PayPal’s Venmo Launches Crypto Trading Service

PayPal’s mobile payment services app Venmo now allows its users to buy, sell and trade four major cryptocurrencies, the firm said in a press release on 20 April.

According to the announcement, the app’s new feature — called “Crypto on Venmo” — will be widely available within a “few weeks”, making crypto trading available to Venmo’s more than 70 million customers. At launch the Venmo app will support only four digital assets, them being Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), and Bitcoin Cash (BCH). The SVP and GM at Venmo, Darrell Esch, said in a statement:

“Our goal is to provide our customers with an easy-to-use platform that simplifies the process of buying and selling cryptocurrencies and demystifies some of the common questions and misconceptions that consumers may have.”

“Crypto on Venmo” was launched due to the customers increased interest in cryptocurrency, as shown by the “2020 Venmo Customer Behavior Study”. The study has shown that more than 30% of Venmo customers have already started investing in crypto or equities, and that “20% began their purchase during the COVID-19 pandemic”.

The new crypto offering on Venmo is enabled through a partnership with Paxos Trust Company, a regulated provider of crypto services. The partnership will allow Venmo customers to buy as little as $1 worth of crypto, and use funds from either their Venmo account or from linked debit card and bank account.

The owner of Venmo, PayPal, first announced its intentions to enter the crypto market back in October 2020, when it obtained a conditional cryptocurrency license from the NYDFS and partnered with Paxos. Last month the payments giant launched its new “Checkout with Crypto” service, which enabled the firm’s customers to use crypto from their PayPal wallet as a form of payment at millions of its online merchants around the globe.