PayPal's 24-hour cryptocurrency trading volume hits record high of $242 million

By MARTIN YOUNG
Source: cointelegraph
Original title: Bullish or bearish? PayPal's crypto trading volume reached $242 million in 24 hours

During January 11, payment giant PayPal's total digital asset transactions reached US$242 million, setting a record high.

According to data from Nomics, a crypto market data aggregation company, PayPal previously set a trading volume of $129 million on January 6. This is nearly double the previous historical record. Since January 1, PayPal's daily trading volume has increased by 950%.

PayPal transaction volumes have surged as Bitcoin hits new all-time highs, with the U.S.-based payments company appearing to be growing in popularity among retail investors.

Alex Saunders of Nuggets News tweeted that retail has arrived. The surge in PayPal transaction volume may be a sign of its increasing adoption by retail investors.

While many in the crypto community have praised PayPal for entering the crypto space and driving new users toward digital assets, others have criticized PayPal for creating a “closed” crypto community and not supporting withdrawals.

Twitter user Toomas Zobel speculated that the surge in trading volume may be caused by the entry of retail investors.

“Is there a way to tell if this is buying volume or selling volume? On this kind of huge volume, it could just be retailers taking profits rather than creating a strong buying phenomenon.”

Nexo CEO Antoni Trenchev previously speculated on the reasons for Bitcoin's plunge from its all-time high of $40,000, noting that "once the price of Bitcoin exceeds $40,000, earnings will reach a high point, triggering a rapid sell-off by small investors, which is understandable. There have been a large number of sell-offs in recent days, and the decline in Bitcoin prices is officially the result of the accumulation of these transactions. Retail activity is worthy of close attention, which can be used to look for signs of a market peak. Many people will panic, take their profits, and then leave, which may have a domino effect on the rest of the market."

Following his comments, discussion began as to whether PayPal’s volume milestone was bullish or bearish.

In October 2020, PayPal selected ItBit to process its crypto transactions after it launched its digital asset trading service.

PayPal expects to offer cryptocurrency services to 26 million merchants in the coming months, which could further drive demand for the company's crypto services.