Yerevan (CoinChapter.com) – PayPal announced Tuesday that it now allows U.S. customers to pay at millions of online merchants worldwide using cryptocurrencies.
The global payment giant noted that its clients, who hold ether, bitcoin, bitcoin cash, and/or litecoin, can now turn their crypto into fiat money right at the checkout, without having to do it through a different medium. The service removes the necessity of converting cryptocurrencies to fiat elsewhere, promising users significant time and cost savings.
“This is the first time you can seamlessly use cryptocurrencies in the same way as a credit card or a debit card inside your PayPal wallet,”
Dan Schulman, the President and CEO of PayPal, commented.
The announcement marks PayPal’s intention to gain a stronger foothold in the cryptocurrency market, especially as Bitcoin, the benchmark cryptocurrency, rose by 1,500 percent in the previous 12 months against loose central bank policies. Earlier in October 2020, PayPal had allowed its users to hold, buy, and sell cryptocurrencies. The bitcoin price surged by more than 300 percent after that.
When it comes to crypto checkout, the customers can use only one type of coin for each purchase, and there will be no transaction fee. There is no word yet on the exchange rate at the checkout.
Crypto Boom
The fact that financial giants like PayPal show increasing interest in incorporating cryptocurrencies into their services, is speaking of a global pattern of making crypto more mainstream.
Holding assets in digital coins is not the same as freely making purchases and using these coins for casual commerce. As Bitcoin and other crypto money have high volatility, it is still unlikely that customers will be able to make purchases using their crypto wallets directly any time soon, as it is still a risky business, but this seems to be the general direction.
Loose control and lack of liquidity make cryptocurrencies prone to wild price swings. Nevertheless, as more companies show their interest in crypto, the prices keep going higher while improving stability.
Earlier this week another multi-billion company, Tesla, announced that they would accept payments in Bitcoin from their U.S. customers. Furthermore, the US carmaker said that it would not turn those coins into fiat money any time soon.
All this crypto-inclusive activity from large corporations propels the prices of cryptocurrencies on the market and encourages more investors to follow suit and dab into this sector of the market, bringing crypto-coins closer and closer to mainstream money.
