Key Takeaways
- PayPal now lets U.S. merchants accept bitcoin and over 100 cryptocurrencies as payment.
- Promotional transaction fees are set below average credit card rates, starting at 0.99%.
- Settlement occurs via stablecoin conversion, with broader expansion planned for the future.
Fintech leader PayPal has introduced a new payment feature that allows U.S. merchants to accept over 100 different cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and Ethereum.
This option is now available to any U.S. business using PayPal’s online payment platform.
Lower transaction fees for merchants
PayPal will offer a promotional transaction fee of 0.99% for the first year, rising to 1.5% thereafter.
Executive Vice President Frank Keller highlighted that these rates are below the 2024 U.S. average credit card fee of 1.57%, according to the Nilson Report.
Keller shared his outlook on blockchain adoption:
“There’s a worldview where you can imagine that the world is moving on chain… I think we will see movement.”
Settlement process leverages stablecoins
To complete a payment, buyers connect their existing bitcoin wallets to the PayPal checkout.
The digital assets are then exchanged on platforms such as Coinbase or Uniswap, converted to PayPal’s stablecoin (PYUSD), and finally settled in U.S. dollars for the merchant.
This process aims to make bitcoin payments accessible for a broad range of merchants.
Ongoing expansion in bitcoin services
PayPal has been active in the bitcoin space since 2020, initially allowing U.S. users to buy, sell, and hold bitcoin and later expanding functionality to Venmo.
After a quieter period during the 2022 market downturn, PayPal resumed its focus, letting businesses hold and sell bitcoin directly from merchant accounts and launching PYUSD, which now has a market cap of around $850 million.
The company plans to extend the new acceptance feature to larger and international merchants, although no timeline has been disclosed.
