The partnership announcement between the payments giant PayPal and the issuer of the major stablecoin Paxos Standard Token (PAX) might reportedly be made this week.
PayPal is planning to bring crypto trading to its user base and has chosen New York-based Paxos to handle the new service’s supply of digital assets, reported CoinDesk, citing “two people familiar with the matter.”
As for which cryptoassets PayPal would include in its rumored crypto trading option is not yet known and might be revealed with the official announcement of the partnership itself.
We contacted Paxos and PayPal for a comment and will update should they reply.
This would be a major step in crypto’s journey to mainstream adoption, given that PayPal has been marking a stable rise in its number of total active user accounts in the past decade, according to Statista.
Find more statistics at Statista
In the last quarter of 2019, the company had added 9.3 million users, raising its total active user base to 305 million, “up 14% year-over-year, including 24 million merchants,” but also adding that they expect some 35 million new active accounts in 2020, as CEO Dan Schulman said on an earnings conference call in January this year. Also, the PayPal-owned mobile payment app Venmo had finished 2019 with more than 52 million active accounts.
Meanwhile, as reported, Paxos recently launched Crypto Brokerage, which enables companies to integrate cryptoasset buying, selling, holding and sending capabilities into their own applications. The first customer to go live with this news product is major fintech Revolut US.
Also as reported, there were rumours flying in June that PayPal might be working on a crypto option offering, to enable direct buying and selling from both it and Venmo.
Even before that, the company had decided to set up a blockchain research group, opening up new positions in the US and abroad.
PayPal confirmed in a letter to the European Commission (EC), dated March 2020, that it has taken “unilateral and tangible steps” to “develop its capabilities” in the cryptoasset area.
It is not yet clear if crypto exchanges Coinbase and Bitstamp – also rumoured to be a part of an unconfirmed PayPal crypto deal due to their already established partnerships with PayPal and Revolut, respectively – are indeed involved.
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