PayPal to welcome cryptocurrencies

london — PayPal Holdings said on Wednesday it will allow customers to hold Bitcoin and other virtual coins in its online wallet and shop using cryptocurrencies at the 26 million merchants on its network.

The new service makes PayPal one of the largest US companies to provide consumers access to cryptocurrencies, which could help Bitcoin and rival cryptocurrencies gain wider adoption as viable payment methods.

US account holders will be able to buy, sell and hold cryptocurrencies in their PayPal wallets over the coming weeks, the company said. PayPal plans to expand the service to its peer-to-peer payment app Venmo and some other countries in the first half of 2021.

The San Jose, California-based company hopes the service will encourage global use of virtual coins and prepare its network for new digital currencies that central banks and companies may develop, president and CEO Dan Schulman said in an interview. “We are working with central banks and thinking of all forms of digital currencies and how PayPal can play a role,” he said. The company has 346 million active accounts around the world and processed $222 billion in payments in the second quarter.

PayPal’s shares were up four per cent at 1418 GMT, set for their best day in a month.

Bitcoin, meanwhile, hit its highest since July 2019 on the news. It was last up 4.8 per cent at $12,494, taking gains for the original and biggest cryptocurrency above 75 per cent for the year. —