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Payment platform expanding to include Bitcoin, Ethereum and other digital currencies
PayPal has announced that its US customers will soon be able to pay for goods using cryptocurrency as the payment platform moves towards offering a wider range of services.
Last month, the company revealed that it would give a select few customers the opportunity to buy and hold Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, and Lite Coin on its platform. Buyers can also resell any unwanted currency to PayPal.
Due to the huge demand from users, PayPal has now expanded the scope of its trial to offer the cryptocurrency service to all US customers in the coming weeks.
Pay day
Bitcoin’s price has skyrocketed in the past few weeks. And to an industry observer, the rally was galvanized by PayPal’s announcement that it was bringing Bitcoin to the mainstream.
“It’s probably one of two factors,” said Oliver Knight, a cryptocurrency reporter at Coin Rivet. The Daily Swig, citing major investments in the past year as another reason for Bitcoin’s price spike.
The price of 1 BTC surpassed $ 13,000 on November 5th
“I don’t know how sustainable it is,” added Knight. “I’m not saying Bitcoin will go for $ 100,000, but it’s definitely a much brighter prospect than it was a few months ago, based mostly on PayPal news.”
Speculation has been rife about how long Bitcoin’s rally will continue, but one thing is certain: security will be on top of PayPal’s concerns as it seeks to bring cryptocurrency to the masses.
Empty wallets
In recent years, a number of high-profile cryptocurrency exchanges around the world have been victims of cyber attacks, with malicious hackers gaining access to internal networks, emptying users’ virtual wallets in the process.
Scammers also continue to target cryptocurrency enthusiasts with phishing emails designed to gain access to their accounts.
Since PayPal is essentially opening the door for more people to venture into the cryptocurrency market, including those inexperienced with blockchain-related payment processes, could this spark a new wave of economic cybercrime?
Not exactly. PayPal doesn’t offer what cryptocurrency experts call a “ custodian service, ” which means that users can’t transfer the cryptocurrency they bought there from the platform for use elsewhere.
Read more about the latest cryptocurrency security news
Knight said: “The service they are offering is not a custodian service, so essentially if you were to go to another exchange [and] deposit £ 100 worth of Bitcoin, I could do whatever I want with that.
“I could withdraw it from mine [virtual] wallet, I could pick it up in a paper wallet and bury it in a desert … whereas with PayPal they essentially have all the custody. “
Child’s gloves
By offering an unsecured service, Knight argues that accounts using PayPal’s cryptocurrency offering will be no less secure than those holding regular fiat currencies.
He said: “I feel the security issues are a bit like having lots of regular currencies in your PayPal account – if your password is stolen, you are at risk, but in terms of Bitcoin I think they are going to make it really quite easy to. use. “
When it comes to security, PayPal is highly regarded by the infosec community. An early adopter of crowdsourced security, the company launched its bug bounty program in 2012, which has since expanded.
In the same blow, however, Knight urged vigilance among those unfamiliar with cryptocurrencies and warned that PayPal’s user-friendly platform could cause problems for users by giving them a false confidence in safe browsing in the broader cryptocurrency market.
Knight explained: “If someone goes to PayPal, they buy some Bitcoin and think, ‘Look this is really easy!’, Then they go to another exchange and lose their private key … there is virtually no way to recover it. “
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