PayPal announced Tuesday that users will be able to transfer cryptocurrency from their accounts to other wallets and exchanges, citing customer demand, according to a press release. 

“This feature has been consistently ranked by users as one of the most requested enhancements since we began offering the purchase of crypto on our platform,” said Jose Fernandez da Ponte, senior vice president (SVP) and general manager of blockchain, crypto and digital currencies at PayPal. 

The new functions will roll out to select U.S. users starting on Tuesday, and will eventually be accessible to all U.S. users in the coming weeks. The new features will allow users to transfer supported coins (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, or Litecoin) into PayPal, move crypto from PayPal to external addresses including exchanges and hardware wallets and send crypto to family and friends on PayPal in seconds with no fees or network charges to send or receive. 

However, customers are responsible for network fees if they conduct external transfers, which depend on the blockchain of the crypto asset being sent. If users transfer their crypto internally, from one PayPal account to another, PayPal will not charge any fees. 

“If users have crypto somewhere else and want to consolidate, they can bring it to PayPal from external addresses,” said Fernandez da Ponte. “They can also send crypto to anyone who is in the PayPal system.”

PayPal’s crypto services started in October 2020, when the first allowed users to buy, sell and hold crypto. Then in March 2021, PayPal released Checkout with Crypto, which gave users the ability to buy goods from online businesses and checkout using crypto. From there, PayPal partnered with Paxos to power its crypto service. In addition, they acquired Curv, a Tel Aviv-based crypto security company, in March of 2021. 

Not only did Fernandez da Ponte provide insight into what exactly the new services will allow users to do, but the press release also gave a how-to for transferring crypto into PayPal and out from PayPal. 

Author: Tyler Irvin