A new feature in the portfolio PayPal will offer consumers the opportunity to " settle in crypto ", alongside other payment methods, has announced the group in a statement. The service will be "available to millions of online businesses around the world and gradually over the coming months, customers with cryptocurrency holdings in the United States will be able to choose to pay in crypto, seamlessly," PayPal says.
“ As the use of digital payments and currencies accelerates, the introduction of + Pay in Crypto + is in line with our work to support widespread adoption of cryptocurrency, ” said Dan Schulman, CEO of PayPal.
Mastercard and Visa also rely on cryptocurrencies
In concrete terms, transactions will be settled in dollars and converted into the currency applicable at standard PayPal conversion rates. The " pay in crypto " feature will allow consumers to sell cryptocurrency through PayPal and then pay a business for their online purchases in a single, seamless checkout flow, the company says. Customers will be able to select the cryptocurrency of their choice: Bitcoin , Litecoin, Ethereum or Bitcoin Cash.
PayPal is not the first online payments service to support the use of cryptocurrencies. Square had launched in 2018 an application allowing purchases in Bitcoin. On Monday, the credit card issuer Visa announced that it will accept USD Coin, a dollar-backed stablecoin, to settle transactions for some of its cards. In February Mastercard announced that it would accept direct cryptocurrency payments by the end of 2021.