On Tuesday, the global fintech giant in payment processing said it would allow users to transfer cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, to external wallets and exchanges, in line with other popular crypto services.
“This feature was the most demanded from our users since we began offering the purchase of crypto on our platform”
Jose Fernandez da Ponte, senior VP of blockchain, crypto, and digital currencies at PayPal.
PayPal’s crypto services launched in October 2020. It lets users buy, sell, and hold four popular cryptocurrencies – Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, and Litecoin. However, users did not have the option to transfer assets to external wallets such as Metamask or Coinbase.
With this move, the company aims to open up its services and move away from legacy custodian systems, a trend being followed by other popular fintech players, such as Robinhood.
The feature to move crypto will be available to select US PayPal users starting today and will gradually be rolled out to all users in the coming weeks. Customers will be liable to network fees for external transfers, which vary depending on the chain. Internal transfers will still incur no fees.
Venmo, a popular payment service that is used by millions of retail users and an increasingly growing number of merchants, is also owned by PayPal. With the rollout in play, Venmo is likely to see an increase in demand and might take the top spot as a payment platform.
PayPal’s crypto ambitions remain intact despite the current bearish sentiments in both the crypto and stock markets, which saw the company’s share price plummet by almost 70%.
“The whole reason we’re in crypto is because we believe a substantial portion of commerce is going to move to digital currencies”
said Ponte in a press release. This is also understood to be a reason why the company doesn’t levy a fee on internal crypto transfers.
