In recent news, PayPal announced that it is going to launch a crypto checkout service in the United States. Earlier, the US consumers who were only able to buy, sell or hold these currencies will soon be able to make crypto payments with this digital payment processing system.
And VISA, the American multinational financial service corporation, also announced on 29th March 2021, that their US consumers can now settle their transactions with the help of USD Coin (or USDC).
This is a milestone not only in the history of payment processing systems or corporations but also in the history of cryptocurrency.
Just a week ago, Tesla Inc had said it would accept bitcoin payments for its cars. Tesla will accept bitcoins as payment. And not fiat currency from merchants like that of PayPal. PayPal will allow their user to pay with Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash.
With its rising popularity and high value, many users are skeptical of bitcoin or any cryptocurrency because of its volatility risk. And PayPal wants to change the way bitcoins are perceived. Even though the currency is volatile, there’s no denying that cryptocurrency will soon be the new kind of payment.
Paypal and cryptocurrency
PayPal revealed that they have been working on this since last year. This service will soon be available to all the 29 million merchants in the months to come. It believes that doing this will boost the use of digital assets.
The company will not charge any transaction fee. And while you make purchases, you can make payments using only one kind of coin.
This is a breakthrough, as many financial companies were skeptical of this form of currencies when the rise of cryptocurrency began. This development will be interesting to see how PayPal and VISA’s competitors will react to this news and if more digital payment processings will implement this.
Dan Schulman, CEO of PayPal, said to Reuters while announcing that this was the first time we can seamlessly use cryptocurrencies in the same way as a credit card or a debit card inside our PayPal wallet.
He also added that crypto payments are a transitional point where cryptocurrencies are moving from an asset to a legitimate funding source to make transactions.
How Will This Impact Digital Payments?
The users of PayPal will be able to make payments not only with digital cash through PayPal but also be able to make payments using cryptocurrencies. This digital wallet will allow all the 29 million users to make payments using cryptocurrencies with the four currencies it has made available. Although we can make payments using one kind of coin, this is exciting news to all the cryptocurrency enthusiasts and the users who have been investing in it for a long time.
Over time, cryptocurrency payments will rise and we will able to see a surge in the users of crypto. But this does not mean the digital payments will be slowed down, as this form of payment is new as well and it is here to stay.
