For several months, PayPal had been enabling its US users to convert certain cryptocurrencies into fiat currency to pay for purchases from partner merchants. Now, UK users can buy and sell cryptocurrencies via PayPal.
Towards the democratization of cryptocurrencies
Starting this week, UK PayPal customers will see a new tab on their payment platform, showing various cryptocurrency information as well as real-time currency prices.
On the PayPal website and app, it will now be possible to buy and sell these 4 cryptocurrencies in the UK: ether, bitcoin, bitcoin cash and litecoin.
For the American payment platform, founded in 1998 under the name Confinity, this new service represents a breakthrough: it will enable PayPal users to better understand how cryptocurrencies work, and should therefore help to democratize them.
UK: no cryptocurrency purchases via PayPal yet
Highly volatile, cryptocurrencies nevertheless continue to grow in popularity and are attracting more and more users.
And it's not just their popularity that's on the rise: despite a fall in prices in May, the top five cryptocurrencies have seen their prices rise again, regaining and even surpassing the levels reached in January. These are not the most popular, but the best performers in 2021, namely Dogecoin, Uniswap, Binance Coin, Cardano and USD Coin.
According to vice president and general manager in charge of cryptocurrencies at PayPal, among other things, Jose Fernandez da Ponte, the Covid-19 pandemic has played a major role in changing consumer habits, driving them to turn more to various digital financial services.
For several months now, PayPal users in the USA have been able to use cryptocurrency to pay for purchases made from the platform's partner companies. For the time being, this option is not available to users in the UK.