PayPal CEO: We will double down on digital wallets

On Wednesday, PayPal CEO Dan Schulman emphasized during the company's quarterly earnings call that digital wallets will play a key role in the digital payments company's future growth. Schulman said: "We need to double down on digital wallets. We believe this is the future of this industry and the future of PayPal."

Schulman cited several statistics as reasons: more than 50% of PayPal users use the company's digital wallet, customers who use digital wallets make 25% more transactions at checkout than those who don't, and more than 70% of "buy now, pay later" users complete it through the company's digital wallet.

Additionally, the churn rate for digital wallets, or the rate at which customers stop using a service, is 25% lower than for the rest of PayPal’s customer base, according to Schulman.

"At both PayPal and Venmo, we are working to make our digital wallet the center of our consumers' everyday financial lives," Schulman said.

In January, PayPal confirmed that it was also actively exploring stablecoins, or cryptocurrencies pegged to national currencies such as the U.S. dollar.

PayPal also released its first-quarter 2022 earnings report on Wednesday, reporting that the company had total payment volume of $323 billion and transaction revenue totaling approximately $6.5 billion.

In addition, multiple sources said PayPal will close its office in San Francisco, California, which is home to its Xoom business unit, which PayPal acquired in 2015 and focuses on online money transfer technology and services.

PayPal has made inroads into the digital asset space by exploring the development of stablecoins since announcing it would accept cryptocurrency payments in 2021. The company formed an advisory board in February to support efforts related to crypto, blockchain, and digital currencies.

Dan Schulman recently reiterated his positive stance on the cryptocurrency industry. In his view, the combination of digital assets, CBDCs, stablecoins, and digital wallets will "redefine the future financial world." He said, "I am very excited about the impact that encryption and digital ledger technology can bring to the financial system."