PayPal allows users to transfer cryptocurrencies to other wallets
PayPal Holdings Inc on Tuesday said it will allow users to transfer certain cryptocurrencies to other customers, exchanges and external wallets. The feature comes nearly two years after the fintech giant opened up its platform to digital currencies.
The feature will be available to select US users starting on Tuesday and will be rolled out to all eligible US customers in the coming months, the San Jose, California-based company said.
PayPal started allowing customers to buy, sell and hold bitcoin, ethereum, bitcoin cash and litecoin in October 2020. But users were not allowed to move crypto holdings off its platform earlier.
“This is really about access and utility," Jose Fernandez da Ponte, senior vice president and general manager for PayPal’s blockchain, crypto and digital currencies business, said in an interview to Bloomberg. “We are greatly enhancing the utility of moving crypto around."
The company also said the New York Department of Financial Services granted PayPal a “BitLicense," which governs businesses working with virtual currencies, according to a statement on the firm’s website Tuesday. PayPal said it was the first company to convert a conditional BitLicense into a full one.
Users had been requesting for the new feature since the company permitted buying and selling of crypto, PayPal said. The company has said customers open their wallets twice as often after they sign up for crypto offerings.
“PayPal has also been exploring the launch of its own stablecoin, and is interested in connecting users with web3, the catchall term for decentralized finance, nonfungible tokens, and other crypto applications, though no specific decision has been made," Fernandez da Ponte told Bloomberg.
Since last year, the
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