PayPal has announced that U.S. merchants can now buy, hold, and sell cryptocurrency directly from their business accounts.
This new feature comes as cryptocurrency continues to gain wider market acceptance, especially following the U.S. SEC’s approval of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds earlier this year.
“Business owners have increasingly expressed a desire for the same cryptocurrency capabilities available to consumers,” said Jose Fernandez da Ponte, Senior Vice President of Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, and Digital Currencies at PayPal.
PayPal first entered the crypto market in 2020, allowing customers to buy and sell virtual coins through its platform. In August 2023, the company launched its dollar-backed stablecoin, becoming the first major fintech firm to embrace digital currencies for payments and transfers.
In addition to buying and holding crypto, U.S. merchants will also be able to transfer cryptocurrency to third-party eligible wallets. However, these services won’t be available for businesses in New York State at launch due to regulatory restrictions, with no timeline provided for when this may change.
PayPal’s stablecoin, PYUSD, has exceeded the $1 billion mark in market capitalization, more than doubling its supply since June, despite a generally sluggish crypto market.
PayPal’s entry into the stablecoin market was initially hailed as a major milestone for the crypto industry, but the token’s early growth on the Ethereum network was lackluster. Things turned around, however, when the PYUSD gained new momentum following its expansion to the Solana network in late May.
On Solana, PYUSD’s supply grew from zero to $650 million in just three months, surpassing its supply on Ethereum. Over the past month, PYUSD’s supply on Solana increased by 171%, rapidly closing in on Tether’s USDT on the network.
PYUSD’s adoption on centralized exchanges such as Crypto.com and its integration into decentralized finance protocols like Curve and Frax have also contributed to the stablecoin’s growth over the past year.
Venmo and PayPal users are also able to transfer cryptocurrencies using Ethereum Name Service (ENS) names, a feature expected to reach over 270 million users in the United States.
