PayPal could benefit greatly from providing a wallet service

[LostDutchman]

NO payment processor of any importance is going to implement a digital currency that has the stability approximating the attention span of a fruit fly.

When are you people going to grow up and get back to basics?

[LesterTheEight]

I would be okay with using PayPal as an exchange but I would never let them hold the keys to my wallet.

[PolarPoint]

Paypal will have to embrace bitcoin or fade away. I think they will be clever and take up butcon as a method of topping up money in users' accounts. They can reject bitcoin now, but it will be unstoppable in a few years. When more online payment wallet businesses gain market share, they will be too late to react.

[Accounts7232]

ehhh I don't really agree.

[beetcoin]

if paypal started some sort of business model that incorporates bitcoin, how many here would even use them? i know i for one wouldn't.. it's fucking paypal after all. maybe i'm wrong, but i don't think paypal could pull it off.

[K128kevin2]

They could make cash from the fluctuations in Bitcoin's price, as opposed to transaction fees. This would force them to create an exchange and act as a wallet. This would not only help PayPal business wise, but it would help the people who are interested in Bitcoin get involved that aren't too sure about about digital currencies. If they don't do it, they'll be out of business from someone that will.

Exchange/Wallet combination idea comes from http://www.panture.com/why-paypal-should-integrate-a-wallet-service-for-bitcoin/

They probably would benefit by offering a wallet service but it would require a huge investment and a ton of work. They would need to hire engineers, support people, more HR people, etc. They'd need office space for all these people too. It would be like building another small company.

[circusmidget11]

It is highly unlikely that Paypal will play ball and if they do then it would come with high fees. 

[EnterReturn]

PayPal often refuses to return funds. Nobody want to hold their Bitcoin with them. 

[serenitys]

They could make cash from the fluctuations in Bitcoin's price, as opposed to transaction fees. This would force them to create an exchange and act as a wallet. This would not only help PayPal business wise, but it would help the people who are interested in Bitcoin get involved that aren't too sure about about digital currencies. If they don't do it, they'll be out of business from someone that will.

Exchange/Wallet combination idea comes from http://www.panture.com/why-paypal-should-integrate-a-wallet-service-for-bitcoin/

No way in hell would I want paypal handling my bitcoin...they could freeze an account at their sole discretion the same way they do already. I don't even remotely trust them to store money. I use paypal for 2 things that let me make transactions without tying up my bank info. Once those two adopt bitcoin as a payment method, good riddance paypal...forever.

Here's the thing - bitcoin IS a payment processor, same as paypal. Bitcoin does the job 100 times better and more efficiently than paypal.

There really isn't much paypal can do because it's already established itself and its policy. In order to compete with bitcoin, they'd have to eliminate their fees or just offer an annual payment option in a low enough amount it is the equivalent of pennies. They'd have to completely decentralize itself in holding people's bitcoin.

It'll never happen. Once bitcoin as a payment processor gains traction, I fully predict paypal will implode - they have millions of unhappy customers who hate them but use them because they have no other viable options. Once bitcoin becomes one, pp will lose a solid core of their business. It will respond with raising fees to offset the loss, then tightening restrictions which will meet backlash, to then surrendering to "free" right before they go out of business. Western Union will also follow suit, probably before paypal does. Walmart money grams will also fall.

Paypal had the right idea when it started out...but once it got beyond a certain point, it became more or less draconian because it was the only option.

I'd imagine paypal closes its doors in the next 5 years.

[Velkro]

paypal is corrupt in its core
only bad things happened to me through using paypal, not one bad thing since using bitcoin
dont want to do business with them ever again

[ranlo]

PayPal are known to freeze peoples assets and refuse to return funds, I wouldn't want to hold Bitcoin with them.

This would be my fear as well. There are just far too many horror stories to trust them with decent amounts of money, and I've personally had my own problems with them. Bitcoin is an even bigger risk than fiat in that regard, and I just can't fathom taking that plunge without protection.

[Beliathon]

PayPal = Blockbuster Video.

Overcharging middle-men parasitic pieces of shit that will be out of business within 5 years. Bitcoin makes Paypal and similar services 100% obsolete.

[Ron~Popeil]

There is no way I would ever let those money grubbing sharks near my bit coin or private keys. Companies like paypal are part of the problem bit coin seeks to solve.

[keithers]

I'm curious as to how much in fees Paypal would try and tack on to do BTC transactions (once supported).   Also, how would they go about collecting their fees, since they usually just keep a percentage of the money sent or whatever (would it be in BTC or fiat)...

[ranlo]

I'm curious as to how much in fees Paypal would try and tack on to do BTC transactions (once supported).   Also, how would they go about collecting their fees, since they usually just keep a percentage of the money sent or whatever (would it be in BTC or fiat)...

I'd venture out and say the same as normal (2.9% + 30 cents). And that it would be taken in Bitcoin.

Their costs for letting people transfer fiat would be the same for Bitcoin, so I don't see any difference there. They do have a lot of overhead...

[blatchcorn]

Anything and everything that makes bitcoin more mainstream is good right now

[Mitchell]

No thank you. I don't want PayPal near Bitcoins. They will fuck it up, I am 100% sure of that and nobody can convince me otherwise. They will freeze funds, lose coins, etc. Never ever would I use a Bitcoin service provided by PayPal after they fucked so many legit Bitcoin resellers.

[turvarya]

Umm.. PayPal will be providing their own service, which they would secure themselves. PayPal has never been hacked, and they get attacked WAY more than any Bitcoin service out there.

You are oversimplifying things. Thefts and hacking do occur with Paypal accounts. Go to SR 2.0, and you can buy a bunch of hacked Paypal accounts for just around BTC0.2 or so. If so many hacks can occur with Paypal USD accounts, then imagine what will happen to the Paypal BTC accounts.

1. I don't think, anybody hacked Paypal and just got a bunch of account-credentials out. They "hacked" on the user-site not on the server-site, e.g. installing keyloggers, phishing, etc.
2. What is the difference between a "Paypal USD accounts" and a "Paypal BTC accounts"? You have a Paypal-Account and you can store money there. I don't see how, the kind of money you store has any influence about, if you get "hacked"

[blatchcorn]

No thank you. I don't want PayPal near Bitcoins. They will fuck it up, I am 100% sure of that and nobody can convince me otherwise. They will freeze funds, lose coins, etc. Never ever would I use a Bitcoin service provided by Bitcoin after they fucked so many legit Bitcoin resellers.

Sounds like they will fit right in with other bitcoin exchanges 

[Mitchell]

No thank you. I don't want PayPal near Bitcoins. They will fuck it up, I am 100% sure of that and nobody can convince me otherwise. They will freeze funds, lose coins, etc. Never ever would I use a Bitcoin service provided by Bitcoin after they fucked so many legit Bitcoin resellers.

Sounds like they will fit right in with other bitcoin exchanges 

Which is why I don't use them.