PayPal now allows the transfer of digital currencies to external wallets

PayPal now allows the transfer of digital currencies to external wallets

 

In response to growing customer demand, PayPal launched the service that will now allow users to transfer Cryptocurrency from their accounts to other wallets and exchanges.

 

PayPal’s SVP and general manager of blockchain, Crypto and Digital Currencies, Jose Fernandez da Ponte said “This feature was the most demanded from our users since we began offering the purchase of crypto on our platform.”

 

This functionality will let PayPal users transfer supported tokens into PayPal, move cryptocurrency from its app to external crypto addresses including exchanges and wallets and send cryptocurrency to other PayPal users “in seconds.”

 

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Customers will be responsible for network fees on external transfers, which depend on the blockchain platform and vary depending upon the digital currency asset. However, Internal transfers, i.e., PayPal to PayPal will carry no fees.

 

Fernandez da Ponte further said that “If users have crypto somewhere else and want to consolidate, they can bring it to PayPal from external addresses. They can also send crypto to anyone who is in the PayPal system.”

 

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PayPal first allowed its users the ability to trade cryptocurrency in October of 2020. Then, in the March of 2021, PayPal launched Checkout with Crypto, a feature that allowed consumers to check out at millions of online businesses using digital currency. That feature expanded on PayPal’s current investments in the cryptocurrency market, which include its joint venture with Paxos to power its service that allows customers to trade a range of cryptocurrencies and its acquisition of digital currency security startup Curv. At Consensus last year, Fernandez da Ponte confirmed that offering its users the ability to transfer would be next.

 

 

Giving its users the ability to move their digital currency — such as Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), bitcoin cash or litecoin — into, outside of and within PayPal is a move that the company could not avoid if it wanted to keep up with the continued cryptocurrency adoption and not be at risk for being viewed as behind the times in a fast-changing fintech landscape.

 

And despite the recent turbulence in the crypto market, Fernandez da Ponte said that PayPal is moving in this direction “as people are [still] adopting cryptocurrencies.”

 

This new functionality is only available to customers in the U.S.A, and for security reasons, PayPal says that it has implemented an additional identity verification process for users before they can transfer any digital currency. The rollout will be a gradual one with select U.S.A customer’s being able to do so starting today, and with other “eligible” U.S.A customers in the upcoming weeks.

 

PayPal was able to offer the new functionality after transitioning from a “conditional” BitLicense to a “full” one following approval from the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS).

 

Adrienne Harris, Superintendent of NYDFS said that “DFS is committed to keeping New York at the centre of responsible technological innovation and forward-looking regulation.”