Payments giant Paypal has revealed more details of its new cryptocurrency service. The company is currently rolling out crypto functionality to U.S. customers, after which it will launch the service internationally and on the Venmo platform.
Paypal’s CEO Unveils Crypto Plans
Paypal CEO Dan Schulman provided new details of the company’s new cryptocurrency service during the Q3 2020 earnings call on Monday. Paypal recently announced that its customers will be able to buy, hold, and sell cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, directly from their Paypal accounts. Cryptocurrencies in Paypal accounts can also be used to pay for purchases at 28 million stores worldwide.
“Clearly the world is rapidly moving from physical to digital and that’s so true for payments and financial services,” Schulman began. He added that based on his conversations with central banks and people in the crypto industry, “there’s no question that digital currencies are going to be rising in importance, having increasing functionality and increasing prominence.” The CEO also believes that central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) “are a matter of when and how they are done, not if.”
He claims that Paypal, with its digital wallets and the scale it currently has, “can help shape the utility of those currencies.” The CEO opined: “I do think that our platform and the new digital infrastructure that we are putting in place right now can help make that management and movement of money more efficient and less expensive and faster.”
Regarding Paypal’s recently announced crypto service, the CEO shared: “Our base is very eager for us to offer these capabilities. It really came up very high on their wish list.” He additionally revealed:
We’ve only rolled this out to 10% of our base. We did that a couple of days ago.
