There is lots of chatter around PayPal and cryptocurrencies but it is often hard to find out the details and understand what the platform is actually offering. Is it a Crypto exchange, or can you just use your PayPal account to pay for cryptocurrencies, or can you use cryptocurrencies to pay for goods and services as you would with fiat currencies?
We are going to try to take a deep dive and uncover what PayPal is actually offering in our cryptocurrency world and what these newfangled exchanges are. With the cryptocurrency market now worth more than one trillion, it is moving from the margins and taking up itsplace centre stage. In an unstable world, we seem to be seeing a craze for decentralized and digital currencies. Hundreds of virtual currencies are popping up.
Relative turmoil
The early days of Trump’s latest presidency have been synonymous with crypto and speculation, and government policy have ensured the markets are in a constant state of flux. There has been much debate about whether a Trump meme coin launched before his inauguration was a scam for selling collectables or not.
Regardless, it unlocked several phishing scams and attacks that led to accounts being hacked and passwords being stolen in under two minutes.
Crypto exchanges are not places to buy goods or services with your Bitcoin, Ethereum or Tether, but they work like a stock exchange where investors can buy and sell their digital currencies. To the uninitiated, they can appear quite daunting with their talk of margin or lending trading and future and options trading.
Before these exchanges came into being, investors could only obtain crypto via mining or organizing transactions via online and offline forums. Now, there are crypto exchanges operating worldwide with varying levels of security and fee structures. The ideal exchange makes trading easy, has reliable security features and does not charge excessive fees.
Crypto Exchanges still relatively new
Whether centralized or decentralized, they are a very new concept that try to match buyers and sellers. The pros are that they are an easy, hassle-free way to buy cryptocurrencies, allow legitimate trade, and many offer their users tax forms to make it easier for users to work out crypto taxes. Unfortunately, they are vulnerable to hacks and cyber theft; users do not have the right to hold their private keys, and if the exchanges fail, users cannot access their funds or trade places.
This is why many users prefer to trade their cryptocurrencies on an established platform like PayPal. It is quite ironic that PayPal is now regarded as a reliable and almost traditional payment platform when it was once very much the disruptor and challenger. Presumably, at some point in the future, the “disruptor” crypto exchanges will become reliable and totally trustworthy, but for now, the whole exchange market is still quite erratic.
PayPal and Crypto increasingly linked
Over the past year, there has been a good deal of PayPal crypto news coming out of the US, with the company launching a US Dollar Stablecoin (PYUSD) just about eighteen months ago. The coin is backed by US dollar deposits, US treasuries, and similar cash equivalents, and it has a redemption value of US dollar 1.1. The company announced that PYUSD was also available on the Solano Blockchain, claiming this offered consumers faster and cheaper transactions.
MoonPay’s integration with the platform back in May 2024 ensures a seamless fiat-to-crypto experience for US-based PayPal customers. In addition, US merchants can now buy, hold and sell cryptocurrency directly from their PayPal business account, and it has sped up and reduced the costs of cross-border money transfers with Xoom. These integrations mean that people in Asia-Pacific and Africa should have better access to digital financial solutions from a trusted source, and businesses will not be restricted by traditional banking hours.
PayPal’s Senior Vice President of Blockchain, Cryptocurrency and Digital Currencies, Jose Fernandez da Ponte, said,
“Cross-border transactions are an important driver for economic growth and prosperity in developing countries with this step, Xoom and its partners, like Cebuana Lhuillier and Yellow Card, will be able to leverage PayPal’s payment technologies and the blockchain to enable seamless money transfers across borders further.”
PayPal is not an Exchange
However, regardless of all its forays into crypto, PayPal is not a place to trade crypto for crypto; it is more a place to use, exchange and interchange crypto and fiat currencies. One of the areas where crypto is still most widely used is for people who enjoy a punt at an online casino. If you are Canadian, you will know that gambling is very much part of the DNA of the country. While crypto sceptics accuse investing in blockchain currencies as nothing other than a gamble, online casinos make no pretence that they are any more than a great entertainment option.
Just as it can be hard to find a reliable crypto exchange, online casinos can also be a bit hit-and-miss – particularly offshore ones and those that accept cryptocurrencies. Unfortunately, it can all be rather like the Wild West and it can be hard to work out which ones are reputable. Fortunately, while online casinos that accept crypto payments via PayPal might be a fairly recent phenomenon, services that rate and review online casinos are not. For example, Casino.org ranks the top PayPal casinos in Canada, so that players do not have to take a risk. They can just get on with the fun, whether they are using fiat or cryptocurrencies or possibly a mixture of the two.
Ultimately, while you can use PayPal for all kinds of cryptocurrency transactions, it is not a crypto exchange. You can use the platform to buy cryptocurrencies and the platform is also making it easier to use it. It allows consumers to pay for purchases using Bitcoin, Ethereum and other supported currencies with a seamless checkout process. Customers select their preferred currency at checkout – just as they would select a debit or credit card – and PayPal does the rest.
PayPal also offers consumers features such as price alerts and recurring purchases, allowing users to buy, hold, sell, and manage their crypto assets through the platform. It can also be used to transfer crypto to family and friends, whether they are PayPal users or not.
As the world wakes up to the potential of cryptocurrencies, PayPal claims to be leading the charge by unlocking new opportunities for consumers and businesses alike.
Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.