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The success of PayPal’s crypto application is confirmed. Mizuho Securities estimates that 17% of the service’s users have traded Bitcoin through it. For PayPal, this is a winning operation since the use of its application is jumping.
A few weeks after its launch, PayPal was already reporting a strong adoption of its cryptocurrency access services. As a result, the firm opened its application to all customers in the United States and raised its purchase limits.
A study by Mizuho Securities, cited by CoinDesk, confirms the strong adoption and democratization of cryptocurrencies enabled by PayPal. Thus, 17% of users surveyed said they had used the PayPal application to sell and buy Bitcoin.
However, 65% of them have expressed their desire to use this digital payment method to pay for their purchases from the 28 million merchants who are partners in the PayPal network. This trend supports the ambitions of its CEO.
In 2021, “we will enable cryptocurrencies to be a source of financing for all transactions with all 28 million merchants. And this will greatly enhance the usefulness of cryptocurrencies,” Schulman said.
But the company’s beginnings in crypto benefit more broadly from the use of its payment solution. Bitcoin is thus making a major contribution to increasing user engagement. Traders in this asset are three times more active than other users.
“Approximately 50% of Bitcoin traders on PayPal reported an increase in PayPal usage after starting to trade Bitcoin,” said the Mizuho Securities study. “By comparison, only 9% reported a decrease in engagement.
However, all is not yet won for PayPal in its quest to democratize cryptocurrencies. Converting new users to these means of payment will take more than a few weeks.
Indeed, only 8% of Bitcoin non-traders actually plan to buy or sell the main crypto currency in the future through the PayPal application. Moreover, 42% are still undecided about this.
The volatility of Bitcoin could be the main obstacle for these users. However, it is not the only cryptocurrency that can be traded from a PayPal account. The service also supports Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, and Litecoin. And in the future, it should also support the state-backed digital currencies, the CBDCs.