Schulman believes that users’ ability to buy, sell and hold crypto strengthens the value of the cryptocurrency.
PayPal CEO and President Dan Schulman, at the digital event attended by approximately 100,000, said the time for crypto is “now”. Joining Schulman at the event were European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Facebook CTO Mike Schroepfer and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.
In an interview by New York Times’ Andrew Ross-Sorkin on Wednesday, the first day of this year’s online tech conference, Schulman expressed confidence that crypto would soon join conventional payment tools. He attributed this to the COVID-19 pandemic, observing that consumers were now using less cash.
CEO Schulman: Public Demand Brings Crypto to PayPal
PayPal Holdings Inc (NYSE: PYPL) announced in October that as of early 2021, users would be able to make transactions using cryptocurrencies with PayPal’s 28 million merchants. Market research conducted by the payment company indicated that 54% of users were in favour of the inclusion of cryptocurrencies to the wallet as a funding instrument. This comes after credit card company Visa Inc (NYSE: V) announced next year’s launch of their Bitcoin rewards credit card. The card, a joint venture with New York-based crypto lender BlockFi, is also in response to mainstream interest in cryptocurrencies.
“I think that if you can create a financial system, a new and modern technology that is faster, that is less expensive, more efficient, that’s good for bringing more people into the system, for inclusion, to help drive down costs, to help drive financial health for so many people… So, over the long run, I’m very bullish on digital currencies of all kinds,” said the CEO.
Schulman had previously expressed worry that BTC was an unstable, ‘poor form of currency that could easily wipe out merchants’ profits’. To address this concern, PayPal will enable customers to know the exact exchange rate of the cryptocurrency in use. This will eliminate the risk of users parting with more money than they are willing to.
Schulman believes that this move along with users’ ability to buy, sell and hold, strengthens the value of the cryptocurrency in question.
The positive response from customers resulted in the payments company increasing the amount of crypto a user could purchase from $10,000 per week to $20,000 per week. The service currently supports four cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum and Bitcoin Cash.
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