NEW YORK–PayPal is launching its own cryptocurrency service, allowing people to buy, hold and sell digital currency on its site and applications.
The company said the decision to add crypto is a significant milestone on the path to mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. Bitcoin prices rose 5% on the news, according to CNN Business.
PayPal President Dan Schulman said the efficiency, speed and resilience of cryptocurrencies give people financial inclusion and access advantages, and he called the eventual shift from physical to digital currencies "inevitable."
"Our global reach, digital payments expertise, two-sided network, and rigorous security and compliance controls provide us with the opportunity, and the responsibility, to help facilitate the understanding, redemption and interoperability of these new instruments of exchange," Schulman said in a statement.
According to PayPal, the new service will give customers the ability to hold and exchange Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin cryptocurrencies using the company's digital wallet, which lets people shop online, request and send money.
Service to Arrive Soon
The company's U.S. customers will receive crypto service access in the coming weeks, PayPal said, but won't be able to pay for products and services using cryptocurrency until early 2021. PayPal's Venmo customers and select international consumers won't have crypto services until sometime in the first half of 2021.
CNN Business noted the pandemic has fueled a boom in the online payments industry and companies such PayPal, Square (SQ) and Venmo -- which is owned by PayPal -- because many coronavirus-wary consumers are avoiding the use of physical cash.
PayPal isn't the only major company betting on cryptocurrencies. Square spent $50 million to buy more than 4,700 bitcoins earlier this month, CNN Business added.