Why it matters: Fintech giants PayPal and Venmo are reportedly getting into the cryptocurrency game. A well-placed industry source tells CoinDesk that the companies are implementing technology that would allow respective users to buy and sell crypto directly. "They are going to have some sort of built-in wallet functionality so you can store it there," the person added.
Venmo, as you may know, is a mobile payment service owned by PayPal.
A second source confirmed PayPal's interests in crypto with the publication, noting that it could publicly unveil its crypto program within the next three months, if not sooner.
No word yet on which cryptocurrencies would be supported on the platforms or which exchanges they plan to coordinate with. The industry source did say, however, that PayPal is expected to partner with multiple exchanges for liquidity purposes.
The online payments operator has been working with Coinbase for years. Since 2018, customers have been able to make instant PayPal withdrawals from their Coinbase accounts.
PayPal posted a job opening earlier this month for a blockchain research engineer position at its San Jose location.
Fintech apps already dealing in crypto are reportedly doing alright for themselves. Square's Cash App, which started supporting Bitcoin purchases in mid-2018, generated $306 million in revenue in the first quarter from the cryptocurrency.
PayPal Chief Technology Officer Sri Shivananda said earlier this year that they are a strong believer in the potential of blockchain. "The digitization of currency is only a matter of when, not if," the executive added.
Image credit: Michael Vi, Wit Olszewski