PayPal Holdings will start letting its U.S. customers buying items with cryptocurrencies in the latest embrace of digital assets by a traditional payments player.
Paypal announced Tuesday that U.S. consumers who hold cryptocurrencies in their PayPal mobile wallets would be able to use those digital assets to purchase goods from PayPal merchants from today. It will initially be available with millions of PayPal merchants. The company plans to add more in the following months.
According to the company, through the feature called Checkout with Crypto, PayPal users will be able to choose from bitcoin, litecoin, ethereum, or bitcoin cash. Moreover, they’ll be able to select their preferred cryptocurrency at checkout depending on the types of crypto holdings they have and whether they have sufficient to cover a given purchase.
PayPal won’t charge a transaction fee for consumers checking out using cryptocurrencies
Furthermore, the company said that it wouldn’t charge a transaction fee for consumers checking out using cryptocurrencies. Paypal added that conversion spread would be built into the conversion from crypto to U.S. dollars.
The company views cryptocurrencies as a way to get consumers to engage further with its platform. According to PayPal, those who’ve bought cryptocurrencies through PayPal thus far have logged into PayPal double what they did before.
Other financial-services firms have moved to adopt cryptocurrencies in their ways. Mastercard Inc. plans to begin letting merchants directly accept some cryptocurrencies later in 2021. However, the company plans to be selective. They will focus on digital assets that have some price stability and meet various standards for compliance.
Square Inc. enables users to buy and sell bitcoin through its mobile wallet. Meanwhile, Visa Inc. recently reported a pilot program allowing crypto platforms to settle transactions.
PayPal shares have increased by 152% over the past 12 months as the S&P 500 has increased 56%.
