It’s official. PayPal has jumped headlong into the cryptocurrency world with partnerships with BitPay, GoCoin, and Coinbase. This will allow them to extend Bitcoin payment options to their merchants.
And, naturally, PayPal has a lot of merchants. Over 8 million, according to their website.
This news comes after PayPal announced earlier this month they would be integrating Bitcoin into their systems, but without revealing any details.
“We chose to work with BitPay, Coinbase and GoCoin because of our commitment to offering innovative and safer ways for businesses to accept payments”, said Scott Ellison, PayPal‘s senior director corporate strategy, in a press release. “All three companies have taken steps to ensure that they know their customers and that those customers are offered certain protections. We believe digital goods merchants will be excited to work with these industry-leading companies to sell ringtones, games and music, and get paid with Bitcoin.”
PayPal’s press release specifically mentions “digital goods” merchants several times, implying that the Bitcoin option will only be available to PayPal merchants who aren’t selling physical items. BitPay’s press release corroborates that theory: “Customers with a bitcoin wallet will be able to pay participating merchants in bitcoin for games, music, videos, news, ebooks, and other digital content,” it reads.
Is PayPal Accepting Bitcoin?
The press release was clear in outlining PayPal’s new relationship with Bitcoin.
Specifically, they pointed out that PayPal had not “added Bitcoin as a currency in our digital wallet or that Bitcoin payments will be processed on our secure payments platform.” Their partnerships with BitPay, Coinbase, and GoCoin will allow them to facilitate those transactions, thought the details of PayPal’s relationship with each of these companies remains unclear.
PayPal is taking baby steps into the world of Bitcoin, and this move is likely the first of many forays.
PayPal has always embraced innovation, but always in ways that make payments safer and more reliable for our customers…That’s why we’re proceeding gradually, supporting Bitcoin in some ways today and holding off on other ways until we see how things develop.
What Could This Mean?
While there are already a number of payment options in place for merchants who wish to accept Bitcoin, none are as visible outside the Bitcoin community as PayPal.
In fact, with 152 million registered users, PayPal is the second largest payment processor online, behind only Google Wallet. Having PayPal embrace Bitcoin could help improve the latter’s public image, especially after mainstream media latched onto some of the more negative events in Bitcoin’s history, like the Silk Road or Mt. Gox.
GoCoin’s Involvement
BitPay and Coinbase are two of the most high profile Bitcoin merchant processors in the Bitcoin space. The two of them have brought on a large number of merchants, including Newegg, heavy metal band Mastodon, rapper 50 Cent, The United Way, Dish, and many others.
But GoCoin’s involvement is perhaps the most interesting of the three. GoCoin processes not only Bitcoin payments, but Litecoin and Dogecoin as well. Could their involvement suggest that PayPal is open to integrating other cryptocurrencies as well?
PayPal Partners With BitPay, Coinbase, And GoCoin To Accept Bitcoin Payments
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