For years one of the key adoption drivers for cryptocurrency has been getting the biggest payment platforms to adopt crypto. For example, people only dreamed of the day when PayPal would accept cryptocurrency onto it's platform. Well, that day has come and it includes Venmo as well.
When it comes to mass adoption, cryptocurrencies received a major boost this past week after PayPal, the online payments giant that has a $239 billion market capitalization, announced the addition of four major cryptocurrencies to its product offerings. Starting in 2021, users can buy, hold and sell Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, and Litecoin directly from their PayPal account.
With the announcement came a big jump in the overall prices of crypto, with Bitcoin rising to nearly to $14K USD, and other coins following suit. Since then, there has been a slight correction but the markets remain positive.
PayPal stated that customers will be able to use cryptocurrency holdings to fund their purchases with 26 million merchants worldwide. To provide a seamless experience, no service fee is charged for the buying or selling crypto through the end of the 2020 year. Additionally, no fees will be charged for holding cryptocurrency in a PayPal account.
In 2009, Venmo was created as a competitor to PayPal in the payments space, and in 2020 Braintree bought Venmo. In 2013, Paypal acquired Braintree, so they are the parent company of Venmo, which crypto is supposed to extend over to Venmo also in 2021.
PayPal has 346 million users, and Venmo has 52 million users and dominates the mobile payments market. Combined that is nearly 400 million new active users that are going to be exposed to crypto. If PayPal sees success supporting crypto, it's almost a given that other competitors will soon follow as well, including Revolut and Square, which is owned by Jack Dorsey who already supports cryptocurrency. This could lead to even Google Pay adopting crypto payments also.
Amazing