PayPal to open virtual currency services to international users in the first half of 2021

Executives at global payments giant PayPal revealed more details of its big push into crypto in 2021, including plans to support central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), during the company’s third-quarter 2020 earnings call.

“It’s clear that the world is rapidly moving from physical to digital,” said PayPal CEO Dan Shulman, who stressed that the pace of change in payments and financial services is accelerating.

“There is no doubt that digital currencies will grow in importance, functionality and prominence,” Shulman said, citing discussions with central banks, regulators and crypto industry leaders.

“The question for CBDC is when and how, not if.”

Dan Shulman said that through PayPal's scale and visibility, PayPal will "help shape the utility of (CBDC)," including promoting interoperability with existing payment methods and facilitating merchant acceptance of CBDC.

“I do think that our platform and all the new digital infrastructure that we are currently deploying can help improve the efficiency, cost and speed of managing and moving money.”

Last month, PayPal announced that it would launch a service allowing customers to buy, sell and hold crypto assets, which triggered an optimistic response in the virtual currency market.

During the call, the PayPal executive highlighted the strong demand for crypto services from customers. PayPal CEO Shulman noted: “Our users are very eager for us to provide these capabilities.”

While only 10% of PayPal’s U.S. users have access to these crypto services right now, Shulman noted that the rest of the country is expected to be online by December.

“Our waiting list is two to three times longer than we expected.”

He added: “We’re seeing people who have already bought crypto open their wallets several times a day to see how their crypto investments are doing.”

In response to this demand from users, Shulman announced that PayPal will increase the weekly limit for purchasing cryptocurrencies from $10,000 to $15,000.

Shulman also revealed that PayPal's virtual currency service will be available to international users in the first half of next year, and will also be launched on its mobile payment app Venmo.

Shulman added: "Over the next year, you're going to see us move into several different areas."