PayPal’s UK Customers Can Now Buy Or Sell Cryptocurrencies: Report

PayPal’s UK customers are now able to buy, sell and hold four crypto assets BTC, ETH, LTC, and BCH and this became the first crypto expansion outside of the US so let’s read more in our latest cryptocurrency news.

The company has been gradually building up the crypto offerings and starting Monday, PayPal’s UK customers can buy, sell and hold BTC, BCH, ETH, and LTC. The customers can buy as little as $1.3 worth of crypto using their bank account, debit card, or PayPal balance through a crypto tab on the website and mobile app as well. The UK is the second nation to gain access to these services after the digital payments company rolled out its crypto suite in the US in October 2020 and offers the same four coins to US customers.

PayPal doesn’t charge customers for HODLing but it will charge transaction and currency conversion fees. It also didn’t provide a fee schedule but in the US fees range from 50 cents for purchases under $25 to 1.5% of the transaction for a purchase above $1000. Customers can’t transfer crypto to other wallets and all the crypto purchased via PayPal can be spent through the app. However, the company is working to change that at least in the US. PayPal CEO Dan Schulman said that crypto could eventually form a piece of the “super app” which would cover shopping, identification, and financial services.

PayPal launched Checkout with Crypto allowing the US customers to pay the merchants in cryptocurrency. The company added crypto services to the popular mobile payment service Venmo. PayPal also partnered with Paxos Crypto Brokerage for the crypto payments services and the company also acquired Curv which is an Israeli startup that helps banks and others secure their crypto holdings for $200 million. PayPal invested in crypto risk management software TRM Labs, TaxBit, and infrastructure Talos. Unlike other companies like Square and Tesla, PayPal doesn’t hold crypto on its balance sheet as Schulman said:

 “We don’t necessarily like the ups and downs of what can happen if you invest in a certain asset class.”

The American payments processor PayPal will expand its digital asset endeavors by creating a designated crypto team in Ireland and the company seems to be ready to broaden its scope to other countries as well. According to the local media, PayPal looks to form a crypto team in Ireland outlining the company’s ambitions to embrace the digital asset market. The future employees will fill their roles in anti-money laundering,b business development, and compliance so PayPal will be the team in Dublin and Dundalk.