PayPal, Bitcoin and the Road Ahead
Dissecting the payment giant’s bitcoin announcement
Today, 21st October 2020, at approximately 12.45pm UK time, the giant payment processor known as PayPal suddenly announced via Reuters that it would “allow customers to buy, sell and hold bitcoin and other virtual currencies using the [..] company’s online wallets.”
Many of us in the industry knew that PayPal had been hanging around the “alternative” digital payments scene for some time, having initially been involved with Facebook’s Libra project when it began back in June 2019. Just four months later PayPal dropped out, along with other key players such as Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, Mercado Pago and eBay, leaving the future of Libra uncertain as I discussed in this article.
Although the exact reason for the PayPal’s decision was never precisely clear, it was quite apparent that the organization was actively exploring avenues involving established cryptocurrencies, especially Bitcoin, from comments made by senior executives and various press articles.
It should be noted that PayPal had not been historically supportive of cryptocurrencies prior to early 2019 and therefore represents yet another organization which has found itself changing its narrative in the face of increasingly positive evidence.
