Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin are now available to Paypal’s U.K customers
As the adoption and usage of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies increases around the world, fintech giants are starting to include the same in their basket of offerings. The latest update on this front is from the global payments firm, Paypal, which recently announced that it will extend its cryptocurrency services in the United Kingdom.
This means that customers in the UK will be able to buy, hold and sell cryptocurrencies through their Paypal accounts this week onwards. Prior to this move, Paypal had started offering these services in the United States, in November last year.
The crypto features offered by Paypal provide customers with access to digital currencies including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash.
Jose Fernandez da Ponte, PayPal’s general manager for blockchain, crypto, and digital currencies, told CNBC that they are hoping for this expansion to perform as well as it had in the US. He further stated,
“Our global reach, digital payments expertise, and knowledge of consumer and businesses, combined with rigorous security and compliance controls provides us the unique opportunity, and the responsibility, to help people in the U.K. to explore cryptocurrency.”
Paypal’s foray into the country’s crypto market could greatly drive up usage and ownership, which fares really low as compared to other nations, at a mere 8% of the total population. Da Ponte further told CNBC that since crypto investments require a level of sophisticated understanding, “having that on a platform like ours makes a really good entry point.”
He also mentioned that this move was in compliance with the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), as the regulatory body had started to eye crypto businesses increasingly. In a bid to crackdown on cryptocurrency exchanges that do not meet its registration requirements, the FCA had recently banned Binance from operating in the country.
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Anjali Jain, @KhareemSudlow