I didn't know if this thread should be in Economics or Exchanges, but the thread I drew inspiration from was in the former.  Mods, please move it as you see fit.

I just read this article from Coindesk, which was from June, but I hadn't heard anything mentioned about it on the forum (where I get most of my crypto news).  Am I the only one who's feeling just a tad bit excited about the prospect of being able to buy & sell bitcoin through PayPal/Venmo?  I fully understand that if you're not the type who likes KYC it won't be your thing, but right now I personally have no way to purchase bitcoin through a service like this.  Coinbase isn't an option, since they nuked my account years ago.

From the article:

I have a PayPal account already, but I went ahead and signed up for Venmo just in case this thing becomes a reality. 

Curious to hear the community's opinion about this.

Paypal used to denounce crypto from the past and saw it as a competition to their business model but I'm not surprised if they suddenly embrace crypto and I think it a wise move since it will be both beneficial to both Paypal and the crypto industry.

Now I could only imagine the impact it could do once Paypal implements this plan because it can potentially on-board or introduce a significant chunk of its customer base to cryptocurrency. Imho.

I read somewhere back then that PayPal was kinda against crypto, but I guess that's really how massive technologies are when they were still new. Anyways, it's great to see PayPal finally opening their eyes and seeing the amount of transactions that can happen inside PayPal if they start integrating crypto in it. Not to mention the adoption side of things too. Very similar to how banks are against crypto back then, and how tables have turned with the bank in Lithuania doing their own coin through the NEM ecosystem. Fiat will always be the global currency but crypto will slowly sneak in.

Indeed! Paypal was once against the cryptos like many other banks worldwide. However, they have now understood the business and also understood that if they do not leap into crypto, slowly they will become extinct from the world of payments. That's why they have changed their stance towards it and now all set to welcome cryptocurrencies into Paypal system to be used by the global user base.

It seems they have already started their crypto services in selected countries. This is what I found in their US website,

https://publicpolicy.paypal-corp.com/issues/blockchain

Definitely KYC related matters will come with its own risk and there are millions of people who wouldn't like to go through that process. But it's no denying that crypto will slowly go mainstream with such initiative from global financial giants!

I'm not excited as a consumer (there's no way I would buy crypto through Paypal) but you've got to admit, it would be pretty great exposure. A lot of people probably avoid BTC investment because of the unfamiliar and untrustworthy exchange space. Having the option to buy right in the Paypal or Venmo app would completely change that. Their brands and user reach are bigger than any other company that has entered the exchange business so far. So it's a double whammy: not only could they make BTC more accessible to the average pleb (not to mention advertising it) but they add an air of legitimacy to the entire space.

bitcoin can easily replace severely flawed payment systems such as Paypal, there is even hints in the paper (charge back scam done in Paypal) about the flaws in these systems that bitcoin solves, specifically for merchants that gain an extreme level of security and protection compared to other options.
so obviously they are scared of it and don't want to see bitcoin adoption grow too fast. but when it is growing whether they want it or not, they would like to get some money out of this which is why i think they will charge bigger fees to let people trade cryptocurrencies.

I personally look at this move very positively, because if you follow what is happening in the world in terms of availability and adaptation of cryptocurrencies then we can see that banks in the EU and USA are entering this business segment - and that in several EU countries it is possible to trade cryptocurrencies via post offices or, as is the case in Switzerland, on devices for the purchase of railway tickets.

PayPal is just one company that is always looking for ways to increase profits, and if Bitcoin can help them do that, it makes sense to include it in their business. As for KYC, everyone who has an account with PP must verify it (add a bank card) so that more or less all users of this service are already somewhat verified, so the only question left is the fees that PP will charge when buying/selling and deposits/withdrawals.


No one should have any doubts about this, although there is certainly an opponents of this model of spread among the masses, but I do not see it in a way that harms BTC, on the contrary - it definitely shows that it has value and application in everyday life.

Paypal and Venmo will act like the prototype for some smaller companies, since it was the first time, they still need to check if it will bring good or bad in terms of their businesses. If things turns to be cautious for the others then they might just stick from traditional. And who will spend bitcoins these days? excluding those wealthy people, if you're just normal hodler of bitcoin you won't check your orders out using bitcoins. Indeed it might trigger the adoption, these companies are huge, if merchants would see this move of paypal they will probably file their own crypto system patent too.

bitcoin is running wild now in the world, that's the reason why they are coming up with this, they adapt what's on the internet for bitcoin to be adopted.

Ah, I've been putting Bitcoin Discussion on and off ignore for a while now, so I apparently missed any threads dealing with this.  Sorry for the duplication--I was just excited to see this being mentioned in the press.

Could very well be, but personally I'd love to have an easy way to purchase bitcoin.  Before Circle stopped dealing with bitcoin (or at least stopped selling it), I used them with no problem and if I remember correctly the fees were extremely low.  There hasn't been a service that's popped up to take their place, which I find unfortunate as someone who can't use Coinbase anymore.

Oh, you mean like what Robinhood offers?  Well, the article seemed to state that PayPal was looking into liquidity providers, which I assume are exchanges, and that leads me to believe that the customer would be dealing with real bitcoin and not a placeholder.

If you want some quick btc on the fly, this could be your thing. But then knowing how their business model is made up of, expect that they will be asking for quite a fee for successful trades since that is where most of their profits would come from. I remember when Circle was the huge hit when it comes to quick btc trades without having to go through all the hoops, though it's quite unfortunate that they have to stop that particular aspect of their service. Venmo/PayPal might be that service again, although of course with a rather higher fee.