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PayPal’s latest update allows for the holding and trading of cryptocurrencies – Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and the like. PayPal tested cryptocurrency features for a small group of users in the weeks between October and now – now is the time for all US-based PayPal users to try using different digital currencies on the platform. At the moment, cryptocurrency features are only available in the US, while some international markets will launch in the first half of 2021.
PayPal users in the United States will be able to use cryptocurrency “as a source of funding to pay PayPal’s 26 million merchants worldwide.” PayPal has suggested that merchants will have “no supplements or additional fees, as all transactions will be settled in official currency at the current PayPal rates”.
There may be some changes to how cryptocurrency works within PayPal in 2021. For the October release, there will be no service fees for buying or selling cryptocurrency “until December 31, 2020”. It would appear that there are no fees for holding cryptocurrency in a PayPal account in the near future.
Cryptocurrencies available in PayPal include:
• Bitcoin
• Ethereum
• Bitcoin Cash
• Litecoin
The features available to PayPal US users starting today are expected to expand to Venmo “and select international markets” in the first half of 2021.
PayPal also revealed that it has obtained a “first-of-its-kind conditional Bitlicense” from the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS). The NYDFS goal is to “continue to encourage and support financial services providers to operate, grow, stay and expand in New York and work with innovators to enable them to germinate and test their ideas, for an industry of dynamic and forward-looking financial services, particularly as we work to better rebuild New York in the midst of this pandemic, ”according to Linda A. Lacewell, superintendent, NYDFS.
All US-based users should be able to work with cryptocurrency features in PayPal now. The features are expected to appear in PayPal’s web browser version and will likely appear in the PayPal apps for iOS and Android in the near future.
