Bitcoin red hot as PayPal moves into cryptocurrency
Bitcoin, the futuristicsounding currency, is on the rebound.
The cryptocurrency jumped up as high as 8% Wednesday after PayPal announced consumers will soon be able to buy, hold and sell the internet-based cash. A single “coin” was selling for $12,753, according to the Coinbase app.
“The migration toward digital payments and digital representations of value continues to accelerate, driven by the COVID-19 pandemic and the increased interest in digital currencies from central banks and consumers,” PayPal announced.
Stock in San Jose, Calif.-based PayPal was also up nearly 6% Wednesday.
As the Herald previously reported, the Boston Fed is toying with a digital dollar.
The Hub’s Federal Reserve Bank is teaming up with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to study the blockchain technology that enables cryptocurrency to be traded.
The PayPal news is sure to drive that study even harder.
The Boston Fed is working on what makes cryptocurrency — sold as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and more — be so successful.
The idea is to “leverage the cutting-edge technology” and determine if government-backed currency can be dollars, cents and Bitcoin.
PayPal said a lot of the same Wednesday.
PayPal Holdings Inc. announced a new service that allows customers to buy, hold and sell cryptocurrency directly from their PayPal account. What that does is add a new payment option with “26 million merchants worldwide,” the company said in a statement.
“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,” said Dan Schulman, president and CEO of PayPal.
The payment option will roll out in the next few weeks and also to Venmo in early 2021, the company added. Using other cryptocurrency platforms is also expected early in the New Year.
China and Sweden are also investigating cryptocurrency. Facebook’s Libra project is also generating a lot of buzz.
Cryptocurrencies have been around for about a decade — once soaring to an all-time high of $19,783 per coin more than two years ago.