The news lately was that everyone that uses PayPal will be able to buy cryptocurrencies through some sort of instant exchange inside the PayPal app, which would probably connect to one of the regulated exchanges in the US.

It was indeed huge as news (or rumor perhaps) as Paypal has more than 300 million accounts, possibly each one representing a single person or entity. In this post, I'd like to briefly discuss two subjects.

1. Cryptocurrency options

One question that arises is which crypto is Paypal considering to add as it seems that there won't be just one cryptocurrency. It seems that Bitcoin is the first candidate, but I doubt that it will be just that. Paypal would certainly want to attract as many crypto enthusiasts (and fees) as possible and while Bitcoin will certainly be their first selection, I think that Paypal is thinking beyond that.

Dan Schulman revealed in the past that he just holds Bitcoin and nothing else, but this does not mean that the rest cryptocurrencies do not offer an opportunity for Paypal and it will be a marketing mistake to exclude a growing market. Altcoins for the last three years is growing. Bitcoin might be forever in the first place of crypto indexes, still, it will keep losing dominance as cryptocurrencies are evolving. Bitcoin is not possible to be used for everything and other coins will cover these needs. There are really intelligent people working to find solutions for many problems concerning many sectors of our economies and industries.

I think that PayPal will surprise everyone by adding options to buy at least five, or maybe even ten cryptocurrencies. I am certain that besides Bitcoin there will be options to buy Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, and XRP. Besides these top five cryptocurrencies, they might be considering adding support for EOS, Cardano, Stellar, Tron, and BNB. I'm not excluding any of these. Paypal has expanded worldwide and is offering its services with more than 25 national currencies. They didn't grow into a payments behemoth by just using the dollar. They are certainly looking into all options available.

2. The effect on the crypto market

It will be huge. I just read this report by a Forbes editor, which is titled "PayPal Deal Won’t Drive Bitcoin Price Higher". I did read the whole article although I suggest you don't as there is no reason to waste time. My conclusion was: "What are these people smoking?". Perhaps this should have been the title of this post. The whole post and their conclussion that paypal won't affect price of cryptocurrencies is simply insane.

First of all, this editor is comparing Paypal with Square's Cash App (which is available for just the US and the UK). It has 20 million users which is less than 10% of Paypal's user base. Meanwhile, PayPal will provide access to more than 300 million people worldwide. Cash App is not even available in the EU, Canada or Australia. I'm impressed by the ignorance of the aforementioned post.

Anyway, the Paypal effect on the whole crypto market will be huge and prices of any cryptocurrency added on Paypal will soar.

Reposted on Uptrennd