On the 21st of October, PayPal announced the release of a new service which will allow users to engage with cryptocurrency.
PayPal, in an official statement, says users will be able to hold, buy, and sell cryptocurrency directly from their account. PayPal also plans to make cryptocurrency available as a funding source to its 26 million merchants sometime in early 2021, thereby increasing cryptocurrency’s utility.
Dan Schulman, President and CEO of PayPal, said, “The shift to digital forms of currencies is inevitable. Bringing with it clear advantages in terms of financial inclusion and access, efficiency, speed, and resilience of the payments system; and the ability for governments to disburse funds to citizens quickly.”
Cryptocurrency adoption and consumer understanding
PayPal will be introducing educational content for its users to enable them to fully understand the crypto ecosystem. The payments processor will ensure that users will be aware of the risks and benefits offered by blockchain technology and digital currencies.
The initiative will only feature four cryptocurrencies at this initial stage: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash. Users will be able to hold, buy, and sell these cryptocurrencies directly from their PayPal digital wallet.
Schulman adds, “Our global reach, digital payments expertise, two-sided network, and rigorous security and compliance controls provide us with the opportunity, and the responsibility, to help facilitate the understanding, redemption, and interoperability of these new instruments of exchange. We are also eager to work with central banks and regulators around the world to offer our support. As well as, to meaningfully contribute to shaping the role that digital currencies will play in the future of global finance and commerce.”
Concerning regulations, the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) has granted PayPal a conditional Bitlicense for this new initiative. In a few weeks, this service will be available to PayPal U.S. account holders. The service will be made available through PayPal’s partnership with Paxos Trust Company, a regulated provider of cryptocurrency services.
According to the company, these features will be extended to Venmo and other selected international markets sometime in the first half of 2021.
Boosting digital commerce with cryptocurrency
Additionally, PayPal plans to enable customers to use their cryptocurrency holdings as a funding source. This service will begin in early 2021 and it will enable customers to instantly convert their cryptocurrency balance to their choice fiat currency.
An important note is that this comes at no additional cost, and value is assured. This is because the transactions will be settled using fiat currency at their PayPal rates.
Recently, Reserve Rights, the utility token of Reserve protocol, made some impressive gains. At the time of writing, the Reserve Rights token (RSR) has moved up from $0.00998150 to $0.01455779 in the last 36 hours. It seems the price rally was triggered by PayPal’s cryptocurrency support announcement. Additionally, PayPal’s co-founder, Peter Thiel, has investments in Reserve Rights.
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