PayPal Unveils Direct Crypto Wallet Payments
PayPal has launched a new feature allowing customers to pay businesses directly from their personal cryptocurrency wallets. This update makes it much easier to use digital currencies for everyday purchases, including those across international borders.
What’s a New Feature?
The new system connects a user’s crypto wallet straight to a merchant’s checkout page. This means someone in one country can seamlessly use their cryptocurrency to buy goods from a business in another. For example, a customer in Guatemala could now easily shop with a merchant based in the United States.
This move signals that PayPal is renewing its commitment to digital currencies after taking a step back during the crypto market downturn in 2022.
How Does It Actually Work?
Although the customer pays with crypto, the merchant receives regular money. The process happens in a few simple steps:
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The crypto payment is routed through a digital currency exchange.
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The user's cryptocurrency is sold.
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The value is first converted into PayPal's own stablecoin ($PYUSD) before being settled in US dollars.
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The merchant receives the final payment in dollars, meaning they don't have to handle cryptocurrency themselves.
PayPal's Growing Interest in Crypto
The company first stepped into the crypto world in 2020 by allowing some US users to trade digital currencies like $BTC and $ETH. This was later extended to its Venmo service. Last September, PayPal took another step by letting businesses buy, hold, and sell digital assets from their company accounts.
Its own dollar-backed stablecoin, $PYUSD, has also become more popular, with its total value growing by around 70% since January to approximately $850 million.
What Happens Next?
At the moment, this new checkout feature is only available with a select group of businesses. However, PayPal has confirmed its plans to offer it more widely to large companies in the United States and other international markets, though it has not yet given a specific timeline for this expansion.
