After a limited buy / sell / hold crypto trade that ‘exceeded expectations’, PayPal CEO Dan Schulman said today on the company’s Q4 revenue that the payment giant is ready to double cryptocurrencies .
“We also saw an exceptional response during our crypto launch,” said Dan Schulman, CEO of PayPal. ‘[…] The amount of crypto traded on our platform far exceeded our expectations. ”
Schulman said crypto will be accepted ‘as a source of funding when [users] buy from one of our 29 million traders’ late in the first quarter, and by 2021 will be an ‘extensive roadmap around crypto, blockchain and digital currencies’.
Schulman added that PayPal is actively working with regulators and central banks to shape the future of a post-physical cash world.
“We are investing significantly in our new crypto, blockchain and digital currency unit,” he said.
Analysts expected a 3.87% increase in total accounts to 375 million, as well as $ 266.8 billion in total payments processed, an 8% increase over the third quarter; the company beat both expectations by processing $ 277 billion and 377 million in total accounts. The company also reported $ 21.45 billion in revenue.
The company’s fourth-quarter investment update material also promises ‘digital currencies’ as ‘a key focus area.’
In addition, the company said that its initiative “Buy, hold and sell cryptocurrencies” will expand to “Venmo and international markets” in 2021. The company also noted that users of their crypto services will become more active users of PayPal after the purchase of crypto, reporting twice as often.
Ultimately, PayPal’s material reflected Schulman’s statements, saying a “trading experience” would be launched in 2021, which would “provide cryptocurrency as a source of financing to pay at PayPal’s 29 million merchants worldwide.” These integrations will be settled in fiat, and will free traders from conversion fees.
In November, PayPal took an important step towards accepting digital assets by enabling its US users to buy crypto directly through the app. Customers in the United States are limited to $ 20,000 per week. Since then, the crypto trading volume on the platform has reached a record high, peaking at $ 242 million in January 11 transactions.
The platform has also announced plans that customers will use cryptocurrencies from 2021 to buy from one of the 26 million merchants in its network, a goal that was confirmed during the Q3 2020 earnings call. At the time, PayPal executives indicated that the central bank’s digital currencies were ‘a matter of when and how this is done, and not if’.