Payments giant PayPal is hiring crypto talent in Ireland

Global payments giant PayPal is hiring for several cryptocurrency-related positions at its Irish offices, the Irish Independent reported on Sunday, further highlighting the company’s ambitions in the fast-growing digital asset market.

The new hires will help PayPal expand its cryptocurrency-focused business as Bitcoin and Ethereum quickly gain popularity.

PayPal launched a dedicated crypto and blockchain business unit earlier this year to support its push into the cryptocurrency space, which initially began in October 2020, allowing U.S. customers to buy Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin.

In March, the company expanded its services to allow U.S. customers to pay for goods and services using their digital assets. Two months later, PayPal said it would allow customers to withdraw their cryptocurrencies to third-party wallets.

PayPal CEO Dan Schulman said in April that his company's crypto business had exceeded all expectations in its first six months of operations. The rapid popularity of digital assets such as Bitcoin and Ethereum coincided with a massive surge in prices, pushing the valuation of the entire cryptocurrency market to nearly $2.6 trillion. Despite a sharp price correction between May and July, the cryptocurrency market appears to have bottomed out and is now on the rise again.

During PayPal’s quarterly earnings call last week, Schulman said the company’s crypto trading service will come to the U.K. in the near future, and crypto payments will be available in Europe by early August. He said upgrades that could speed up payment processing are also in the works.

PayPal is not the only platform that wants to enter the Irish cryptocurrency market. The US cryptocurrency exchange Kraken will establish a European branch in Ireland and is currently building a team in Dublin to support its European operations. Bank of New York Mellon (BNY Mellon) is also interested in entering the Irish crypto market.

Crypto companies are targeting Ireland because of their current lack of Bitcoin adoption. Many citizens in the European region are not aware of cryptocurrencies, and Ireland could become a country with a large number of cryptocurrency users.