PayPal to Start Accepting Cryptocurrencies as Payments Moving Forward

PayPal has previously announced that they will support cryptocurrencies as a form of payment. Now, the famous online payment app announced that customers from the United States can do that with its newest feature that will begin this Tuesday, Mar. 30.

PayPal to accept cryptocurrencies

The latest feature called "Checkout with Crypto" gives the users the ability to directly buy and sell cryptocurrency directly from their accounts.

PayPal's new "Checkout with Crypto" allows the users to instantly convert their Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, or Bitcoin Cash to US dollars with no additional transaction fees, that PayPal then uses to complete the transaction.

If a merchant does not take US dollars, PayPal also converts the dollars into local currency at standard conversion rates set by PayPal.

The latest feature will automatically appear in the PayPal wallet if a user has sufficient cryptocurrency balance to cover an eligible purchase, plus you will be able to see your crypto balances for each kind of coin in the app.

However, you can only use one type of cryptocurrency for each purchase that you make.

PayPal is not the first payment app that made chances and supports cryptocurrency. Back in 2018, PayPal's competitor named Square launched support for Bitcoin on the Cash App, as per The Verge.

But the launch of cryptocurrency as a form of payment makes PayPal both a major digital wallet and a cryptocurrency exchange, which could then streamline the use of cryptocurrency as a more common payment method.

Last week, during PayPal's Investor Day, the company had reported that it had 377 million active accounts and it is still growing.

Visa allows cryptocurrencies

Aside from PayPal, the latest company to allow cryptocurrencies as a mode of payment is Visa. On Monday, Mar. 29, Visa stated that it will allow the use of the cryptocurrency USD Coin to settle transaction on its payment network.

Visa has launched the pilot program with payment and crypto platform Crypto.com and plans to offer the option to more partners before the end of 2021.

The USD Coin or USDC is a stablecoin cryptocurrency whose value is pegged directly to the US dollar. Visa's move comes as major finance firms including BlackRock, BNY Mellon and Mastercard have accepted some digital coins, starting predictions that cryptocurrencies will become a regular part of investment portfolios.

According to CNBC, Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, stated that customers can purchase its electric vehicles with bitcoin, marking a significant step forward for the cryptocurrency's use in commerce.

Cuy Sheffield, the head of crypto at Visa, stated that they see increasing demand from consumers around the world to be able to access, hold, and use digital currencies. They are also seeing demand from their clients to be able to create products that give that access for consumers.

If a customer chooses to use a Crypto.com Visa card to pay for a coffee, the digital currency held in a cryptocurrency wallet needs to be converted into traditional money.

The cryptocurrency wallet will deposit traditional flat currency in a bank account, to be wired to Visa at the end of the day in order to settle any transactions, adding cost and complexity for businesses, according to NBC.

But now, Visa's update will use the Ethereum blockchain and it will remove the need to convert digital coin into traditional money for the transaction to be completed.

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by Sieeka Khan