PayPal Finally Enables Bitcoin Transfers To Third-Party Crypto Wallets And Exchanges

Major U.S.-based payments processor PayPal is finally offering a highly-requested feature that will let crypto holders transfer their holdings off the platform to third-party wallets and exchanges.

PayPal Now Allows Crypto Transfers To Off-Site Wallets

For years, bitcoin has been hailed as a technology that would replace centralized payment services because it would cut the costs of transactions by eliminating the middlemen.

But there’s been a flurry of activity among these traditional services as they explore more ways to integrate cryptocurrency into their toolkits.

Today, PayPal confirmed that users can now move their crypto holdings to external wallets and hardware devices. “Starting today, PayPal supports the native transfer of cryptocurrencies between PayPal and other wallets and exchanges,” the blog post said.

The ability to transfer crypto will be available to select users from today and will be opened for all eligible U.S. customers in the next week or so.

PayPal Gradually Expands Crypto Offerings

For a multinational company, PayPal has waded pretty deep into the crypto waters. In October 2020, it started letting users buy and sell Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash. The San Jose, California-based firm then extended this service to its Venmo subsidiary and also launched a “Checkout with Crypto” feature for customers to pay merchants with the assets.

The news at the time sparked a bull run in the crypto markets as many believed it was a major step in the mainstream acceptance and adoption of the nascent asset class. However, not all crypto lovers were in favor of PayPal’s move. The company’s service didn’t allow crypto to be transferred to other off-site wallets, meaning coins would stay in your account until you were ready to sell.

The fact that customers can now transfer their crypto to external destinations is momentous because the platform is used by hundreds of millions of people around the globe to move funds.

Despite introducing more crypto features, PayPal doesn’t seem ready to join the likes of MicroStrategy, Tesla, Block, and other publicly-traded companies that have added bitcoin to their corporate treasuries.