PayPal Launches ‘Checkout With Crypto’ Feature for US Consumers

Video source: YouTube, PayPal

PayPal Holdings Inc (Nasdaq: PYPL ) announced Tuesday it has begun rolling out a feature across the US that will let consumers use cryptocurrency to pay at millions of the platform’s online merchants. 

Now, customers who hold bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin or bitcoin cash in their PayPal digital wallets will be able to instantly convert it into fiat currencies at checkout to complete purchases safely and securely, according to PayPal.

The San Jose, California-based payments company noted that no additional transaction fees apply to use its “Checkout with Crypto” feature and that only one type of cryptocurrency can be used for each purchase.

In a statement, Dan Schulman, PayPal’s president and chief executive officer, said, “As the use of digital payments and digital currencies accelerates, the introduction of Checkout with Crypto continues our focus on driving mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies, while continuing to offer PayPal customers choice and flexibility in the ways they can pay using the PayPal wallet.”

He added, "Enabling cryptocurrencies to make purchases at businesses around the world is the next chapter in driving the ubiquity and mass acceptance of digital currencies."

According to Reuters, PayPal revealed it was working on the service late last year and plans to make it available at all of its 29 million merchants in coming months. 

In October, PayPal began offering users the ability to buy, sell and hold cryptocurrencies, becoming one of biggest mainstream financial companies to open its network to digital currency. 

PayPal is not the first payment app to offer support for cryptocurrency, The Verge noted. 

Square Inc (NYSE: SQ ), launched a feature three years ago for bitcoin on the mobile payment service’s app and, in October 2020, the platform purchased $50 million in bitcoin, as part of its larger investment in cryptocurrency. 

Jack Dorsey, chief executive officer of Square and Twitter Inc (NYSE: TWTR ) and a longtime proponent of bitcoin, said in 2018 he believed it will become the world’s single currency within the next decade. 

PayPal’s announcement comes a day after Visa said it would allow the use of USD Coin (USDC), an Ethereum-based stablecoin backed by the US dollar, to settle transactions on its network. 

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Source: Equities News