The two payment brands have found ways to limit currency conversion risk — a key concern among banks and merchants.
PayPal and Visa separately unveiled ways for consumers to spend cryptocurrency, demonstrating how banks can safely handle the notoriously volatile digital currencies. PayPal’s new Checkout with Crypto service enables customers to make online purchases at millions of online merchants with four popular cryptocurrencies, giving consumers a way to spend the crypto they store in their PayPal accounts. The move follows PayPal’s decision last fall to let U.S. customers buy, hold and sell cryptocurrencies in their PayPal account for a fee. Similarly, Visa said this week that it would Visa pilot cryptocurrency settlements on its network using a dollar-backed stablecoin. Visa explained the move as showcasing its ability to work with crypto-native fintechs. Now PayPal could accelerate revenue it earns handling crypto by giving consumers more reasons to store crypto in PayPal’s vault. Because PayPal handles the currency conversion at the point of purchase, it’s the consumer — not a merchant or bank or even PayPal itself — that takes responsibility for the fluctuating value of the currency they choose.
