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PayPal now allows its merchants to accept Bitcoin

By Maria Santos

Last Updated: Jan 2, 2018

PayPal now allows all its merchants to accept Bitcoin. The good news was “shared” via a filing recently submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The document states that a merchant using PayPal can “integrate with Braintree to begin accepting payments with credit or debit cards, PayPal, Venmo, digital currencies such as Bitcoin, or other payment solutions with a single integration.” The original filing reads:-

“A merchant can typically open a standard PayPal account and begin accepting payments through PayPal within a few minutes. Most online or mobile merchants can onboard quickly and are not required to invest in new or specialized hardware. Our Payments Platform supports growth with a variety of value-added services designed to help businesses of all sizes manage their cash flow, invoice clients, pay bills, and reduce the need for merchants to receive and store sensitive customer financial information. For our standard service, we do not charge merchants setup or recurring fees. A merchant can also integrate with Braintree to begin accepting payments with credit or debit cards, PayPal, Venmo, digital currencies such as Bitcoin, or other payment solutions with a single integration.”

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The integration of Bitcoin was announced after PayPal announced the decision to split from its former parent company eBay due to massive changes in the commerce and payments landscape and the fact that “each business faces different competitive opportunities and challenges.” The separation, agreed in September 2014, will become effective before the end of this year.

“As independent companies, we expect eBay and PayPal will be sharper and stronger, and more focused and competitive as leading, standalone companies in their respective markets. eBay and PayPal also will benefit from additional flexibility and agility to pursue new market and partnership opportunities,” the SEC filing explains.

The split comes with rules. While PayPal Inc. can’t create its own marketplace for physical goods, eBay inc. cannot develop a payment processing system. However, the current CEO of eBay, John Donahoe, has said that the split will give both companies more flexibility. Donahoe has also announced he will leave eBay to become chairman of PayPal.

It was also in September 2014 that PayPal firstly announced it would accept Bitcoin via Braintree, allowing merchants specialized in digital content like ebooks and games to accept BTC. At the time the integration was exclusively made through the PayPal Payment’s Hub, a platform developed by Zong, a company previouly acquired by PayPal.

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Crypto is a high-risk asset class. This article is provided for informational purposes and does not constitute investment advice. You could lose all of your capital.
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Maria Santos
Maria Santos
Crypto Writer

Maria is an experienced journalist currently living in the UK. She has been writing about Bitcoin and the altcoin universe since 2013. She is also a member of the Lifeboat Foundation's New Money Systems Board and a big cryptocurrency supporter. Read More

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