PayPal reportedly is set to acquire cryptocurrency custody firm Curv. With price estimates ranging between $200 to $500 million.
The Curv acquisition is the latest in a series of moves indicating PayPal’s interest in cryptocurrency.
Late last year, the payment processing giant launched cryptocurrency trading in the United States. The service is powered by Paxos.
PayPal initially set the buy limit to $10,000. However, after unprecedented demand, the company recently upped it to $15,000.
PayPal recently announced that it would bring cryptocurrency trading to the United Kingdom and Venmo users in 2021. The company also intends to roll out the ability for merchants later this month.
Prior to their acquisition of Curv, PayPal attempted to purchase the BitGo cryptocurrency custody firm. However, it proved to be too costly and the deal fell apart.
What is Curv?
Curv is an Israeli startup that has raised almost $30 million to date. Including a $23 million Series A last year. Coinbase Ventures and Digital Currency Group were among the investors.
Curv’s solution uses multiparty computation for its custody solution. MPC uses ‘shares’ of a cryptographic key, distributed confidentially among multiple users.
Major DeFi protocol Compound also integrated Curv last year, making PayPal’s new acquisition a serious player in crypto custody.
PayPal stock takes hit with Curv acquisition
PayPal currently trading at $261.61, which is down 2.82%. However, that still represents more than double the price of one share over the past year.
Morningstar analyst Brett Horn put a price target of $139 for PayPal. He’s bullish on the company in the short term but sees question marks long term.
“PayPal’s development of a network of merchant and consumers early in the evolution of online commerce has allowed the company to build and maintain an enviable competitive position,” he wrote last month.
“Longer term, though, the picture is less clear, and we see a mix of competitive opportunities and threats that create a fairly wide range of outcomes.”
