Less than a year after the initial crypto steps in the US, PayPal has enabled eligible customers from the UK to interact with digital assets as well.
The San Jose-based online payments giant PayPal is launching its cryptocurrency services in the United Kingdom less than a year after the company first introduced the feature in the United States.
Eligible customers in the UK will be able to buy, sell, and hold bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies through the PayPal platform beginning this week.
According to the online payment processor, UK Residents can purchase bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), litecoin (LTC), or bitcoin cash (BCH) for as low as £1.
The announcement marks PayPal’s first International expansion of its crypto buying and selling services. The company first made the feature available to US customers in November 2020.
Furthermore, the payment processor will continue to use regulated crypto company Paxos for its services in the UK. Meanwhile, the current expansion could mean more exposure and adoption of crypto assets.
Indeed, PayPal earlier stated that it was making plans to extend its digital asset buying and selling services globally.
Since the initial announcement of its foray into crypto back in October 2020, the company has seen massive crypto engagement on its platform and recorded impressive results.
In July, the firm increased the purchase limit for US residents to $100,000 weekly while eliminating monthly and yearly limits. Pay Pal earlier introduced the Crypto Checkout Service to enable customers to pay with virtual assets at millions of its merchants worldwide.
Meanwhile, the company’s expansion into the UK comes as the country’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is wielding its regulatory hammer on unregistered exchanges.
However, according to Jose Fernandez da Ponte, head of PayPal’s crypto and blockchain division, the payments processor has established “strong regulatory relations.”
PayPal is also working to boosting its crypto services for clients, with the planned launch of a ‘Supper App Wallet‘ in the US. The company is also reportedly working on setting up cryptocurrency team in Ireland.
Customers are, however, still not allowed to withdraw their digital assets from PayPal, although the firm promised it is working on enabling such functionality.
Anthonia is a fintech writer who has been involved in the crypto space since 2017 covering developments across regulations, adoption, and several other aspects of the Industry. When not neck-deep in the crypto news cycle, Anthonia spends her free time globetrotting and playing video games.