By
Kseniia Klichova
April 18th, 2024
Customers with Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), and Litecoin (LTC) held in their PayPal wallets can use these assets to complete any transaction by converting the digital assets to fiat currencies at checkout points.
American online payments giant PayPal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: PYPL) is set to launch a new crypto checkout service to allow users to pay for goods online using digital currencies. The plans were first reported by Reuters and it will help open access to crypto to more than 29 million merchants registered with PayPal worldwide.
Crypto usage as a legal tender is increasing, with many business outfits coming to integrate unique cryptocurrency payment options to their customers. The recognition of the emerging asset class is a testament to the long hurdle they have fought to attain this level of adoption and the PayPal crypto checkout service will even add more feathers to the crown.
Customers with Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), and Litecoin (LTC) held in their PayPal wallets can use either of these to complete any transactions by converting the digital assets to fiat currencies at checkout points.
“This is the first time you can seamlessly use cryptocurrencies in the same way as a credit card or a debit card inside your PayPal wallet,” President and CEO Dan Schulman told Reuters ahead of a formal announcement expected later on Tuesday.
The limitation in the use of these listed digital currencies and others is due to the related volatilities they are often subjected to. PayPal however believes that the on-the-spot conversion to fiat equivalents will help mitigate this risk for both consumers and merchants alike.
“We think it is a transitional point where cryptocurrencies move from being predominantly an asset class that you buy, hold and or sell to now becoming a legitimate funding source to make transactions in the real world at millions of merchants,” Schulman said.
PayPal Crypto Checkout Compliments Recent Institutional Crypto Payments Provisions
Major institutional firms are remarkably joining the cryptocurrency revolution by integrating encompassing crypto payment services just like the PayPal checkout service. Following its massive investment of $1.5 billion into Bitcoin, electric automaker Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) announced last week that customers can begin paying for its products with Bitcoin, the proceeds of which its Chief Executive Officer, Elon Musk confirmed the company will be HODLing.
Additionally, San Francisco-based financial services provider, Visa Inc (NYSE: V) has unveiled plans to allow customers to settle cash transactions through the Ethereum network. Citing increasing demand from its diverse customer-based, building this crypto settlement capability takes the entire narrative to a whole new level.
“We see increasing demand from consumers across the world to be able to access, hold and use digital currencies and we’re seeing demand from our clients to be able to build products that provide that access for consumers,” Cuy Sheffield, head of the crypto at Visa, said.
Without a doubt, the influence of PayPal and Visa in the global financial ecosystem is massive judging from their customer network, and with their backing of crypto for use in transactions which transcends those prevalent in everyday P2P activities in the crypto space, the anticipated mainstream adoption is just a dream that is becoming more realistic to achieve.