Revealing plans for 2021, PayPal said its “Buy, Hold, and Sell cryptocurrencies” initiative would be expanded to “Venmo and select international markets.”
Global online payments company PayPal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: PYPL) now offers crypto payments for any of its 29 million merchants later in the first quarter of the year. The company is also planning to expand its horizon by extending its “roadmap around crypto, blockchain, and digital currencies.”
PayPal Crypto Payments for Merchants
PayPal is ready to further explore the crypto space after the company recorded unexpected growth in its limited buy/sell/hold crypto trading launch. During PayPal’s Q4 earnings call, the company’s CEO Dan Schulman said the volume of crypto transactions on PayPal surpassed expectations.
In addition, PayPal said there was an increase in its active users as the company’s crypto users log in twice as often. As stated in the fourth quarter and full-year 2020 results published on the 3rd of January, PayPal added 16 million Net New Active Accounts (NNAs).
In the report, Schulman noted:
“PayPal delivered record performance in 2020 as businesses of all sizes have digitized in the wake of the pandemic. In this historic year, we released more products than ever before and have dramatically scaled our acceptance worldwide, giving our 337 million consumer and merchant accounts even more reasons to use our platform.”
In 2020 Q4, PayPal processed $277 billion, beating analysts’ expectations of $266.8 billion in total payments processed. Earlier predictions also said the company would jump 3.8% to $375 million in total accounts. PayPal, however, surpassed the forecast, recording 377 million in total accounts.
Since PayPal announced that its US customers could purchase crypto directly on the app, crypto trading volume on the platform has surged to top $242 million in transactions as of the 11th of January. At the time of the announcement, PayPal upped the trading limit from $10,000 initially announced to $20,000.
PayPal Plans to Expand Buy, Hold, and Sell Cryptocurrencies Initiatives
Revealing plans for 2021, PayPal said its “Buy, Hold, and Sell cryptocurrencies” initiative would be expanded to “Venmo and select international markets.”
The CEO also revealed that PayPal is currently liaising with central banks and regulators to shape a world of post-physical cash that is in the near future. Schulman added:
“We are significantly investing in our new crypto, blockchain, and digital currencies unit.”
The price of Bitcoin and altcoins advanced in reaction to PayPal’s announcement last year to allow crypto services. Following the announcement, Bitcoin pulled in continuous gains, reaching its all-time high in early January. At press time, Bitcoin is up 3.23% to $37,565.66.
PayPal stock is currently trading at $267 in the pre-market session. The trading price shows a 5.99% increase over its previous close of $252.90.
2020 was a year of growth for PayPal as the company continually recorded significant gains. In the last year, PayPal has surged 110.41% and jumped nearly 8% in its year-to-date record. The company has also climbed 29.65% in the last three months and advanced 11.05% over the past month. In the last five days, PayPal has grown nearly 10%.
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