PayPal is giving crypto investors on its platform more flexibility in managing their digital assets holdings. The payments giant plans to add a feature that will allow users to withdraw in crypto and send the fund to third-party wallets.
PayPal vice president and blockchain lead Jose Fernandez da Ponte, who spoke CoinDesk’s Consensus 2021 conference, announced that his company is currently working on the crypto withdrawal function. At present, the company’s platform only allows users to purchase cryptos such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) but they can’t move their crypto holdings outside the platform.
The PayPal executive explained that the move is aimed at giving crypto holders more choices to move their funds. “We want to make it as open as possible, and we want to give choice to our consumers, something that will let them pay in any way they want to pay,” he said.
By introducing the crypto withdrawal function, PayPal users will soon be able to move cryptos into the platform and move them out of the platform as well should they desire. “They want to bring their crypto to us so they can use it in commerce, and we want them to be able to take the crypto they acquired with us and take it to the destination of their choice,” da Ponte added.
He also addressed the rumor that PayPal might be planning to launch its own stablecoin. While he did not exactly deny its possibility, he also hinted that it might not be the right time yet for such a product. “This is way too early,” da Ponte said.
The topic of stablecoins competing against central bank digital currencies was also brought up. However, da Ponte believes that both can co-exist and that one does not necessarily have to dominate the other.
“It absolutely makes sense that central banks will issue their own tokens,” he said. “Sometimes we position the debate as CBDCs versus stablecoins, but it’s a bit of a fake debate. There is no trade-off. We think they will co-exist.”
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