PayPal brings crypto support to Venmo
PayPal announced Tuesday that it's extending its crypto support to the Venmo platform, allowing users to buy, hold and sell cryptocurrency through the Venmo app.
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In October, PayPal received a conditional license from the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) that allowed US users of its core PayPal and Venmo services to buy, hold, and sell cryptocurrencies. The functionality was launched earlier this year on the PayPal platform, so today's news is basically an extension of existing crypto support on PayPal to Venmo.
"The launch of the feature furthers PayPal's commitment to educating its customers on the potential of digital currencies as they continue to grow and drives understanding and utility of cryptocurrencies on a mass scale," PayPal said in a blog post.
PayPal has been investing significantly in adding cryptocurrency support across its platform, including the creation of a new business unit focused deploying an extensive product roadmap around crypto, blockchain and digital currencies. Last month the company enabled a new feature that allows customers to use cryptocurrency to purchase certain items online.
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The feature, called Checkout with Crypto, builds on the ability to buy, hold and sell cryptocurrency with PayPal. It works by giving customers the ability to sell cryptocurrency through PayPal to fund select online purchases as part of the checkout flow.
Cryptocurrency holdings are converted to US dollars at checkout, with clear conversion rates and no additional fees, PayPal said. Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum or Bitcoin Cash are the digital currencies currently supported.
Also in March, PayPal announced its acquisition of Curv, a startup based in Tel Aviv that provides security infrastructure for digital assets and blockchains. Curv and its team of technologists will join PayPal's newly formed crypto group and its technology will form the security layer for PayPal's own digital assets.