After teasing the Bitcoin community with a new promotional video, PayPal has announced that it would soon be integrating Bitcoin into its systems.
Merchants who currently use PayPal will soon be able to accept Bitcoin as well.
This news comes a few months after a report by Laureate Trust which claims Bitcoin is set to overtake PayPal in transaction volume, putting it at just $15 million shy of PayPal’s $315 million in daily transactions.
If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em, I guess.
Significance
PayPal isn’t the first mobile payment processor to begin integrating Bitcoin. Galaxia, Mollie, Stripe, and others have all beaten PayPal to the punch.
But PayPal is certainly the biggest dog in the Bitcoin room.PayPal is the second largest online payment processor on Earth after Google Wallet. As of December 2013, it was processing around 8 million payments daily, with over 137 million active accounts in 193 markets and 26 currencies worldwide.
According to Factbrowser, a research aggregator, a third of US ecommerce shoppers use PayPal as their preferred online payment method, and nearly half of US specialty retailers make use of PayPal for online transactions.
PayPal Loves Bitcoin
This move has been a long time coming, and many saw it as inevitable.
PayPal announced a confirmation of rumours its BrainTree platform would be integrating Bitcoin into its platform.
Peter Thiel, PayPal’s CEO, has long been a proponent of Bitcoin, saying it has the potential to change the world. He’s an investor in BitPay, and obviously has an interest in online payment systems.
All-Out War With Apple?
This annuoncement came around the same time Apple announced its new Apple Pay system. Apple’s clear intention to get involved in the payment processing industry could take a bite out of PayPal’s revenue.
Is Bitcoin adoption PayPal’s way of fighting back? After all, Apple Pay seems designed to appeal to average, every day consumers who may have a more casual interest in tech from the convenience perspective. Bitcoin, conversely, appeals more to tech-savvy people.
Bitcoin’s Revival?
Bitcoin experienced a massive price spike last year, peaking at around $1250 USD before coming back down.
The price this year has been relatively stable by comparison, rarely straying outside the area of $500-700 USD.
Many investors are hoping for another price surge, and PayPal’s latest announcement could lead to a price rally.
However, PayPal’s news shouldn’t get anyone running to cash in their life savings just yet.
While PayPal’s adoption will go a long way toward helping improve Bitcoin’s public image and lend legitimacy to the currency which suffered one publicity nightmare after another this year, it isn’t the be all, end all. After all, if PayPal’s merchants don’t decide to integrate Bitcoin into their systems, what difference will it make?
The true impact of PayPal’s adoption has yet to be seen, but this may be looked back upon as a watershed moment in Bitcoin’s adoption and development.
This is certainly good news.
PayPal Adopts Bitcoin
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