PayPal welcomes cryptocurrency service to the UK
PayPal announced on Monday that it will allow UK customers to buy, hold, and sell digital currencies, starting this week.
The cryptocurrency world is growing by the second, prompting organizations around the globe, like PayPal, to take notice.
However, there’s a trick to the equation.
Initially, the online payments giant will introduce only Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash. While users get to enjoy the presence of the future’s digital currency on PayPal, they still, however, cannot make payments in cryptocurrency.
Instead, the digital currency obtained should be sold for traditional currency, and then users will be able to make a cash purchase. The currencies also cannot be gifted or transferred to friends and family or to any other digital wallet.
Even though a lot of rules and conditions are put into PayPal’s move, it still marks the first time the U.S. payment platform expanded their cryptocurrency offering.
Launched in the month of October 2021, the online payment giant slowly worked its way into transforming cryptocurrencies into an accessible field to a wider audience.
Crypto enthusiasts can purchase or sell digital coins with values up to $17,600 per transaction, and $41,068 a year.
Given the volatile and unstable nature of cryptocurrency, PayPal made it clear to its 400 million worldwide users that the online platform is not responsible if an obstacle occurs with an investment.
“The tokens and coins have been around for a while, but you had to be a relatively sophisticated user to be able to access that,” CNBC quoted a PayPal spokesman saying.
“Having that on a platform like ours makes a really good entry point.”
Bitcoin has seen a sharp hike during the month of August, as the price of Bitcoin currently stands at $49,697 as of time of writing, according to CoinDesk.
For users interested in diving deep into the world of digital coins through PayPal, it is worth highlighting that even though Bitcoin started as the leading coin since its inception, Ethereum has been recently outperforming its competitors.
Ethereum prices recently increased 6 percent, reaching above $2,800, after an upgrade switched Ethereum’s fee transaction into an easier and much less expensive process.
Yet, investment in cryptocurrency witnessed a six-week surge, gaining $21 million thanks to Solana, a digital coin that doubled its value in August alone.
While Solana isn’t available on PayPal, the standout crypto coin outperformed other digital funds, including Bitcoin and Ethereum, according to CoinShares.
Even though competition remains in an all-time high between each digital asset, Crypto funds are now carrying $57.3 billion in total, achieving the highest amount since mid-May, as stated by CoinShares.
The positive value spikes and high revenues are indications of the improved investor sentiment when it comes to cryptocurrency, which makes PayPal’s move an ultimate risk worth taking.