Online payment giant PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL) records a surge in engagement numbers from cryptocurrency holders using its app.
Speaking during Investor Day 2021, the company’s President and CEO Dan Schulman notes that at least 50% of crypto holders open Paypal’s app daily, five months after allowing cryptocurrency trading.
In this line, PayPal is now courting the digital currency sector as a critical segment towards its future growth strategy. PayPal currently allows the trading of Bitcoin, Ether, and Litecoin for U.S. customers. Sources close to the company further indicate plans to roll out the United Kingdom feature.
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The entry of PayPal into the cryptocurrency sector contributed immensely to the current Bitcoin rally. This comes as the Bitcoin bull run continues having hit an all-time high of $49,000 on February 12.
PayPal CEO Dan Schulman now considers Bitcoin to become a key player in the financial world.
“There’s no question that digital currencies and the underlying technology have the potential to drive the next wave in financial services,” said Dan Schulman.
Besides cryptocurrency trading, PayPal plans to enable users to pay with crypto across the 29 million merchants. The feature is likely to roll out within the first quarter of 2021.
PayPal new products to spur active accounts growth
PayPal is also hoping other newly launched products in 2020 like buy now, pay later, and QR codes emulate digital asset trading’s success. At the same time, PayPal’s other product Venmo will add cryptocurrencies during the current quarter.
Due to the growing product portfolio, PayPal CEO Schulman expects the company to have 750 million active accounts in five years from 377 million in 2020. He notes that the firm is actively working with the product, compliance, and risk teams to deploy new features.
The new products line also helped PayPal post strong 2020 Q4 earnings. The total payment volume grew 39% to $277 billion, beating Wall Street’s $267.7 billion estimates.
PayPal one-stop app ambitions
The product line-up is part of making PayPal a one-stop platform for daily financial services. Jonathan Auerbach, PayPal’s EVP and chief strategist, notes that:
“Our crypto services will help broaden the range of financial services offered through the PayPal and Venmo apps, supporting the transformation of those apps to being ‘destination apps’ so not only for financial services but for commerce.”
PayPal is among the leading financial institutions that are making strides towards the cryptocurrency sector. For instance, Visa (NYSE: V) and Mastercard (NYSE: MA) set up rails to process crypto transactions.
Simultaneously, electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) recently revealed it had invested $1.5 billion in Bitcoin. The revelation largely contributed to the new all-time high by the asset. Similarly, cab-hailing firm Uber recently stated that it is open to allow cryptocurrency payments.
Related video: Dan Schulman, PayPal’s President and CEO, talks about the key achievements and the future growth during PayPal Investor Day 2021 event.
