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News: PayPal introduces direct trading of cryptocurrencies

source-logo  en.cryptonomist.ch 12 September 2023 09:17, UTC

Important crypto news from PayPal, which recently unveiled its cryptocurrency-to-dollar conversion service.

Leveraging its existing “on-ramp” service, which allows customers to purchase cryptocurrencies, the leader in electronic payments has now introduced an “off-ramp” service.

This new service allows users (currently available only in the United States) to easily convert their digital assets into dollars directly from their PayPal wallet.

This way, they can use the funds to make purchases, send them to other users, or transfer them to their bank account or debit card. See below for all the details.

Summary

News: PayPal leads Web3 payments crypto revolution with simplified access to decentralized payments

As anticipated, Silicon Valley-based payment company PayPal announced through a statement on its blog Monday that it has introduced a new service related to cryptocurrencies.

This new initiative allows users to easily convert their crypto assets into US dollars while presenting off-ramp services for its customers.

PayPal already operates an on-ramp service that allows customers to purchase cryptocurrencies.

Now, the company is extending the range of services with an off-ramp, making it easier for users to convert their digital assets into traditional money.

In their official communication, the company stated the following:

“With the introduction of off-ramp services, crypto wallet users in the US can now directly convert their cryptocurrencies into US dollars from their PayPal wallet. This allows them to make purchases, send money, store funds, or transfer funds to their bank account or debit card.”

Currently, this service is available for digital wallets, decentralized applications (dApps) and non-fungible token (NFT) marketplaces and is already operational on MetaMask.

PayPal also pointed out that Web3 merchants can integrate the service off-ramp, taking advantage of robust security measures and tools for fraud management, refunds and dispute resolution.

All of PayPal’s latest crypto news

As we know, in recent months, the payments giant has greatly expanded its operations in the cryptocurrency field. Not surprisingly, this latest development comes just a month after PayPal launched its stablecoin pegged to the US dollar on the Ethereum blockchain.

The PYUSD stablecoin was developed in collaboration with Paxos and will soon be available to PayPal’s US customers in the coming weeks.

The company has also partnered with Coinbase to facilitate cryptocurrency transactions in Europe, making it easier for Europeans to purchase cryptocurrencies.

Finally, recently, crypto wallet maker Ledger announced a new integration that allows US customers to purchase cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and Ethereum Classic (ETH) using their PayPal accounts.

The latest statements by David Marcus, former PayPal executive

In an interview with CNBC on 11 September, David Marcus, a former PayPal executive and co-founder of Lightspark, a Bitcoin (BTC)-focused payment service, expressed his belief about the potential of Bitcoin’s Lightning Network in simplifying the complicated process of transferring funds between different jurisdictions.

As we know, the Lightning Network is designed to make BTC transactions more convenient, efficient and suitable for small payments. It handles BTC transactions independently before registering them on Bitcoin’s main blockchain.

David Marcus, in this interview, shared his opinion that despite his efforts to push the world beyond the current “global payments fax era,” he does not believe Bitcoin will ever become a widely adopted payment method.

The former executive, specifically, provided an example by stating:

“If you want to communicate with someone, you could simply ask for their email address and send them an email instantly, or you could send a message. But there is no universal protocol for transferring money over the Internet.”

Marcus explained that in order to transfer funds to non-US residents, it would be necessary to obtain a bank account number and pay a $50 fee for an international wire transfer at a local bank, adding with a touch of irony that “if it’s after 5 AM on a Friday, tough luck.”

Prior to his involvement with Bitcoin, Marcus had worked on NOVI, a stablecoin wallet software developed by Meta, but resigned from the company at the end of November 2021 citing his “entrepreneurial DNA” as the main reason, following an unsuccessful partnership and regulatory hurdles. After six months, he launched the Lightspark service.

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