Updated 05 Apr, 2021

PayPal Now Allows Crypto as Payment for Goods on Its Network

PayPal Now Allows Crypto as Payment for Goods on Its Network

PayPal Now Allows Crypto as Payment for Goods on Its Network

 

Key Takeaways

  • PayPal enabled US clients to purchase goods on its network with cryptocurrencies
  • The step further advances the ongoing cryptocurrency adoption into mainstream finance

PayPal Rolls out Crypto Checkout Service

PayPal Holdings Inc announced last week it has rolled out its crypto checkout service, allowing US shoppers to use cryptocurrency to pay to millions of merchants on PayPal’s global network. The move, expected to largely advance the use of crypto assets in daily commerce, now allows US consumers to pay with bitcoin, ether, bitcoin cash, and Litecoin. The cryptocurrency payment will be converted into US dollars or other fiat currency, and that will be received by the merchant.

“Available at millions of global online businesses and continuing to expand over the coming months, PayPal customers with cryptocurrency holdings in the U.S. will be able to choose to check out with crypto seamlessly within PayPal at checkout,” the announcement by PayPal said.

Initially, the service will be available for “select online purchases”, but the payment giant plans to expand it to all of its 29 million merchants around the world.

A New Revenue Stream

Dan Schulman, PayPal CEO, praised the new feature and called it “a new way for businesses to get paid.” The rollout of PayPal’s new crypto feature, called Checkout with Crypto, comes at a time of strong wave of mainstream adoption and the online payment app’s move adds to the efforts to advance the cryptocurrency asset class further into day-to-day use. “Enabling cryptocurrencies to make purchases at businesses around the world is the next chapter in driving the ubiquity and mass acceptance of digital currencies,” Mr. Schulman said.

Tesla & PayPal’s Bitcoin Adoption

The company already enabled customers to buy, sell and hold crypto assets in October and the current step marks another milestone towards large-scale adoption by the traditional finance industry. PayPal’s Checkout with Crypto effectively placed cryptocurrencies on par with credit cards and debits cards inside the PayPal wallet.

Not long before PayPal allowed cryptocurrency as a legitimate means of payment, Tesla officially accepted bitcoin as a currency for its electric vehicles. The difference, however, is that while the merchant on PayPal’s network receives fiat currency, Tesla retains the payment in bitcoin.