PayPal Extends Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Service to the UK

The San Jose-based online payments giant PayPal is launching its cryptocurrency services in the United Kingdom less than a year after the company first introduced the feature in the United States.

• Eligible customers in the UK will be able to buy, sell, and hold bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies through the PayPal platform beginning this week.
• According to the online payment processor, UK Residents can purchase bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), litecoin (LTC), or bitcoin cash (BCH) for as low as £1.
• The announcement marks PayPal’s first International expansion of its crypto buying and selling services. The company first made the feature available to US customers in November 2020.
• Furthermore, the payment processor will continue to use regulated crypto company Paxos for its services in the UK. Meanwhile, the current expansion could mean more exposure and adoption of crypto assets.
• Indeed, PayPal earlier stated that it was making plans to extend its digital asset buying and selling services globally.
• Since the initial announcement of its foray into crypto back in October 2020, the company has seen massive crypto engagement on its platform and recorded impressive results.
• In July, the firm increased the purchase limit for US residents to $100,000 weekly while eliminating monthly and yearly limits. Pay Pal earlier introduced the Crypto Checkout Service to enable customers to pay with virtual assets at millions of its merchants worldwide.
• Meanwhile, the company’s expansion into the UK comes as the country’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is wielding its regulatory hammer on unregistered exchanges.
• However, according to Jose Fernandez da Ponte, head of PayPal’s crypto and blockchain division, the payments processor has established “strong regulatory relations.”
• PayPal is also working to boosting its crypto services for clients, with the planned launch of a ‘Supper App Wallet‘ in the US. The company is also reportedly working on setting up a cryptocurrency team in Ireland.
• Customers are, however, still not allowed to withdraw their digital assets from PayPal, although the firm promised it is working on enabling such functionality.