PayPal is easily the worst place to buy crypto. And here at 99Bitcoins, we’re here to guide you, inform you, and ensure you don’t miss out on the greatest invention since the internet. THE FOMO IS REAL!
Buying BTC Back in the Day
Do you ever wonder how you got Bitcoin back in the early days?
Bankrupt exchanges like Mt. Gox, Tradehill, and BitInstant were the first to offer Bitcoin purchases in 2011. But before that, you didn’t get Bitcoin unless you mined, donated, or traded it (or were paid in it for delivering pizza). Some eSports even gave out Bitcoin to 5th-8th place finishers as a joke in those early days.
Fast forward four years later, and we’re at the next stage in the crypto-investing evolutionary cycle: Fintech, specifically, PayPal. However, to say PayPal missed the mark with crypto would be a gross understatement. Let’s explain.
PayPal: A Disappointing Entry
When the American payment giant PayPal originally announced its plans to enable users to buy crypto in 2020, the blockchain community roared.
Now that all the dust has settled, PayPal’s approach to crypto adoption can be considered very underwhelming, if not outright disappointing, and dangerous to new investors for one simple reason: PayPal doesn’t allow you actually to own Bitcoin.
Elon Musk and Peter Thiel unveil PayPal , 1990s. pic.twitter.com/2tdBgwIkko
— Historic Footage (@historicfootage) February 17, 2025
One of the crypto community’s most important mottos is “not your keys, not your coins.” We can’t stress this statement enough! PayPal doesn’t give you private crypto keys.
So you can’t even send your tokens to your digital wallet.
In other words, you’re investing in the value of cryptocurrency like you would through Robinhood, Venmo, Cashapp, or Webull. A crypto balance is displayed on your account, but you don’t own any tokens. That’s the whole point of crypto: to empower the people!
This begs the question: what can you do with the Bitcoin bought on PayPal? Well, you can look at your Bitcoin balance. You can exchange it for fiat money. You can use it to make “select” purchases online. That’s about it.
Buy Bitcoin With PayPal: Just Don’t Do It
All things considered, PayPal’s announcement that it will “support crypto” seems more like a marketing move.
While all of this might change in the future, for now, PayPal gets an F+ from us for its crypto rollout. All it does is provide the illusion of actually owning Bitcoin.
“It might make sense just to get some in case it catches on.” — Satoshi Nakamoto
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