finance and commerce.”

    Bitcoin is the world’s biggest digital currency, which hit a record high of nearly $65,000 in April before tumbling below $30,000 in July as Chinese regulators extended a crackdown on the market. It has since recovered to a price of $48,400.

  • PayPal enters cryptocurrency market

    PayPal, one of the largest merchant network for online payments has entered the cryptocurrency market, announcing that its consumers will be able to buy and sell Bitcoins and other virtual currencies using their PayPal accounts.

    Other payment firms, such as Square’s Cash app and Revolut, have already offered cryptocurrencies for sale.

    When it comes to using virtual coins, PayPal will convert the cryptocurrency into the relevant national currency, so the company being paid will never receive the virtual coins – just the correct amount of pounds or dollars.

    Those virtual coins could then be used to buy things from the 26 million sellers which accept PayPal, the company said.

    PayPal plans to roll out buying options in the US over the next few weeks, with the full rollout due early next year.

    Bitcoin prices rose alongside the news, breaking the $12,000 (£9,170) mark.

    The other cryptocurrencies to be added first will be Ethereum, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash (a spin-off from Bitcoin).

    All could be stored “directly within the PayPal digital wallet”, it added.

    Cryptocurrencies are still a niche payment method because of the rapid change in prices they can experience as compared to traditional state-backed currencies. However, they became really popular among some types of investors.

    PayPal said it was aiming “to increase consumer understanding and adoption of cryptocurrency”.

    “As part of this offering, PayPal will provide account holders with educational content to help them understand the cryptocurrency ecosystem,” it said.