BTC Price Surges Above $59k as PayPal Launches Crypto Checkout Service

Bitcoin prices spiked past $59K today, right after PayPal’s announcement of cryptocurrency payments.

The PayPal launch, made BTC/USD hit a ten-day high. At the time of writing Bitcoin is trading at $58970.33 with a market cap of $1.10T.

Reuters reported that PayPal will release a formal announcement, informing that US consumers can now transact with online merchants using their crypto holdings. It will now enable Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Litecoin transactions from its digital wallet, which will convert crypto into fiat money at checkouts of purchases.

Crypto can be used just like credit/debit cards

PayPal President and CEO Dan Schulman ahead of announcement told Reuters,

“This is the first time you can seamlessly use cryptocurrencies in the same way as a credit card or a debit card inside your PayPal wallet”

The company started working on its venture into crypto late last year, the service will now be available to 29 million merchants in the coming months.

Schulman says crypto can be considered as a ‘legitimate funding source’. This take is an instrumental one for BTC’s further adaptation.

“We think it is a transitional point where cryptocurrencies move from being predominantly an asset class that you buy, hold and or sell to now becoming a legitimate funding source to make transactions in the real world at millions of merchants,”

This move makes PayPal the only large mainstream company to venture its network into cryptocurrencies.

Bitcoin has grown massively by soaring 896.4% in a year and luring institutional investors and corporate giants to make investments in it. 

Giants like Electric Carmaker Tesla and Business strategy firm Microstrategy have poured a lot of capital into Bitcoin this year, fueling its price to surge sky high and achieved a $1 trillion market cap.