In another step towards wider adoption, payment giant Venmo has recently released in-app purchasing of digital currency, giving their 70 million users access to Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum and Bitcoin Cash.
This follows Paypal's move earlier this month in giving US users the ability to purchase digital currencies within Paypal's ecosystem. Venmo is using the Paxos Trust Company, which Paypal is also partnered with, to provide the digital asset conversion and custody.
Venmo clearly sees that many of their users won't understand blockchain or crypto-assets and so has provided a series of explainers on their dedicated digital currency page.
More than 30% of Venmo users already own digital currencies and 20% of those started their digital currency journey during the covid pandemic. The rollout is to be staged, with Darrell Esch, General Manager of Venmo, saying:
No matter where you are in your cryptocurrency journey, crypto on Venmo will help our community to learn and explore cryptocurrencies on a trusted platform and directly in the app they know and love
No word yet on when this will be available to Australian customers either from Paypal or Venmo, but at a recent Blockchain Week event hosted by the Australian Stock Exchange, Paypal's Simon Banks said that Paypal would be looking to bring their digital currency purchasing offering to Australians "as soon as we can".