PayPal Holdings Inc. is doubling down on its crypto push as it announced plans to allow businesses to accept more than 100 cryptocurrencies at checkout, including major tokens like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether’s USDT, and Circle’s USDC.
The ‘Pay with Crypto’ feature, which will roll out in the coming weeks, will let customers pay using digital assets from popular wallets such as Coinbase, OKX, Phantom, MetaMask, and Exodus.
Once payment is made, PayPal will instantly convert the crypto into fiat or its own stablecoin, PYUSD, for deposit into the merchant’s account.
Expanding access to the $3 trillion crypto market
Speaking in an interview with Bloomberg, PayPal’s new general manager of large enterprise and merchant platform, Frank Keller, highlighted the scale of opportunity the move unlocks for merchants.
“You have globally 650 million users that participate in the $3 trillion market of cryptocurrencies. We wanted to give small businesses access to this customer base that is growing,” Keller said.
- With cross-border payments typically costing small businesses upwards of 10% in fees and often taking days to settle, the new crypto payment option promises near-instant settlement and much lower fees.
- PayPal said the initial transaction fee for ‘Pay with Crypto’ will be 0.99%.
- Merchants who choose to convert their crypto proceeds into PayPal’s PYUSD stablecoin could also benefit from attractive yields.
- According to PayPal, businesses will be able to earn about 4% on PYUSD balances held in their accounts, a move that could make stablecoin settlement more appealing than traditional fiat payouts.
Keller noted that consumer demand for crypto payments is rising faster than expected: “It’s still nascent, but it’s surprising how quickly it’s picking up,” he said. “When PayPal turns it on, it creates trust.”
New leadership, bigger crypto ambitions
Keller, who replaces former blockchain and crypto chief Jose Fernandez da Ponte, says his goal is to embed digital assets deeper into PayPal’s core infrastructure.
“We want to show that we’re long-term invested in the crypto space. We want to play a bigger role, and for that to be successful, we need to really scale it to the next level. I took over to really embed it into the core of our payment rails,” he said.
What you should know
Cryptocurrency adoption for payments is rising globally as businesses are recognizing the benefits, such as lower transaction fees (compared to credit cards), faster settlements, global reach, and attracting a new customer base.
- Many businesses utilize crypto payment processors like BitPay, Coinbase Commerce, NOWPayments, and CoinGate.
- However, the adoption is still limited to big businesses and multinationals, which is why PayPal’s ‘Pay with Crypto’ will be a game-changer.
- Global cryptocurrency ownership is projected to reach nearly a billion users by 2026, indicating a growing consumer base that prefers or is open to using crypto for purchases.
