Paypal has launched a “checkout with crypto” service allowing users to pay with crypto at merchants worldwide that accepts Paypal. The service has been rolled out initially for users living in the United States. It’s a big move towards revolutionizing the crypto industry and the global economy, taking us one step closer to the new economy.
Paypal announced last year that it will start accepting cryptocurrency as a form of payment and it already allowed users in the United States to buy, sell and hold cryptocurrency. Now, the company has rolled out the new service allowing users to shop with cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum (ETH), Bitcoin (BTC), Litecoin (LTC), or Bitcoin Cash (BCH). For the payment flow to work, users need to have enough amount of crypto in their account’s wallet and it could be of any type listed and supported by the Paypal exchange.
To start paying with crypto, users will have to select Paypal during the checkout which will take them to the payment gateway where the “checkout with crypto” option will appear automatically if you have enough balance to cover the purchase, and then it will show USD converted to an equivalent amount of crypto selected. Then, it will sell the crypto on users’ behalf in order to convert it to the fiat currency, USD in this case, and proceed with the checkout with no additional transaction fees. For merchants living outside the US, the platform will then further convert the USD into local currency at standard Paypal conversion rates.
The newly added feature will automatically appear in the Paypal wallet at checkout for customers holding a sufficient amount of crypto in their Paypal wallet. It will allow only one type of cryptocurrency for each purchase.
“With Checkout with Crypto, cryptocurrency is another way for customers to pay and businesses to get paid, adding enhanced utility for cryptocurrency holders,” said the company.
The move has made Paypal a major payment platform right now and has become one of the first platforms to accept cryptocurrency and it will surely help in further mainstream adoption of digital currencies and boost the crypto market.
“As the use of digital payments and digital currencies accelerates, the introduction of Checkout with Crypto continues our focus on driving mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies while continuing to offer PayPal customers choice and flexibility in the ways they can pay using the PayPal wallet,” said Dan Schulman, president, and CEO, PayPal.
“Enabling cryptocurrencies to make purchases at businesses around the world is the next chapter in driving the ubiquity and mass acceptance of digital currencies.”