Major payments businesses are racing to launch digital currency services, with PayPal announcing that their customers in the US "will be able to choose to check out with crypto seamlessly within PayPal at checkout." This is a considerable expansion on PayPal's previous services which allowed users to buy, sell or store digital currencies, but not to use them for funding payments made using Paypal.
PayPal announced:
customers using Checkout with Crypto can check out safely and easily, converting cryptocurrency holdings to fiat currency at checkout, with certainty of value and no additional transaction fees.
Dan Schulman, president and CEO of PayPal said:
Checkout with Crypto continues our focus on driving mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies, while continuing to offer PayPal customers choice and flexibility in the ways they can pay using the PayPal wallet
The new feature will be available for use with Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin or Bitcoin Cash with only one digital currency able to be used. The absence of additional transaction fees may well drive adoption and help existing Paypal customers dip their toes into digital currencies. While this is entirely within the walled garden of Paypal's systems, this is a significant step for digital currencies in both raising understanding and use of these payment options.
PayPal's move comes as interest in digital currencies is shooting higher and higher with the move being suggested by Dan Schulman, a foray into "the next chapter in driving the ubiquity and mass acceptance of digital currencies". No word yet on when Paypal Australia may either make digital currencies available to Aussie users, or allow payments funded by digital currencies. The final piece of the puzzle will be Paypal permitting withdrawal of digital currencies from Paypal to user's digital currency wallets, but this isn't on any public roadmap for Paypal just yet.