PayPal Holdings, Inc. on Tuesday announced it will be providing its users the opportunity to buy, hold and sell cryptos directly from their PayPal account by early next year.

It also hinted at a strategy to significantly boost its crypto’s utility capability by making it readily available as a funding source for purchases at its 26 million clients globally.

In a press statement seen by Nairametrics, Dan Schulman, president, and CEO, PayPal, gave key insights on why the global payment company was going crypto; “The shift to digital forms of currencies is inevitable, bringing with it clear advantages in terms of ; 

• financial inclusion and access,
• efficiency
•  speed 
• resilience of the payments system 
• and the ability for governments to disburse funds to citizens quickly.”

“Our global reach, digital payments expertise, two-sided network, and rigorous security and compliance controls provide us with the opportunity, and the responsibility, to help facilitate the understanding, redemption, and inter-operability of these new instruments of exchange,” he said.

Furthermore, he said, “We are eager to work with central banks and regulators around the world to offer our support and to meaningfully contribute to shaping the role that digital currencies will play in the future of global finance and commerce.”

This offering was made possible through a partnership with Paxos Trust Company, a regulated provider of crypto services and products.

PayPal was also granted a conditional Bitlicense by the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS), In a statement credited to Linda A. Lacewell, superintendent, NYDFS, she said; “NYDFS’ approval today follows our June 2020 announcement for a new framework for a conditional Bitlicense to encourage, promote, and assist interested institutions to have a well-regulated way to access the New York virtual currency marketplace in a way that is both timely and protective of New York consumers, through partnerships with New York authorized virtual currency firms.”

She continued, “NYDFS will continue to encourage and support financial service providers to operate, grow, remain and expand in New York and work with innovators to enable them to germinate and test their ideas, for a dynamic and forward-looking financial services sector, especially as we work to build New York back better in the midst of this pandemic.”

Nigerian millennials in the past few weeks have taken to the streets in unprecedented numbers, kicking against the abuse done by a significant number of law enforcement officers, most specifically, the disbanded Special Anti-robbery Squad (SARS).

As the protest rages on, various rights groups have set up funds to provide participants, support, while they glamour for the long-overdue reforms.

READ: #EndSARS protest: Lagos loses N234 million to tollgates closure

READ: CBN to sanction exporters who default on export proceed number

Feminist Coalition, recently gave reasons why it’s now switching to crypto. The group said;

“We’re moving to only accepting donations in Bitcoin using BTC Pay. BTC Pay is a free, secure, decentralized, and censorship-resistant platform, which makes it our best option, given the past few days #EndPoliceBrutalityinNigeria. Please donate here: https://donatebtc.feministcoalition2020.com”

READ: President Buhari signs amended Companies Allied Matters bill

We're moving to only accepting donations in Bitcoin using BTC Pay. BTC Pay is a free, secure, decentralized and censorship-resistant platform, which makes it our best option, given the past few days #EndPoliceBrutalityinNigeria

Please donate here: https://t.co/FvsEKetUL9

— feministcoalition (@feminist_co) October 15, 2020

The fast-rising Nigerian rights group provides logistics, aid to Nigerians pressing for Police reforms via street protests disclosed they raised about 8 bitcoins valued at over $88,0000 and other cash donations.

All balances
NGN 34,610,019.13
USD 11,474.34
CAD 5,595.89
GBP 5,733.49
EUR 875.42
GHS 1,256.70
KES 53,016.60
BTC 7.82026017

2/2#EndSARS

— feministcoalition (@feminist_co) October 19, 2020

Why this matters

The donations are used in providing medical and legal bills for some Nigerians arrested in recent days, and most importantly to hire private security guards in protecting them against armed gangs, who of late have tried to discredit the theme of the peaceful protests.

READ: Hackers, expose crypto wallets worth $150 million at Kucoin

Another critical macro making many Nigerian millennials use crypto amid protest for reforms is basically because the #EndSARS protests in principle is decentralized. There is no known centralized authority coordinating the protest, and not forgetting, the much advantage cryptos have over fiat currencies are that they are decentralized finance assets, meaning, funds can’t be controlled, blocked or disengaged by any central authority.

Also, crypto donations are very secure, and privacy concerns kept at a minimal level, on the basis you don’t disclose your personal details when making such transfers.

READ: COVID-19: Short-term reforms needed to reduce impacts on the Nigerian economy -NESG

Backstory

Nairametrics had earlier given vital insights on how for years, young Nigerians, mostly via social media, have called for the notorious Police unit to be disbanded and rogue elements in the force brought to justice. Despite repeated promises by the government, they have failed to heed to the demands, triggering a new wave of protests that have now spread across the country.

READ: #EndSARS: President Buhari promises extra-judicial killings investigations, Police reform

The world’s most valuable crypto exchange, Coinbase, recently disclosed that it had a significant number of requests from law enforcement agencies in the world’s largest economy, U.S, and other parts of the globe.

In its first-ever Transparency Report, Coinbase disclosed that it currently serves about 38 million customers globally, thus it collected 1,914 requests from global law enforcement and government agencies in H1,2020 that sought to get details on customers’ details and their financial data.

READ: 3 Crypto exchanges control about 14.3% circulating BTC supply

Unsurprisingly, the United States leads the pack with 58% of such requests; others include law enforcement agencies from the United Kingdom, Germany, and France which filed for 441, 176, and 45 information requests, respectively.

READ: Over $500 million dollars worth of Bitcoins withdrawn from BitMEX

READ: Hackers, expose crypto wallets worth $150 million at Kucoin

Why this matters: The leading American U.S crypto exchange believes that trust is optimized through transparency and honesty via releasing a Transparency Report that shares insights into how it handles legitimate government requests for some customers’ data.

READ: NNPC releases audited financial statements, refineries record losses of N154 billion

Coinbase believes that transparency reports like this should be encouraged, in spite of the opaque reporting seen by many startups, especially in financial services. It believes that it is important, not just for crypto companies, but for fintechs and banks at large to shed light on financial data sharing practices, and contribute to the understanding of industry trends in a meaningful way.

READ: Crypto: Celo gains over 50% within a day, as Coinbase announces its listing

Insights

• 58% of all requests come from US agencies.
• 90% of all requests come from three jurisdictions: the U.S., UK, and Germany.
• 16% of all U.S. requests come from state or local authorities.

READ: CBN reacts to videos, pictures of new N2,000 and N5,000 in circulation