Prev.
Back in October 2020, PayPal had taken a lot of people by surprise by opening its service to Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH). The impact on the price of cryptos was not long in coming. In particular, Bitcoin has seen its price explode since November 2020.
PayPal now offers its users the ability to buy, store and sell cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash. The company has continued its embrace of cryptos by launching a service in March 2021 that allows for crypto payments at select stores. In addition, the Venmo platform, PayPal’s OTC payments subsidiary, announced in April 2021 the creation of a trading service for Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash cryptos.
These successive developments reflect the success of Paypal’s decision in October 2020. In fact, Dan Schuman, CEO of PayPal, told Time magazine on Sunday, May 2, 2021 that crypto demand has surpassed their expectation.
“The demand on the crypto side has turned out to be much higher than we could have initially imagined. ” Dan Schuman, CEO of PayPal
For PayPal and its CEO, this opening to cryptos is part of a strategy to adapt the company’s services to the world of finance, which is expected to undergo a profound transition in the coming years. For Dan Schuman, cash money should disappear in favor of an ever more significant digitization of transactions. According to him, the smartphone will become the main means of payment and will make the traditional bank card obsolete.
This should also push central banks to review their copy. Moreover, the blockchain could be the main vector of change. This technology could thus be used by central banks (CBDC) to create and manage electronic national currencies.
“In ten years, you will see a dramatic decline in the use of cash. All means of payment will disappear in favor of the cell phone. Credit cards as a means of payment will no longer exist and you will use your phone. ” said Dan Schuman, CEO of PayPal.