PayPal now allows all eligible U.S. users to buy, hold and sell cryptocurrency directly with PayPal

Last month, we wrote about PayPal after the payment giant joined the cryptocurrency market, allowing customers to buy, sell, shop, and hold bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies on its network. Now, PayPal is opening up its cryptocurrency services to all eligible U.S. users. In an announcement on Thursday, PayPal said the services will now be available to all its customers in the United States.

“We are pleased to announce that all eligible PayPal accountholders in the U.S. can now buy, hold and sell cryptocurrency directly with PayPal,” the payment company said in a statement today.

As part of the new crypto service, PayPal customers will be able to use cryptocurrencies to shop at the 26 million merchants on its network starting in early 2021, the company said in a statement.

PayPal hopes the service will encourage the global use of virtual coins and prepare its network for new digital currencies that may be developed by central banks and corporations, President and Chief Executive Dan Schulman said in an interview.

“We are working with central banks and thinking of all forms of digital currencies and how PayPal can play a role,” he said.

On an earnings call earlier this month, PayPal CEO Daniel Schulman remarked that “our base is very eager for us to offer these capabilities” and that the firm’s waiting list was bigger than expected.

A representative referenced the degree of demand in the email, noting how PayPal is also lifting its weekly purchase limit for cryptocurrencies as well.

“Due to initial demand from our customers, we’ve also increased our weekly cryptocurrency purchase limit from $10K/week to $20K/week,” the spokesperson said.