As per the latest development, PayPal is likely to offer crypto trading services through its Venmo subsidiary. This will give PayPal’s 300 million-plus customers a direct exposure to crypto assets.
In a big development in the crypto space, fintech and payments giant – PayPal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: PYPL) – is now eyeing direct sales of crypto on its platform. Not one but three industry sources familiar with the matter confirmed CoinDesk about this development.
Interestingly, this is also the first time that PayPal is venturing into offering direct crypto sales. So far, PayPal served as an alternative to withdraw funds from crypto exchanges like Coinbase. With this move, PayPal 300 million-plus customers worldwide will get direct access to buying and selling digital assets.
The sources haven’t confirmed yet which cryptocurrencies PayPal will be supporting. However, one of the sources said that PayPal “would be working with multiple exchanges to source liquidity”. Another source has also confirmed that PayPal’s crypto-based service could arrive in just three months or even sooner. Reportedly, PayPal will be offering this service through its own subsidiary Venmo. Speaking to CoinDesk, the industry source said:
“My understanding is that they are going to allow buys and sells of crypto directly from PayPal and Venmo. They are going to have some sort of a built-in wallet functionality so you can store it there.”
The sources have mentioned crypto exchanges like Bitstamp and Coinbase as contenders for this project. However, none of the companies have responded or commented on it.
PayPal to Explore Benefits of Crypto for FinTech Development
A majority of the next generation FinTech apps are increasingly leaning towards blockchain and crypto adaptability. The reason is pretty simple, blockchain and crypto offer robust services for faster, instant and trustable services for global payment transfers.
PayPal seems to be working on cashing this opportunity in the market. PayPal CEO Dan Schulman had earlier said that PayPal will be working to monetize Venmo which serves over 52 million customers. Earlier this year, PayPal also opened several job positions to push ahead developments in its new Blockchain Research Group.
The latest development will be PayPal’s move to bring indigenous crypto services to its platform. Over the last year, PayPal has been making a few moves back and forth to enhance its FinTech services. A year back, PayPal first joined Facebook‘s Libra Network through the Libra Association – a consortium of companies (but later the company left it).
However, with Facebook’s much regulatory tussle, PayPal decided to step back from the project. With this move, PayPal will be competing with other FinTech giants like London-based Revolut, Square‘s Cash App, and the very popular Robinhood App.
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