The executives of global payment giant PayPal revealed more details on the company’s third-quarter 2020 earnings conference call to enter the encryption field in 2021, including plans to support central bank digital currency (CBDC).
PayPal CEO Dan Shulman said: “Obviously, the world is rapidly shifting from physical to digital.” He emphasized that the pace of change in the payment and financial services sectors is accelerating.
Shulman cited discussions with central banks, regulators, and crypto industry leaders: “There is no doubt that the importance of digital currencies will rise, their functions will become stronger, and their status will become more prominent.”
“The problem with CBDC is when and how it will be launched, not whether it can be launched.”
Dan Shulman said that through the scale and popularity of PayPal, PayPal will “help shape the utility of (CBDC),” including promoting interoperability with existing payment methods and promoting merchants to accept CBDC.
“I do believe that our platform and all the new digital infrastructure we are currently deploying can help improve the efficiency, cost and speed of fund management and transfer.”
Last month, PayPal announced that it would launch a service that allows customers to buy, sell, and hold encrypted assets, which has triggered an optimistic response in the virtual currency market.
In the conference call, the PayPal executive emphasized the strong customer demand for encryption services. PayPal CEO Shulman pointed out: “Our users are very eager for us to provide these features.”
Although only 10% of PayPal US users can use these encryption services, Shulman pointed out that other regions of the United States are expected to go online before December.
“Our waiting list is two to three times what we expected.”
He added: “We see people who have already purchased cryptocurrencies open their wallets several times a day to see their cryptocurrency investments.”
In response to this user demand, Shulman announced that PayPal will increase the weekly purchase limit of cryptocurrency from $10,000 to $15,000.
Shulman also revealed that PayPal’s virtual currency service will be open to international users in the first half of next year, and will also be launched on its mobile payment application Venmo.
Shulman added: “In the next year, you will see us enter several different areas.”
