PayPal looking to broaden horizons with Crypto Partnerships

During the World Economic Forum in Davos, there have been a lot of talks about crypto and blockchain (much more than Bitcoin). In particular, one piece of information has been standing out—which is PayPal opening to the possibility of embracing crypto.

In a recent interview, the Vice President of the well-known payments company said that they will soon implement all the main services on the blockchains of the main cryptocurrencies. And this was while he was sitting next to a Ripple representative.

As it has been reported, PayPal’s VP Richard Nash, said:

      “Just working slowly in the crypto field with buy/sell/hold in certain jurisdictions. And then looking to work with others to embrace everything we can, whether it be the coins that we have today in PayPal digital wallets, whether it be private digital currencies, whether it be CBDCs in the future.”

It is very positive news for the industry that crypto was being discussed during one of the most influential events in the world. During the event, PayPal confirmed that it will soon be ready to open up to all technologies on the blockchain and roughly to all cryptocurrencies, without limiting the choice of its customers to the core of those with the largest market capitalization.

People that believe in crypto:

Tesla CEO
Uber CEO
Apple CEO
Nvidia CEO
PayPal CEO
Airbnb CEO
Google CEO
Microsoft CEO
Mastercard CEO
Meta Co-Founder
Apple Co-Founder
Reddit Co-Founder
Twitch Co-Founder
Twitter Co-Founder
Morgan Stanley CEO
Goldman Sachs CEO
Charles Schwab CEO

— Blockworks (@Blockworks_) May 26, 2022

Recent years have seen PayPal move into cryptocurrencies and blockchains. The company has been already offering Bitcoin buy and sell options in certain countries, and it announced its own cryptocurrency check-out service in March 2021 that would allow merchants to accept bitcoin payments. PayPal is reportedly also considering launching its own stablecoin.

Richard Nash also said at the World Economic Forum that the company is working hard to support all digital payments which include not only digital currencies but also central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).

An interesting situation, given that PayPal is one of the most important financial intermediaries in the world. And whether Bitcoin specialists and enthusiasts like it or not, it will undoubtedly carry out great standardization work for the entire sector, increasing mass adoption and making the industry much more accessible for people.

The fact that PayPal is having talks with Ripple raised a lot of eyebrows though. In fact, this is happening in a rather particular setting, since Ripple is a company that has already been accused of being on the other side of the fence in this revolution which, at least for the most radical part of the community, is actually aiming to overcome the world connected to the WEF.

Generally speaking, these days have been positive since this was the first World Economic Forum even with a crypto theme. The WEF already has important connections with Ethereum on an institutional level through Aya Miyaguchi, who is the executive director of the Ethereum Foundation. An “ESG influence” that will leave Bitcoin enthusiasts with a bit of resentment.

At the same time, Michael Miebach—the CEO of Mastercard—made a very bold prediction: according to the CEO of the giant payment processor SWIFT (the global cross-border financial settlement platform) will likely disappear in five years due to rapid advancements in blockchain technology and central bank digital currencies.
While still speculative, it does give an interesting thought to the future of blockchain in the finance industry. The future isn’t set in stone quite yet, but it’s clear to see that many leaders in FinTech see the potential use and growth of blockchain technology. As for how far it could go, only time will tell.