Bitcoin Forum

http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1jn974/imminent_paypal_to_accept_bitcoin_official/

Unconfirmed but worth following.

edit... the original post was removed from reddit.  Never resolved, guess we'll just have to wait and see.

I am encouraged. The insider's comments seem to have substance. The description of a long-running internal struggle within the PP management as to how to address the threat Bitcoin poses to their business is exactly what would be expected. They are aware that a lot of companies have been blown away by technology change. Look at Kodak being too late in adopting digital camera tech. It makes sense for them to try and offer a Bitcoin service even though it is not a perfect fit and overlaps part of PP's core function.

Edit: as mentioned above the reddit OP has been deleted there, so FWIW this is the text:

"I could get fired for this. I've taken the requisite steps to protect my identity. I am an insider that IS in the know. PayPal has been working on this for months.. and the bombshell news is going to be coming before the end of this month. Leaks/rumors will undoubtedly dribble prior.

I know for a FACT, that PayPal is going to be adding "bitcoin" to it's range of services. And the announcement/press release is to come sometime this month. Everyone at the offices of PayPal and all connected working on the project have been under strict orders to not speak about this publicly.. therefore I am taking the chance. I've worked for PP for close to 4 years now. This is NOT just 'water-cooler gossip'.

This is real, this is going to happen.

submitted by TheInsiderMan "

It will be obvious soon whether this was troll nonsense, or... not..

PayPal may regret this decision. I don't think they will be used to having to check for double spends and whatnot or even hard-forks or their client losing connection to the network.

:D

why even post something like this.

unless you have evidence from the horses mouth so to speak, leave all speculation where it lies.

+1

And the IRS will accept bitcoin to settle tax bills.

It's highly unlikely that Paypal introduce bitcoin into its system. Bitcoin is way too volatile and unstable, and its market cap is relatively small ($1B) in comparison to the markets Paypal is in. It's just too much risk and too little reward for the company.

Paypal won't add Bitcoin until Bitcoin has so much momentum of it's own that any given to it is negligible. It would be like Microsoft voluntarily installing Linux alongside it's own OS on every PC back in 1995, "just incase Linux left them in the dust".

This is never going to happen  ::)

Post has now been removed.

Troll with wings !  ::)

It did not have the air of authenticity.

Cannot be proved, most likely a hoax.

It would be extremely unlikely for PayPal to adopt bitcoin. They'd be shooting themselves in the foot.

Our dream of world domination is on hold for now

Well stated.

they are too capitalist to do this...

+1 I don't see why there is any reason to beleive this isn't just a Bitcoin investor wanting to see his holdings rise in value. I think from PaypPal's perspective they have little use for Bitcoin, for example if they were to realese a web wallet of some sort, the only benefit to them would be charging fees, in which case why would we use them? If they were to release a BitPay-like service, how many of us would actually switch? The only way I can see PayPal profiting much in the near term is buying Bitcoins and then opening an exchange service.

I agree. Capitalists hate capital.

For points that would support the theory:




Seems pretty easy to implement honestly

Huh? Bitcoin is a capitalist concept.

I would add that in comparison to MS, PP is maybe slightly more proactive/less conservative, and would be more likely to jump on the bitcoin train earlier than other competitors would but in essence your comparison is spot on.

It's way too early for a company like PP to, openly!, make such a commitment. They would have very little to gain, and very much to lose. And they still have plenty of time to include bitcoin if they ever want to, when btc transaction volume becomes significant outside the holy trinity of [speculation+silk road+satoshidice].

Yeah I seriously doubt this is for real.

So I’ve been spending a lot of time looking at it, and it’s truly fascinating actually: the way that the currency’s been designed, and the way that inflation is built in to pay for miners, and all that is truly fascinating. I think that for us at PayPal, it’s just a question whether Bitcoin will make its way to PayPal’s funding instrument or not. We’re kinda thinking about it.

http://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/04/24/paypal-president-is-fascinated-by-bitcoin-says-company-is-thinking-about-including-the-virtual-currency/

the claim is definitely corroborated, that's for sure. that's why i'm actually thinking it very possibly could be true. like, more likely true than not

how powerful is this news? http://www.mainstreet.com/article/money/investing/paypal-founder-invests-bitcoin
pretty powerful, and that was in may

I can see this happening.

Initially, it would be BTC denominated accounts offered to users with registered bank accounts in countries where PayPal is satisfied that relevant legal requirements are met.

PayPal would probably restrict BTC transactions to/from accounts linked directly to real names and real bank accounts.

Looking longer term, ebay finds a way to accept bitcoin. Maybe some kind of auto escrow (but seems like that might be too much trouble) or just a million disclaimers that if you choose to pay in bitcoin, you get no protection (since reversing transactions will be nigh on impossible - unless their Ts and Cs let them take money from your registered bank account or credit card to cover bitcoin liabilities, but not sure that would hold up legally).

Either way, it looks like they're taking bitcoin seriously.

PP would just do what they do now, they would hold the bitcoins in escrow till the buyer on ebay left feedback or a timer expired. In the event that a refund was required they could just send the coins back to the buyer or in the event that the escrow was released they would just take it from your bank account/CC.

Sooner or later Paypal has to deal with Bitcoin. Ignoring Bitcoin could kill them.

However that doesn't mean that this specific news is true.

Personally I prefer Paypal to vanish, because it's primarily a scammy mess.


ya.ya.yo!

TBH I dont see paypal having any problems with Bitcoins any time soon, Paypal is very easy to use compared to bitcoins and 99% of people online either use it or have heard about paypal.

If you talk to people who use the net about Bitcoins 99% of them say "Whats that"

I was talking to a freind of mine and even after showing him some sites and this forum he still did not get the concept of Bitcoin

My belief is until Bitcoin or any other cryptocoins become a lot more user freindly both with the mining side and the payment side of things for novice web users it will not hurt paypal at all, because paypals interface is just so easy to use.

Unlisted video on YouTube titled "What's the Deal with Bitcoins Anyway?":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrK-152xfy0

The catch is in the credits. "brought to you by ebaydeals."

Originally found here:

http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1ktj9e/whats_the_deal_with_bitcoins_anyway_video/

Something else of note, makes reference of $2 Billion market cap, while we're currently less than $1.5 Billion.

EDIT: an image: https://i.imgur.com/FqKQaxY.png (https://i.imgur.com/FqKQaxY.png)

I noticed that too but was at work and couldn't post.  This is probably the closest we've had to a looming confirmation.

Interesting twist. First the "inside leak" in the beginning of August, and now a fairly professional video crediting "eBay Deals". There was also a reddit-post about one guy having a bitcoin-related dispute resolved in his favor by Paypal.

Not an enormous amount of evidence to make any strong claims, but enough to say that you weren't surprised if it actually turns out to happen. I guess we'll see shortly!

Not that this is much insight, but the PayPal Labs website, https://www.paypal-labs.com/ (https://www.paypal-labs.com/), is currently down.

Yeah I doubt Paypal would do this.

Do what? I still don't see what PP would do with coins.  Unless they want to be the new Gox.

We have seen a lot of complex trolling/price manipulation attempts, recently with the Joe Lewis thing. I would say this is fake just like the original post, and meant to cause a bubble.

I have a friend that works at PayPal for over 3-4 years, and last time I spoke with him (two weeks ago) this is not the case.  Nothing will happen before the end of this month.

“It’s a new disruptive technology, so, yeah, we’re looking at Bitcoin closely,” Donahoe said. “There may be ways to enable it inside PayPal.”

http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2013/04/30/could-paypal-be-on-horizon-for-bitcoin/

Beyond that, they're getting heavy into mobile payments, and trying to stake a claim in brick and mortar POS systems.

They can piggyback off of Bitcoin's architecture for the mobile payments, and throw a "trusted" face on it. IMO that'd be a huge boost to adoption.

Concerning POS, we're all aware that Bitcoin poses a difficulty with POS purchases. If PayPal provides a solution to the 10 minute confirmation time it'd give them a huge leg up on the competition.

I don't know what PayPal wouldn't do with Bitcoin.

I'm not sure if I think it'd be a good idea if PayPay actually adopted Bitcoin - but I do know that the second it's confirmed, I'm pouring my fiat into BTC.

Not to be contrary, but Paypal employs thousands of people in multiple locations.  Your friend having not heard of the deal isn't proof of the absence of the deal.

Agreed.  However, PayPal has a hierarchy of engineers and the top engineers write papers about various subjects.  One of the latest papers, from what I was told, was that bitcoin would be included if it got more popular...and this was two weeks ago in Silicon Valley.  I don't think PayPal will release news in the next week and a half. I could be wrong though...

Edited.