How To Make PayPal Payments Using Cryptocurrency

PayPal (PYPL) has announced that its users can now pay using cryptocurrencies - Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, or Bitcoin Cash - at checkout.

The company said the Checkout with Crypto feature is rolling out in the U.S. on Tuesday and will be available to more customers in the states in the coming weeks. Customers can purchase cryptocurrency for as little as $1, and PayPal said it will take care of the sale and conversion on the user’s behalf.

“As the use of digital payments and digital currencies accelerates, the introduction of Checkout with Crypto continues our focus on driving mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies, while continuing to offer PayPal customers choice and flexibility in the ways they can pay using the PayPal wallet,” Dan Schulman, president and CEO of PayPal, said in a statement.

The currency for businesses will not require any additional integrations to implement the payments, nor will any fees be acquired. All transactions will be settled in USD and converted to the applicable currency at the standard PayPal conversion rates, the company said.

How It Works

To use the payment feature, sufficient cryptocurrency funds must be available to cover an eligible purchase in the user’s PayPal wallet. Then, the Checkout with Crypto option will appear as a payment method to select.

This will appear alongside the user’s other payment methods in their PayPal wallet, such as their bank account, credit, or debit cards.

Users will then need to select their cryptocurrency of choice for payment, Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, or Bitcoin Cash, depending on the currency they are holding in their PayPal wallet and the balance they have available to cover their purchase. Only one type of currency can be used for each purchase.

Once the purchase is confirmed, the cryptocurrency is converted to fiat currency by PayPal for the customer. Here, the transaction is completed, and the user will receive a record of the sale and the purchased item.

No transaction fee will be charged as a cryptocurrency conversion spread is built into the conversion from the currency to USD, PayPal said.

Customers can also be assured that their payments are safe as PayPal offers users 24/7 fraud protection, return shipping, and purchase protection on eligible items.

This is not PayPal’s first foray into cryptocurrency. The company offered the ability to buy, hold, and sell four different types of currency in the PayPal wallet last year.

Cryptocurrency has seen a surge in interest in recent months as more companies announce that they will allow it to be used as a form of payment for their products and services. Most recently, Tesla said it would accept Bitcoin for payment of its electric cars.

Shares of PayPal were trading at $235.38 as of 10:32 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, down 29 cents or 0.12%.