PayPal Prepares for Massive Crypto and CBDC Integration Next Year

Two weeks ago, the payment processing giant PayPal made a huge splash in the crypto industry with its announcement of incorporating cryptocurrencies on its platform from next year onwards. However, it appears that the company may be going even further, as new details have come to light about PayPal’s plans for the industry. During its third-quarter earnings call recently, senior executives at PayPal confirmed that the company was planning to push aggressively in the crypto space in 2021. Dan Shulman, the chief executive at PayPal, stated on the call that the world seems to be gradually moving towards these digital currencies. 

He said that the company had kept track of this and they were gearing themselves to be able to serve the needs of the people. Shulman cited discussions with regulators and industry leaders, he expressed his confidence regarding the future of digital currencies. He elaborated that PayPal was planning to introduce its crypto services as early as possible in the next year in order to help its clients in buying and selling these assets. Other than support for leading crypto Bitcoin, PayPal also disclosed that it would also incorporate crypto in one of its subsidiaries, Venmo, from next year. 

This move would make crypto services accessible for international customers as well and the implementation of these plans has been scheduled for the first half of the next year. Currently, the new crypto service is only available to just 10% of customers in the United States. Shulman said that the other people in the country would also be able to use their crypto services in the coming month. The company also said that after its October 21st announcement of bringing crypto services into its core business from next year, it had also witnessed an increased interest in its services. Therefore, it has deemed fit to increase the crypto purchasing limits from $10,000 previously to $15,000. 

Shulman also said that Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) were also enjoying an increased prominence, which hadn’t escaped their notice. A number of countries have also confirmed their plans about introducing digital versions of their currencies in hopes of boosting their payment infrastructures and establishing economic sovereignty. The CEO said that their platform, along with the digital infrastructure they are adding to it, would help in making movement and management of money more efficient, faster, and less expensive. In response, the company is hoping to shape the utility of CBDCs. 

The chief executive explained that they wanted to facilitate the interoperability of CBDCs with current payment methods and boost their acceptance amongst merchants. For PayPal, this particular field is quite lean because there are not many payment processors that are currently offering crypto transactions and trading support. Square is the most notable one that’s offering these services via its Cash app. Therefore, PayPal is hoping to make an aggressive push for cornering the market and targeting the crypto-enthusiast user base. Their announcement has already caused a lot of excitement in the space, with Bitcoin surging to a yearly high past $13,000.