PayPal has launched the Checkout With Crypto service, which will allow US users to pay with cryptocurrencies directly with every merchant who works with the system.
As PayPal said in an interview with the news outlet Decrypt, new platform features will be actively rolled out over the next few months. Let’s talk in more detail about the situation and the importance of this decision for the blockchain asset industry as a whole.
Recall that last year the company announced the successful integration of Bitcoin and the most popular altcoins, which made a splash in the cryptocurrency market. In fact, it opened access to coins to less tech-savvy customers who find it difficult to understand how the blockchain works and how to store coins correctly. That is, it made cryptocurrencies a much more widespread phenomenon.
Despite the significance of the decision, the company still faced criticism. First of all, fans of the cryptocurrency industry reminded of the centralized storage of coins by representatives of PayPal. That is, in fact, users do not fully own the crypt and in one way or another depend on the service. In addition, coins could not be withdrawn to other addresses, which also does not fit with the basic principles of blockchain assets.
Be that as it may, the launch took place, and the service found new users. And now there will be even more of them.
How Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are used
The news was commented on by PayPal CEO Dan Shulman. Here is his line, in which he shares his attitude to what is happening.
This is the first time that you can use cryptocurrency as easily as a credit or debit card in your PayPal wallet.
That is, the emphasis is primarily on the convenience of users. Since their ability to work with cryptocurrency on the platform is limited – for example, they cannot withdraw coins to a third-party wallet – PayPal will be directly responsible for the technical component of transactions. Well, customers will only have to specify the payment method and click a few buttons.
PayPal CEO Dan Shulman
The new Checkout With Crypto service will allow holders of cryptocurrencies on the platform to spend them at all PayPal merchants. Supported cryptocurrencies include Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, and Litecoin. At the same time, the payment giant will be engaged in the automatic conversion of cryptocurrencies into ordinary money for the actual payment. The company spokesman continues.
We think this is an important moment as cryptocurrencies are moving from a predominantly asset class that you buy, hold or sell, to now becoming a legitimate source of funding for real-world transactions with millions of sellers.
Accordingly, the head of the service believes that coins will become a popular method of payment among its users.
Probably, soon other popular payment systems will follow the example of PayPal and start working more actively with crypto
PayPal will not charge customers a cryptocurrency exchange fee to make a payment. However, there will be a so-called conversion spread. It means that the company can and most likely will exchange cryptocurrency at rates below market rates and receive the difference. This is a fairly common method of earning money for applications with fast coin conversion, and there is essentially nothing wrong with it.
When placing an order, PayPal will check if the user has enough cryptocurrency balance to pay for the goods. If so, the system will automatically present cryptocurrency as a payment option for a product or service.
Note that this news came just a week after Tesla announced the acceptance of BTC as a means of payment for its cars. In addition, Tesla invested $ 1.5 billion in Bitcoin in January, which had a positive impact on the coin market as a whole.
The rise in popularity of digital assets is reflected in smaller organizations and firms as well. For example, the Morningside School of Music in Edinburgh has said it is responding to suggestions from the school’s adult students, many of whom now work in the city’s burgeoning fintech sector.
They would like to expand the list of possible means of paying for the school’s services. Director of the latter, Linda Boyd, has already stated that BTC will be considered as one of the forms of payment for school fees . Here is her line, quoted by Cointelegraph.
Some large companies around the world are already doing this, so it’s only a matter of time before smaller companies like ours start doing the same. It’s just about providing our customers with a different payment method and making their life easier.
Dan Shulman, CEO of PayPal
Note that other companies are also thinking about this. For example, representatives of the luxury watch manufacturer Audemars Piguet have confirmed that they do not mind accepting Bitcoin as payment. However, for this, the niche of blockchain assets should become wider, and coins should turn into a more popular means of payment.
We believe that expanding the range of real use of cryptocurrencies will definitely have a positive impact on the market. Regular users will become more interested in crypto and use Bitcoin not as a speculative asset, but as a full-fledged alternative payment option. And after Tesla’s decision to accept BTC as payment, there is no doubt that further cryptocurrencies will be increasingly used in a similar role.
Some blockchain fans note that the sale of coins by a service for direct payment is a minus, however, such platforms cannot pay in non-national currency. Therefore, as a start, such an initiative is more than appropriate.
