A checkout service will be
implemented which waives transaction fees for purchases made using crypto,
PayPal's president and CEO confirmed.
Online payments giant PayPal
will start to accept cryptocurrency as a medium of exchange at its millions of
global merchants, the firm’s president and CEO revealed on Tuesday ahead of a
formal announcement.
News broke regarding PayPal’s rumored decision to accept cryptocurrencies early on March 30. Later in the day, the firm’s CEO, Dan Schulman, confirmed to Reuters that the rumors were true and that an official statement would be released imminently.
The new system is expected to
feature a crypto checkout service where users can pay for goods and services at
approved vendors using their stored coins. The system will reportedly see
merchants receive equivalent funds directly in fiat currency after coins are
subject to a quick transfer at the time of sale.
The checkout service is
expected to be available for all four of PayPal’s supported cryptocurrencies
upon launch, consisting of Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Litecoin (LTC) and
Bitcoin Cash (BCH). Customers who pay with cryptocurrencies will incur no transaction
fees on purchases, and only one coin can be used per purchase.
“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,” said Schulman,
regarding the launch.
In October 2020, when PayPal’s
intention to wade into the crypto space was first announced, Galaxy Digital CEO
Mike Novogratz called it “the shot heard around the world” in regards to how
Wall Street would receive the news. PayPal continued to make inroads into the
industry in early March, when it acquired digital assets security firm Curv in
a deal thought to be worth $200 million.
The PayPal news comes just 24
hours after Visa announced that it would pilot a new payments system using
stablecoins on the Ethereum blockchain. The pilot will see participating
merchants agree to settle customers’ fiat transactions using the USDC
stablecoin.
Source: Cointelegraph