PayPal ‘Koşullu BitLicense’ Aldı – Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum ve Bitcoin Cash’in Harcanması ve Alım-Satımını Destekleyecek

PayPal (PYPL ) will soon destekleyecek various cryptocurrencies on its platform as it looks to expand and appeal to an increasingly digital society.  This support extends to not only the trading but the spending of supported assets among its network of merchants worldwide.

Detaylar

As one of the world’s largest payment processors, PayPal is a giant within FinTech.  To date, PayPal has amassed a clientele base totaling over 350,000,000 – each of which is serviced through a network comprised of over 27,000,000 merchants.

When support for cryptocurrencies officially goes live, PayPal will begin by servicing United States based clientele.  This support is expected to begin in the coming weeks, while the expansion of services beyond United States borders will occur in early 2021.

Assets that are expected to be supported upon launch are Bitcoin (BTC), Litecoin (LTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Bitcoin Cash (BCH).  There has been no word of future expansion, although it would be reasonable to expect more supported assets in time.

Uzun Süre Speküle Edilen

Although many may be caught by surprise that PayPal will soon support cryptocurrencies, those that follow the industry will not be.

We have PayPal ve niyetlerine değindik before – Now we finally get to discuss this event as fact, rather than a long-speculated event.

With the day finally having arrived, PayPal CEO, Dan Schulman, had the following to say,

“Dijital para biçimlerine geçiş kaçınılmazdır ve finansal kapsayıcılık ve erişim açısından net avantajlar; ödeme sisteminin verimliliği, hızı ve dayanıklılığı; ve hükümetlerin vatandaşlara hızlı bir şekilde fon dağıtma yeteneği gibi faydalar getirir… Küresel erişimimiz, dijital ödeme uzmanlığımız, iki taraflı ağımız ve titiz güvenlik ve uyum kontrollerimiz, bu yeni değişim araçlarının anlaşılmasını, kullanılmasını ve birlikte çalışabilirliğini kolaylaştırma fırsatını ve sorumluluğunu bize sunar. Dünya çapındaki merkez bankaları ve düzenleyicilerle iş birliği yaparak desteğimizi sunmaya ve dijital para birimlerinin küresel finans ve ticaretin geleceğinde oynayacağı rolü şekillendirmeye anlamlı bir katkı sağlamaya istekliyiz.”

Koşullu Lisans

Accompanying PayPal’s announcement for cryptocurrency support, was news of its successful application to be awarded a ‘Conditional BitLicense’.

A BitLicense, which is issued by the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS), is notoriously hard to attain – since its creation in 2015, only a handful of companies have been successful.  This recently prompted regulators within the state to develop a conditional version, meant to serve as a stepping stone en route to a full license.  PayPal has now become the first company to have been awarded this conditional license.

One of the prerequisites to being awarded a conditional Bitlicense, is a company’s requirement to work hand-in-hand with a company that holds a full license.  In this instance, the technology making these new services to be offered by PayPal possible is being provided by Bitlicense holder, Paxos Trust Company.  By going this route, PayPal is able to begin operating as a virtual currency firm in New York, much sooner than if it had to wait for a full license to be awarded.

It should be noted that a conditional BitLicense is only meant as a temporary measure.  It is expected that PayPal will work diligently towards being approved a full Bitlicense before, or when, the conditional BitLicense expires in two years.

Uyarılar

At first glance, today’s news is fantastic for the continued adoption of cryptocurrencies.  There are some crucial details that could skew perceptions of the usefulness of PayPal’s new service.

Namely, will this be a ‘closed-loop system’, similar to the one recently launched by WealthSimple?  In such a system, although the buying/selling of cryptocurrencies is supported, on/off ramps to the platform are restricted to FIAT users only.  Based on an early ‘FAQ’ created by PayPal, it would appear as though this is indeed the case.

“PayPal, eşler arası (P2P) kripto işlemlerini destekleyecek mi?  Şu anda hayır. PayPal, sadece PayPal hesabınızı kullanarak kripto para alım ve satımını destekler. PayPal ile P2P işlemlerini tamamlamak için, PayPal’da tutulan tüm kripto varlıklar satılmalı ve dolayısıyla USD’ye dönüştürülmelidir.”

By designing a system in such a manner, it reduces the risk of illegal activity.  It also means that the system will cater primarily to new users and first-time cryptocurrency purchasers.   It shuns existing cryptocurrency users to an extent, as they are forced to convert their assets back to FIAT, transfer onto the platform, then convert back to their asset of choice.  In doing so, existing users are forced to complete multiple extra steps, while generating multiple taxable events.

Furthermore, while PayPal will still provide user protection against fraud, and unauthorized account activity, transactions cannot be reversed, due to the immutable nature of the supported cryptocurrencies.

Piyasa Tepkisi

Regardless of the expected limitations of PayPal’s support for cryptocurrencies, the overall market has reacted with an overwhelmingly positive response.

The four assets listed to be supported by the service are seeing the following movement*.

BTC – 24 saat içinde %7.0 artış

LTC – 24 saat içinde %11.5 artış

ETH – 24 saat içinde %6.5 artış

BCH – 24 saat içinde %5.3 artış

In addition to the aforementioned assets rising in value, PayPal itself has seen a 4.75% jump in the last 24hrs, as well.

*Yazı anında CoinMarketCap’tan alınan veriler.*

Rakipler

While PayPal may be one of the biggest payment processors to launch such services, they are certainly not the first.  Companies such as Square, WealthSimple, Revolut, and Robinhood, have all beaten PayPal to the punch. WealthSimple, in particular, has seen a wildly successful few months, with the recent achievement of becoming a ‘unicorn‘.

Despite its dominance as a payment processor, PayPal may have more than a few competitors in the years to come.