Starting today, you are able to use crypto in your PayPal digital wallet to purchase goods. PayPal has spent the last several months ensuring their network is ready to support crypto assets with a limited crypto support rollout.
Users who want to use this service will be able to purchase from any of PayPal's 29 million merchants world wide using crypto. The chosen crypto, currently Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Litecoin, will be converted to fiat during the checkout process automatically. Interestingly, Ethereum currently is not an option.
“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”
PayPal CEO Dan Schulman
PayPal has stated they will not charge transaction fees to checkout with crypto.
While this seems like good news for crypto adoption, it isn't without strings attached. PayPal has historically been aggressive to crypto users, even freezing and stealing assets if they even smelled crypto related transactions. They have also been known to freeze accounts for many other reasons without warning and appeal.
There is another big catch to this entire system, currently you can only buy crypto in PayPal, you cannot withdraw it. This means you need to buy something with it with one of PayPal's merchants, or just look at it.
If you live in the US (and of course you do as this is only available to US citizens), every purchase using crypto is a taxable event and introduces accounting nightmares having to deal with it on small purchases. As long as crypto is treated as property in the US, it will be increasingly difficult to use as a day to day currency.
I personally will continue to avoid using PayPal as much as possible, and will be skeptical on how well this will play over for PayPal users. There is no doubt this will make a lot of noise and get even more people serious about crypto, especially Uncle Sam.
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From what I've seen, you don't own crypto, you just own a PayPal version of that crypto. You're buying exposure to the price of that crypto, but you don't actually own any Bitcoin (etc).
Besides, PayPal is completely corrupt through and through. Be very careful if you deal with them. They're far more evil than the most evil of crypto exchanges.
Very interesting. We have access to PayPal here in South Africa and although I have an account, the fees are so ridiculous that I avoid using it unless I absolutely have to. On occasion it's rendered income from international clients virtually meaningless.
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the time to accumulate is running out
Paypal needs crypto for low price. The cryptos do not go to the sellers. That is the same as paying with paypal balance.
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I likely won't ever use this service myself, for many of the reasons you listed above and more, but its still good news for crypto. Every new mainstream tool and publicity helps the concept catch on for people.
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But can we buy the Serenity with crypto yet? You selling or holding onto it?
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Unlike 2017, huge institutions are getting involved. Therefore this rally seems more real and viable to hold gains, rather than a bubble looking for a pin pop it. Would you agree?
Also I wanted to thank you for supporting my efforts blogging on the platform. Your support has not gone unnoticed and has been a huge motivating factor to keep putting out my travel content. Thank you for all you do here on the platform.
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-Dan "World Travel Pro"
Don't know if I love it or hate it
Nice informative post however I'm curious about one comment. You say that, "as long as crypto is treated as property...", but property and property rights are the basis of economics and financial exchange. I'm unsure of how you meant the statement to be taken.
Paypal is weird the way they interact with crypto.
I bought some from them and hard to move it around.
So far I am going to stay from it.
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I think this will be great for getting more eyes on crypto, but I don't have any trust for PayPal. I hope that after this other more trustworthy services will adopt a similar concept.
I hope PayPal will allow me to buy btc on their platform, many of us does not have that option yet... Although paying with crypto is cool, it would be also cooler that they allow their users to deposit and withdraw crypto as well, that would be really a breaktrough...
As someone who has sold on Ebay for years, I would not recommend anyone put a lot of trust in Paypal. Just sayin.
This feels a great move to more adoption, but that little detail of not being able to move crypto around doesn't bring me any peace of mind. Since I don't live in the US, not even an option yet. Being able to swap fiat in paypal into crypto and send it to external wallet... then yes, magic will happen!
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As long as there are limitations such as the purchase and withdraw it of cryptocurrencies, I particularly consider it an unattractive alternative.
When they first launched crypto on Paypal, I got super excited, after 10 minutes of not being able to find a way to send crypto out of it, I realized it isn't an option. There's no way I'm allowing PayPal to control any of my coins.
I think it's a pretty cool step though to get average users into the scene. Plus all those coins they have to hold in order to not let anyone move their money is removing a good amount of liquidity from exchanges I imagine.
You don't love peace. You fight with people with no reason. Fine, from your next post, as I said, I am sure you know what you will expect. Don't complain that I didn't warn you, Mr Low Ability Mark.
I really, really hate how government has responded to crypto by trying to inject the problems inherent in their monopoly money system into our decentralized ecosystem. Much as I want to see wider adoption, this is not the way forward.