PayPal and Venmo To Reportedly Roll Out Crypto Buying and Selling
PayPal is reportedly planning to roll out direct cryptocurrency sales to its 325 million users, according to three unnamed sources familiar with the matter. The fintech giant is currently a withdrawing option from exchanges like Coinbase, but could add its own crypto offering.
A “well-placed industry source” reportedly told CoinDesk:
“My understanding is that they are going to allow buys and sells of crypto directly from PayPal and Venmo. They are going to have some sort of a built-in wallet functionality so you can store it there.”
The source added PayPal would be “working with multiple exchanges to source liquidity,” while a second source confirmed the fintech giant is eyeing a cryptocurrency-related offering and added the service is expected to be launched “in the next three months, maybe sooner.”
San Francisco-based Coinbase and Luxembourg-based Bitstamp were listed as likely contenders, with PayPal having a known longstanding relationship with Coinbase.
Various fintech apps are now offering cryptocurrencies and making money doing so. Square, the payments app launched by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, rolled out bitcoin purchases in mid-2018, while London-based Revolut began offering crypto in 2017 via a partnership with Bitstamp.
Robinhood, a popular fintech app believe to be fuelling the retail boom in equities day trading, started offering crypto in February 2018.
