Forward-looking: PayPal is really pushing itself into the "cryptoverse." Today the online payments company announced that it will let U.S. customers use cryptocurrency to pay at millions of merchants with no additional fees. By checking out with crypto, users will pay for services and goods using their cryptocurrency holdings, which will then be converted for the businesses accepting the payment.
Late last year, PayPal gave its first steps to use cryptocurrency as a viable alternative to fiat currency by allowing U.S. customers to buy, hold, and sell it within its platform. A few months after, it acquired Curv to ensure the safety of the users' cryptocurrency holdings on PayPal. Starting today, U.S. users holding cryptocurrency in PayPal can now checkout their orders using their crypto.
When using "Checkout with Crypto" on PayPal, the user's cryptocurrency is converted based on the current conversion rate, with no additional fees. The option will automatically appear only if users have enough balance to cover the transaction.
As of writing, PayPal is accepting Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum and Bitcoin Cash, but only one can be used on each purchase.
As reported by Reuters, millions of businesses connected to the platform already accept cryptocurrency, but PayPal is planning to expand its new service to all of its 29 million merchants in the coming months.
Dan Schulman, president and CEO at PayPal stated that "as the use of digital payments and digital currencies accelerates, the introduction of Checkout with Crypto continues our focus on driving mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies, while continuing to offer PayPal customers choice and flexibility in the ways they can pay using the PayPal wallet."
PayPal's announcement comes a week after Tesla revealed it would accept Bitcoin as a payment method in the U.S. Clearly when mainstream companies like these announce they will accept cryptocurrency, you can only wonder what kind of impact this will have in the overall market.
Soon after PayPal's announcement, Bitcoin value increased by about $1,000 (pump at 05:30am EDT). Bitcoin has been trading at record-high levels for the past month when it broke the $60K barrier.