Venmo users can now buy, hold, and sell four types of cryptocurrencies

[Shawn Knight]

Editor's take: PayPal has expanded its crypto services to Venmo, further nudging the volatile crypto industry into the mainstream. The functionality is a bit limited right now, and really means that users can only use crypto on Venmo as a store of value rather than a true way to settle debts and pay for things. Still, it's a start, and we suspect additional functionality will be added in due time.

The mobile payments provider now allows Venmo users to buy, hold and sell four types of cryptocurrency directly within its app. The four major types of crypto are all in play here: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash.

Dogecoin, the streaking virtual currency that started life as a joke but now has a market cap of nearly $50 billion, didn’t make the cut.

Parent company PayPal started allowing users in the US to buy, hold and sell the same four types of crypto late last year. More recently, the firm started letting users pay for purchases at merchant partners using crypto.

Darrell Esch, SVP and GM at Venmo, said their goal is to provide customers with an easy-to-use platform that simplifies the process of buying and selling cryptocurrencies and demystifies some of the common questions and misconceptions that consumers may have.

Venmo’s fees for buying or selling crypto match those of PayPal, meaning there’s a minimum fee of $0.50 on purchases or sales of $1.00 - $24.99. Above that, you’ll pay a percentage of the purchase or sale amount as highlighted in Venmo's FAQ.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/89375-venmo-users-can-now-buy-hold-sell-four.html

 

[Dimitriid]

I'm no expert so I truly do not know which one of these outcomes we'll see but I do see two major ones:

1) Mainstream acceptance will continue to grow and stabilize crypto currencies for a long term

2) Mainstream acceptance renewed interest and inexperienced and disadvantaged position will lead to a domino effect of people seeing the value raising, cashing out then crashing the coins as a result of the values fluctuating down.

I feel like 2) is far more likely because for 1) to happen people would need to acknowledge and accept the fact that cryptos will be used to launder money for organized crime (And in turn a possible increase in organized crime due to it) and that they're accepting this new paradigm without a feasible solution so unlikely to happen but I could be way off.

 

[QuantumPhysics]

Most of the money put in these cryptos will be withdrawn - probably around September.
Due to the moratoriums on rent and mortgages...as well as student loans, you can bet that whenever the run is - it will cause a steep decline in crypto values.

Some people buy into the rhetoric that the US dollar will collapse, but they don't understand money - or currency. If the USD collapses, so will the crypto market - as crypto is valued by how many USD you can buy with it. Same applies in China with the Yuan and any other country.

The crypto market is currently a place to park the inflation that would normally be caused by the Fed's money printing instead of allowing it to strip goods off the shelves.

Crypto is relatively low demand and relatively unlimited supply. Just like Credit.

 

[JKnight]

Most of the money put in these cryptos will be withdrawn - probably around September.
Due to the moratoriums on rent and mortgages...as well as student loans, you can bet that whenever the run is - it will cause a steep decline in crypto values.

Some people buy into the rhetoric that the US dollar will collapse, but they don't understand money - or currency. If the USD collapses, so will the crypto market - as crypto is valued by how many USD you can buy with it. Same applies in China with the Yuan and any other country.

The crypto market is currently a place to park the inflation that would normally be caused by the Fed's money printing instead of allowing it to strip goods off the shelves.

Crypto is relatively low demand and relatively unlimited supply. Just like Credit.

First crypto was used for illegal activities.
Then investors got involved.
When the government starts showing up with regulation and taxes, crypto will come down.

 

[Dimitrios]

Well said!

"Some people buy into the rhetoric that the US dollar will collapse, but they don't understand money - or currency. If the USD collapses, so will the crypto market - as crypto is valued by how many USD you can buy with it. Same applies in China with the Yuan and any other country."

 

[terzaerian]

I'm no expert so I truly do not know which one of these outcomes we'll see but I do see two major ones:

1) Mainstream acceptance will continue to grow and stabilize crypto currencies for a long term

2) Mainstream acceptance renewed interest and inexperienced and disadvantaged position will lead to a domino effect of people seeing the value raising, cashing out then crashing the coins as a result of the values fluctuating down.

I feel like 2) is far more likely because for 1) to happen people would need to acknowledge and accept the fact that cryptos will be used to launder money for organized crime (And in turn a possible increase in organized crime due to it) and that they're accepting this new paradigm without a feasible solution so unlikely to happen but I could be way off.

I'm glad we've progressed from whinging about energy consumption.

2) already happened, in 2017. BTC peaked at 20k, dropped down to 3k, and is now triple that peak. Odd behavior for a "bubble".

The money that is going into crypto this year isn't retail investors buying high and selling low on the basis of news media FOMO: it's companies and institutions that see the writing on the wall for the dollar, have done their research, and are hedging against inflation using a network that has proven its resilience.

As for organized crime, again, this is blatant misinformation. Bitcoin, Ethereum, and most cryptos in general use transparent, publically accessible ledgers by design. They're poor choices for money laundering and illegal activity. Privacy cryptos like Monero and Zcash exist, but outside of mining them (and Monero in particular is designed to resist ASICs and mining farms), you'll need to buy them with either USD or one of the transparent cryptos. The cash dollar remains the undisputed champion of petty crime as the USD in general remains the champion of great crimes.

First crypto was used for illegal activities.
Then investors got involved.
When the government starts showing up with regulation and taxes, crypto will come down.

Again, you people are so behind the times it's infuriating. The government already did - back in 2017, when the SEC started going after initial coin offerings. They still are, as the SEC is going after LBRY today. But crypto is still here. It's not going away. The price fluctuates, but the networks remain.

I'm glad I managed to wriggle out of the grasp of your modes of thought.

 

[Ultraman1966]

So does cryptocurrency mining actually do anything? Is that computation actually doing anything productive like using it to solve protein structures for cancer research? Or is it burning through the electricity of a medium size developing nation just of the heck of it?

 

[terzaerian]

So does cryptocurrency mining actually do anything? Is that computation actually doing anything productive like using it to solve protein structures for cancer research? Or is it burning through the electricity of a medium size developing nation just of the heck of it?

It depends on the crypto. For Bitcoin, mining supports the network by validating transactions; in essence, miners function as Paypal on a vast, decentralized scale. Whenever you send or receive Bitcoin, miners are the ones validating that transaction and writing it to the blockchain.

As for research-focused cryptos, I vaguely remember hearing about some project where the mining powers Folding-at-Home style research where the miner is rewarded with a token, but I can't seem to find it at the moment. Certain services, like CudoMiner, are experimenting with a pivot towards rewarding users with crypto for renting out computing power, instead of mining alone, which could someday involve research.

EDIT: ah, here it is: https://foldingcoin.net/ Haven't researched the project thoroughly myself but the idea is out there.

EDIT 2: https://curecoin.net/ in particular seems to integrate with F@H application, interesting

 

[Eflow]

The money that is going into crypto this year isn't retail investors buying high and selling low on the basis of news media FOMO: it's companies and institutions that see the writing on the wall for the dollar, have done their research, and are hedging against inflation using a network that has proven its resilience.

I'll tell that to my cousin, who knows nothing about crypto currencies, yet was eager to buy Dogecoin back in February. Did I mention he has a gambling problem?

 

[terzaerian]

I'll tell that to my cousin, who knows nothing about crypto currencies, yet was eager to buy Dogecoin back in February. Did I mention he has a gambling problem?

Considering Dogecoin was 0.04 back on 2/1 and sustained at that level to the end of the month, and is now, after the "crash", "down" to 0.29, he probably did pretty ****ing well compared to stocks or other cryptos in that same time frame, assuming he held. Especially compared to your portfolio. Give him my congratulations.

Otherwise, Dogecoin is widely recognized in the crypto community as a risky asset, because something like 90% of the supply is held by a very small group of whales. This is a problem even Elon Musk has acknowledged. It's clearly nothing to dunk your life savings into. Your cousin should consider learning more about crypto and diversifying his portfolio with the gains from his very excellently timed investment and identifying networks with good fundamentals.

 

[Eflow]

Considering Dogecoin was 0.04 back on 2/1 and sustained at that level to the end of the month, and is now, after the "crash", "down" to 0.29, he probably did pretty ****ing well compared to stocks or other cryptos in that same time frame, assuming he held. Especially compared to your portfolio. Give him my congratulations.

I'll give him congratulations after he actually makes money on a crypto that was created as a meme. In that case, though, I would have to feel sorry for everybody who loses money on their speculations. Cryptos are a zero-sum game for everyone who isn't a miner.

 

[terzaerian]

I'll give him congratulations after he actually makes money on a crypto that was created as a meme. In that case, though, I would have to feel sorry for everybody who loses money on their speculations. Cryptos are a zero-sum game for everyone who isn't a miner.

He can make a trade to Eth, Btc, or any other crypto on dozens of exchanges pretty easily within minutes, which would be a good move to consolidate his gains. It's what I did when Dogecoin originally hit 0.08, after I bought about 9k Dogecoin back in 2019 for $50. I turned that into about 1 Eth, which at writing is about the price of one 6900 XT at scalper rates. Luckily, Newegg now takes both Dogecoin and Eth.

And mining, actually, is probably the least financially efficient way to make money on crypto, once you factor in electricity costs. You pretty much have to live somewhere where the power is good as free. That's why I mine as a hobby only, using the one card I have in my two desktops. That said, when you have no other choice to recoup your losses (such as owning an internet and gaming cafe closed by heavy-handed pandemic emergency orders), it's better than starving to death.