As the adoption and usage of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies increases around the world, fintech giants are starting to include the same in their basket of offerings. The latest update on this front is from Paypal after it announced that it will extend its cryptocurrency services in the United Kingdom.
This means that customers in the U.K will be able to buy, hold, and sell cryptocurrencies through their Paypal accounts from this week. Prior to this move, Paypal had started offering these services in the United States in November last year.
The crypto-features offered by Paypal provide customers with access to digital currencies including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash.
Jose Fernandez da Ponte, PayPal’s General Manager for Blockchain, Crypto, and Digital Currencies, told CNBC that they are hoping for this expansion to perform as well as it did in the U.S. He added,
“Our global reach, digital payments expertise, and knowledge of consumer and businesses, combined with rigorous security and compliance controls provides us the unique opportunity, and the responsibility, to help people in the U.K. to explore cryptocurrency.”
Paypal’s foray into the country’s crypto-market could greatly drive up usage and ownership, which fares really low when compared to other nations. In fact, it is at a mere 8% of the total population. Da Ponte further told CNBC that since crypto-investments require a level of sophisticated understanding, “having that on a platform like ours makes a really good entry point.”
According to the exec, this move is in compliance with the U.K’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). This is a key declaration, especially since the agency has wielded its regulatory powers freely of late. In fact, the FCA banning Binance from operating in the country was a case in point.
