PayPal Lets US Business Accounts Buy, Sell, & Trade Crypto

On 25 September, PayPal announced that business accounts can now buy, sell, and trade cryptocurrency directly through their PayPal accounts, potentially expanding the market for the payments giant.

This new feature aims to enhance the utility of digital currencies, facilitating easier transactions for both users and merchants.

While this functionality will be available across the United States for all US merchants, it will initially exclude New York merchants, with no timeline provided for future access.

Having allowed retail users to engage with crypto through PayPal and Venmo for several years, the company recognised a growing demand from business owners for similar capabilities.

Jose Fernandez da Ponte, the senior vice president of blockchain, cryptocurrency, and digital currencies at PayPal, explained:

“Since we launched the ability for PayPal and Venmo consumers to buy, sell, and hold cryptocurrency in their wallets, we have learned a lot about how they want to use their cryptocurrency.”

He added:

"Business owners have increasingly expressed a desire for the same cryptocurrency capabilities available to consumers. We're excited to meet that demand by delivering this new offering, empowering them to engage with digital currencies effortlessly."

This expansion reflects PayPal's commitment to simplifying the navigation of the digital currency landscape for merchants.

External Wallet Transfers for PayPal

In addition to facilitating basic transactions, PayPal has announced that it will allow merchants to transfer cryptocurrency to and from external wallets.

This capability enables business account holders to send and receive supported crypto tokens to eligible third-party wallets.

For enhanced security, merchants will have the option to withdraw their digital assets to external wallets or utilise cold storage solutions.

Furthermore, the company will permit US merchants to conduct on-chain transfers of cryptocurrency to designated third-party wallets.

Notably, PayPal is one of the few recipients of New York's stringent BitLicense and holds a trust license from the state's Department of Financial Services, underscoring its commitment to regulatory compliance in the cryptocurrency space.

PayPal Offering Customers Up to 15% Cash Back on Selected Purchases

Throughout the year, PayPal has focused on enhancing customer transaction experiences.

Recently, the California-based fintech announced an expansion of its rewards programme to encourage customers to select PayPal at checkout.

With the revamped programme, consumers can choose a monthly spending category—such as groceries or clothing—earning 5% cash back on purchases made with their PayPal Debit Mastercard.

Shoppers can accumulate up to $1,000 in cash back within their selected category.

Furthermore, users can combine cash-back offers; for example, if a DoorDash customer designates a specific restaurant as their monthly category, they can earn 5% cash back through their PayPal Mastercard and an additional 10% cash back by saving a DoorDash deal within the PayPal app.

This would yield a total of 15% in rewards, automatically applied at checkout.