As the cryptocurrency market collapses, investors and start-ups are jumping the ship. Recently, smartereum.com reported that some blockchain startups are going bankrupt and have no means to raise capital in this bear market. This includes the company behind Ethereum Classic – ETCDEV. Well, not everyone is leaving the sector. Some large financial giants are making large investments in cryptocurrencies. The last giant in the financial space to show interest in the industry is PayPal.
PayPal and Blockchain technology
PayPal recently announced the release of a private token that allows its employees to enjoy incentives. The internal blockchain allows staff to exchange and sell tokens while participating in programs and contributes to the development of the company. The initiative was built around twenty-five people and would last six months.
For this project, the company has created a website accessible only to staff. They will access their private currencies and earn money through the website by enrolling in any of the available learning programs. Tokens are negotiable only within the system. The staff would not be able to use them outside the blockchain.
From Anti-Crypto to Pro-Crypto?
Since time, PayPal has been anti-crypto. He refused to accept any integration of cryptocurrencies on his marchant platform due to the high volatility affecting the industry. This is understandable because PayPal will mainly suffer losses due to price volatility as transactions on the platform take a long time to complete. The fact that PayPal has introduced a private blockchain does not mean that it will integrate the technology commercially. What this means is that he wants to make his staff familiar with the concept. The company has not said anything about the use of public cryptocurrencies.
Bitcoin (BTC) Price today – BTC / USD
Employees who want to cash in their tokens can do so by participating in martial arts tournaments, poker tournaments, running tournaments, etc. The winners will therefore earn tokens accordingly. One of PayPal executives said:
"People in Venmo can see our activity logs, as well as comments and innovations related to PayPal."
What the future holds
Although PayPal has introduced a private blockchain on its network, the chances of venturing into the industry anytime soon are reduced. Only in 2017, PayPal made a profit of $ 13 billion. A portion of his profit was generated due to the high inflation of exchange rates. PayPal charges up to 5% for sending money from a PayPal account in this country to another PayPal account in another country. This makes cryptocurrencies a threat to the business of the company. Sending money via blockchain is cheaper and faster.
Despite this, the fact that the company made a move inside the space shows that it is interested in blockchain technology. If the company decides to publicly join the industry, it will most likely develop a PayPal token that will be redeemable and used to facilitate transactions on the platform.
Not long ago, Coinbase announced that it would allow some users to withdraw cryptocurrencies via PayPal. However, this process requires that a user adheres to KYC policies. This, in turn, eliminates the advantages of PayPal. It would be like using a normal bank.