PayPal Holdings, Inc. recently announced that it will expand its cryptocurrency offerings to US merchants, allowing business accounts to buy, hold, and sell cryptocurrencies directly from their PayPal business accounts.
PAYPAL Holdings will soon allow merchants to buy, hold, and sell cryptocurrencies through their business accounts, building on the payments company’s existing consumer offers.
This new feature will be available to millions of merchants throughout the United States, however, it will not be available to business accounts in New York State at launch.
Since 2020, PayPal has let customers buy, hold, and sell digital cryptocurrency through their PayPal and Venmo accounts, and last year, the company launched PayPal USD, a US dollar-denominated stablecoin. According to Jose Fernandez da Ponte, PayPal’s senior vice president of blockchain, cryptocurrency, and digital currencies, the company in San Jose, California, has since learned more about how customers want to utilize their cryptocurrency.
“Business owners have increasingly expressed a desire for the same cryptocurrency capabilities available to consumers,” he stated on Wednesday (September 25).
“Since we launched the ability for PayPal and Venmo consumers to buy, sell, and hold cryptocurrency in their wallets, we have learned a lot about how they want to use their cryptocurrency,” says Jose Fernandez da Ponte, Senior Vice President of Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, and Digital Currencies at PayPal. “Business owners have increasingly expressed a desire for the same cryptocurrency capabilities available to consumers. We’re excited to meet that demand by delivering this new offering, empowering them to engage with digital currencies effortlessly.”
In addition to buying, holding, and selling cryptocurrency, US merchants can also transfer it externally. This new feature allows PayPal business account holders to send and receive supported cryptocurrency tokens from third-party eligible wallets using blockchain addresses.
PayPal’s Increasing Cryptocurrency Capabilities
This latest development is part of PayPal’s ongoing efforts to increase the utility of cryptocurrency for its consumers.
PayPal clients will be able to buy, hold, and sell cryptocurrencies using their PayPal and Venmo accounts beginning in 2020. PayPal announced PayPal USD (PYUSD), a stablecoin valued in US dollars, in 2023, bolstering its position in the digital currency industry.
Earlier this year, PayPal allowed PYUSD to be used as a fundraising instrument for its Xoom platform, with no transaction fees for qualified payments to friends and family overseas.
PYUSD was recently made available on the Solana blockchain, giving consumers more flexibility and control by enabling the option of several blockchains.
Merchants have had numerous alternatives for taking cryptocurrency, including BitPay and the ability to take payments through services such as Coinbase Commerce.
PayPal’s merchant feature will not be available in New York at launch, the company stated. According to the announcement, businesses will be able to send and receive supported tokens to and from external blockchain addresses, as well as move digital currency to third-party suitable wallets.