American multinational financial technology company, PayPal, officially announced today that all eligible customers in the United Kingdom can now buy, hold and sell cryptocurrencies using their PayPal accounts.
PayPal is in the business of operating an online payments system in the majority of countries that support online money transfers and serves as an electronic alternative to traditional paper methods such as checks and money orders.
PayPal users can now trade four major cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Litecoin (LTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH). Cryptocurrency trading will only be available to PayPal customers with verified identities.
PayPal had previously announced plans to move into the British cryptocurrency market in late August, immediately proceeding with a partial rollout of crypto trading services. The move marks the first expansion of PayPal’s cryptocurrency services beyond the United States.
PayPal’s entrance into the local crypto market comes as some U.K. banks are cutting payment channels to exchanges. In August, banking giant HSBC said it was suspending credit card payments to Binance, citing “concerns about possible risks” to its customers. Other banks like Barclays and NatWest bank had previously blocked transactions to Binance.
PayPal’s British crypto launch is a “breath of fresh air,” according to Gregory Klumov, CEO of tokenization firm Stasis. He stated, “Since the country is in the world’s top 10 economies, such a milestone will clearly drive the continued adoption of digital assets in Europe and beyond.”
PayPal is currently trading at $278.11 on the NASDAQ exchange as at the time of this writing. Year-to-Date, the stock is up approximately 20%.
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Nairametrics had reported the launch of PayPal’s cryptocurrency services to its U.K. customers early last month.
