PayPal to soon allow the exchange of Bitcoin across third-party apps

PayPal has been recently very open about the cryptocurrency and will soon allow users in the US to buy, sell and exchange their crypto assets like Bitcoins across other popular third-party platforms and digital wallets like Coinbase. The news was confirmed by the company's VP of Global Business Development, Jose Fernandez da Ponte at the Consensus 2021 conference. It is yet another step in PayPal's efforts to fully support and become a part of the evergrowing landscape of the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

The company had been earlier restricting crypto payments. In 2019, it even backed out of supporting Facebook's Libra project. But from last year, PayPal has been working hard to embrace the blockchain-based currency and allow users to trade directly through its wallet service. From March 2021, it has been allowing Bitcoin as a form of payment, and the PayPal-owned Venmo app has quickly followed suit since April. However, the latest development will enable users to even exchange their crypto assets to other wallets, which is a huge move.

The decentralized currency is based on the idea that the money should flow freely without a centralized entity controlling or governing it. As PayPal will now transfer of crypto assets to other wallets without the need to sell or convert them every time, it can be a game-changer for crypto enthusiasts. By not restricting users to utilizing their digital currencies exclusively through PayPal platforms, it addresses the previous backlash from the crypto community. Its previous approach excluded third-party wallet apps where a lot of crypto assetsreside.