PayPal has disclosed $1 billion of crypto holdings in its quarterly earnings report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The fintech owns $499 million in Bitcoin (BTC), $362 million in Ethereum (ETH), and $82 million in Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Litecoin (LTC). Its holdings have risen over 30% since Q4 2022.
PayPal’s Business Threatened by High Interest Rates
PayPal posted adjusted profits of $1.17 per share, up from 88 cents last year, while its revenue rose 10% to $7 billion.
The company slashed its operating margin expansion forecast from 125 to 100 basis points, sending shares sliding 5% in late trading yesterday. Investors suspect the firm’s checkout button cash cow has been losing market share to Apple.
And high interest rates have limited expensive purchases for many, especially low-income clients.
PayPal customers can buy, hold, sell, receive, and send crypto assets and use sale proceeds at checkout. PayPal entrusts custody and safekeeping of crypto assets to third-party trusts. Notable trust firms include Gemini and Coinbase Custody.
Venmo, which PayPal acquired in 2013, allows customers to send Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash to other users and external wallets. Venmo users can also send crypto to PayPal wallets. All Venmo crypto transactions are irreversible.
Earlier this year, PayPal reportedly halted stablecoin development while New York regulators investigated its partner, Paxos.
Payment Providers Drive Crypto Adoption
Trusted payment providers can drive crypto adoption beyond the crypto faithful.
U.S.-based MetaMask wallet holders can buy crypto using PayPal and help onboard users onto Web3, while PayPal debit card customers can purchase crypto on Coinbase.
PayPal competitor Stripe allows crypto companies to buy crypto with fiat. It has an in-game widget to enable gamers to fund wallets.
Mastercard’s EVP of blockchain said the industry is considering blockchain’s next use case. The payments giant recently launched infrastructure and standards to certify transactions between customers and businesses using blockchain networks.
Mastercard rival Visa announced a new project to drive mass stablecoin adoption on public blockchains. Before that, Visa partnered with Circle to offer USDC transactions on certain credit cards.
For BeInCrypto’s latest Bitcoin (BTC) analysis, click here.
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