PayPal CEO opens up for the adoption of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies

PayPal CEO Daniel Schulman during a recent interview with Andrew Ross Sorkin on CNBC's Squawk Box said that cryptocurrency will be more useful in the future.

The evolution of financial services naturally moves towards digital

PayPal CEO (PayPal shares - Ticker: PYPL) said the pandemic may also have played a role in the digitization of financial services. He explained how most consumers have lost interest in cash management and that has made other financial sectors more attractive right now.

Schulman went on to say that all forms of money are based on trust. And that trust offers users a certain level of values ​​in the capacity of those currencies. He also said it's obvious the world is looking at digital payments in a new light and that after PayPal's consultations with other industry players.

In short, it became clear that it was only a matter of time before the new payment method was widely adopted. Schulman noted that identity management, forms of commerce and payment methods, as well as financial services, have become fully digital.

PayPal CEO says Venmo will integrate crypto functionality in the first half of 2021

Daniel Schulman said Venmo will be able to transact crypto by the first half of 2021. He reiterated that PayPal users in the US can already buy, sell and hold cryptocurrencies.

For international users, the features will be unlocked within the next year. This solution will not involve any additional taxation, volatility risk or incremental transaction fees for consumers or traders and will fundamentally enhance the usefulness of cryptocurrencies.

PayPal also revealed that the New York Department of Financial Services had granted PayPal the first license created for the specific use case, thanks to which PayPal users could pay in cryptocurrencies in the more than 28 million points of sale affiliated with the 'company.

Future prospects for PayPal

Schulman also spoke about the company's future plans, expressing enthusiasm for what will be introduced in the short term, namely a significant increase in the usefulness of cryptocurrencies by allowing a user who holds cryptocurrency in a PayPal account, to instantly transfer that cryptocurrency into currency. fiat at a fixed rate.

In this way the volatility is bound to disappear and no additional fees will be charged to execute the crypto-fiat transaction. This represents a low-cost financing mechanism for the company in terms of those transactions.

“But this is just the beginning of what we want to do with crypto capabilities over the next year as we plan to move to a couple of different areas,” the CEO said. He also stressed the importance of working closely with regulators at every stage of the process, seeking to develop what they expect of us to be a market leader in the digital currency space.