ebay ceo slips up and spills the beans

[Phinnaeus Gage]

ebay CEO spills the beans *by mistake* thak paypal will soon have a digital wallet that can hold multiple currencies!

THIS IS HUGE!!!!!!

http://www.bloomberg.com/video/ebay-paypal-most-successful-together-donahoe-says-M8oKQ3F5Q3SBdIrbWSnzcw.html

starts talking about bitcoin just after 3 mins..

I watched the video and he didn't say anything of the sort.

He did but he could mean fiat which PayPal already does, I have like 20 currencies

Is that you, Vern? 

[SgtSpike]

Man, what he said apparently flew over almost all of your heads.

Matt Miller referred to Bitcoin and how there would be no reason to use Paypal once everyone's using Bitcoin.  Donahoe responds by stating that "You can use digital currencies in the Paypal digital wallet - that's in fact, what Paypal is doing, is building a digital wallet that can take multiple types of currency."

Let's break this down.

- Donahoe responding to Miller's question about Bitcoin by using the term "digital currencies" implies that he is talking about Bitcoin and other digital currencies when he says "digital currencies".
- Digital currency is what we (the Bitcoin community) wanted people to call Bitcoin instead of virtual currency as the media has been doing, further solidifying the above point.
- Donahoe almost says "Bitcoin" before he says "digital currencies".  You can see the "B" on his lips before he realizes what he's about to say and words it differently. (3:52 in the video)
- Donahoe further stats that Paypal is "building" a digital wallet.  This means it is not done yet.  It is in process of being built.  Therefore, he cannot be referring to their existing wallet with its existing features.
- He cannot be saying that Paypal building a new digital wallet that can contain different government fiat currencies, because that is already possible (storage of multiple government fiat currencies) with the existing Paypal site.
- Furthermore, his answer wouldn't make any sense in response to Miller's question if he was referring to government currencies, as it does nothing to counter Miller's point that people would use Bitcoin instead of Paypal.
- However, if he IS referring to Bitcoin and other digital currencies when he says "digital currencies", his answer makes perfect sense in the context.  Paypal absolutely still has a place in the world of Bitcoin, as they can continue to provide integration simplicity (as Bitpay/Coinbase do) as well as escrow and dispute resolution services.  Essentially, the only part of their service that Bitcoin would eliminate is person-to-person transfers in which escrow and merchant integration is not required, which is likely a very small amount of their transactions to begin with.

The only reasonable conclusion (and I'd put money on this) is that Paypal is indeed building a new digital wallet that can contain multiple types (and types here referring to digital currencies and government fiat) of currency.  And the reason that Donahoe avoids stating Bitcoin directly is because he doesn't want to explicitly announce Bitcoin to the media yet - Paypal would be better served if they announced it at the time of its release, so as to ride the resulting media hype with an increase in users.  If they announced it now, before they are ready, then the hype would be over and many people wouldn't remember about it once it is released.  There's probably an element of competitive advantage relating to the timing of announcing Bitcoin integration as well.

You can tell Donahoe is excited about this development.  He's already stated multiple times in the past that he thinks Bitcoin is excellent, and the only reason that Paypal hasn't integrated it is because the market was too small.  But that was a while back, before the market grew to be as big as it is today.  Now we know that Paypal is already programming and preparing to integrate Bitcoin.

[pa]

I wonder whether Apple would remove PayPal from the App Store if PayPal integrated Bitcoin?

[glendall]

Paypal is a terrible company. Though only became such a giant because they had such a monopoly hold on the market.

I'm really hoping bitcoin services will replace Paypal, not be integrated by it.

[pungopete468]

Paypal is a terrible company. Though only became such a giant because they had such a monopoly hold on the market.

I'm really hoping bitcoin services will replace Paypal, not be integrated by it.

PayPal isn't dumb enough to let that happen. They will integrate with Bitcoin or be consumed by it; they know this is just a matter of time...

[elavenil]

Paypal will never support Bitcoin or any other crypto currencies. They never support other payment services. If they find people using exchanges they will ban the account immediately.

[pungopete468]

Paypal will never support Bitcoin or any other crypto currencies. They never support other payment services. If they find people using exchanges they will ban the account immediately.

I wouldn't be so sure of that. They'll change that tune very soon and then try to act like they've been pro-bitcoin all along.

[whtchocla7e]

When will people get it through their heads that Paypal is not a Bitcoin competitor...

Paypal is a middleman.

If they find a way to act as a middleman in the world of Bitcoin, they will surely jump on that opportunity.

[drrussellshane]

When will people get it through their heads that Paypal is not a Bitcoin competitor...

Paypal is a middleman.

If they find a way to act as a middleman in the world of Bitcoin, they will surely jump on that opportunity.

This.

I could easily see PayPal start doing a BitPay-type service so that they don't miss the "Bitcoin boat".

[pungopete468]

When will people get it through their heads that Paypal is not a Bitcoin competitor...

Paypal is a middleman.

If they find a way to act as a middleman in the world of Bitcoin, they will surely jump on that opportunity.

PayPal might not be a competitor with Bitcoin directly; Bitcoin isn't a company. However, Bitcoin spawns competitors that are able to destroy PayPal's rates and still profit handsomely.

If PayPal were smart they would be looking at CoinBase and BitPay as competitors...

If PayPal won't play, they will eventually lose. It's only a matter of time before another major company is born that can do the same job better, faster, and with a higher profitability than PayPal. Bitcoin is an enabler...

Just wait; PayPal will come on board when they get a better view of the big picture here...

[DaFockBro]

This dude makes about $30 million a year.  I bet he's trying to build up a stash of at least 50,000 BTC before Paypal releases its Bitcoin features.

[jubalix]

in this thread

people getting excited about low value change for retail junk market at that.

still not getting the del money in backbone currency.

it's like were in 2010 but in relation to another coin.

[dowsey14]

it's like were in 2010 but in relation to another coin.

What do you mean by that, exactly?

I see that bitcoin has already hit USD $1200+ a piece, then fallen back to under $700.

I think it may test $1200 again, but only if we see this "digital wallet" accepting bitcoin payments directly.