Fintech giant PayPal will soon launch a new payments feature that will allow merchants to accept more than a hundred cryptocurrencies at checkout.It is reported that this feature is expected to be launched in the next few weeks, and merchants will be able to accept cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether, and USD Coin, and support payments from wallets such as Coinbase, OKX, Phantom, MetaMask, and Exodus.
When consumers pay with cryptocurrency, the funds are automatically converted into fiat currency or PayPal’s stablecoin PYUSD and deposited into the merchant’s account.
Frank Keller, general manager of PayPal's large enterprise and merchant platform, said in an interview: "There are 650 million users around the world participating in the cryptocurrency market worth US$3 trillion. We hope to allow small and medium-sized enterprises to reach this expanding consumer group."
Keller pointed out that for small businesses that accept international payments, the associated fees often exceed 10%, and transactions can take up to several days to settle.
Data shows that the general rate paid by U.S. merchants to credit card companies in 2024 is 1.57%, and PayPal's charges are lower than this average.
According to PayPal, the “crypto payments” feature will enable transactions to be settled instantly, with an initial fee of 0.99% per transaction. Additionally, merchants who choose to convert their funds to PYUSD can earn approximately 4% on these balances.
“While this space is still in its early stages, consumer demand for crypto payments is growing at an astonishing rate,” Keller said. “When PayPal launches this feature, it brings trust to users,” he added.
Keller replaces Jose Fernandez da Ponte, PayPal’s former general manager of blockchain, cryptocurrency and digital currencies, who left earlier this month. Going forward, PayPal aims to integrate digital assets and blockchain technology more deeply into its open platform.
“We intend to show the outside world that PayPal is a long-term investment in the cryptocurrency track,” Keller emphasized. “We want to play a greater role in this area, and to achieve this goal, we need to scale it and enter the core layer of the payment infrastructure.”
“Imagine a consumer in Guatemala being able to purchase a special gift from an Oklahoma City merchant,” PayPal President and CEO Alex Chriss said in a statement. “With PayPal’s open platform, merchants can accept cryptocurrency payments.”
The move is PayPal’s latest step into the digital asset space. In 2020, PayPal announced that its U.S. users would be able to buy, sell and hold a number of cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and Ethereum.
With the cryptocurrency market recovering and the Trump administration becoming more digital-asset-friendly, PayPal is accelerating its push into the space. The market value of PYUSD, PayPal’s stablecoin launched in 2023, has grown by about 70% since the beginning of the year and is currently about $850 million.