PayPal CEO Dan Schulman was a keynote speaker during a Web Summit event today where he told the 100,000 attendees that cryptocurrency’s time to go mainstream is now.
PayPal has grabbed the headlines in the cryptoverse in 2020. The payments giant announced last month that all US-based customers would be able to buy, sell, and hold cryptocurrencies on its platform. Less than a month later, it was noted by Mizuho Securities that close to 20% of users were already utilizing PayPal’s new crypto service.
Schulman is confident that the company is on the right path.
“I think that if you can create a financial system, a new and modern technology that is faster, that is less expensive, more efficient, that’s good for bringing more people into the system, for inclusion, to help drive down costs, to help drive financial health for so many people… So, over the long run, I’m very bullish on digital currencies of all kinds.”
Continuing, the CEO stated that the coronavirus pandemic has significantly accelerated the need for digital currencies and cashless payments, noting that the timeline for these trends has now reduced from three to five years to five to six months. Schulman believes the “time is now” for cryptocurrencies to enter the mainstream.
Bitcoin’s wild price swings were previously a major cause of concern for the PayPal chief as it inevitably reduces the profits of small merchants on the platform. In order to mitigate this issue, PayPal will convert users’ crypto into fiat for the merchants in real-time. Additionally, customers will be able to know the specific crypto-to-fiat exchange rate at the time of making a purchase, thus eliminating the volatility risk.
Schulman explained:
“It bolsters the utility of that underlying cryptocurrency, and you can do more with it than just ride the ups and downs of it. In effect, you’re taking that as an instrument that can conduct commerce at our 28 million merchants.”
PayPal CEO Says Working Hand In Hand With Regulators Is Crucial
The PayPal exec also touched on issues regarding cryptocurrency regulation. He urged the crypto industry to work closely with government regulators in order to expand crypto’s utility. “There is only one way to approach this, and that is working hand in hand with regulators,” Schulman said.
He further notes that PayPal is leading by example and has invested heavily in regulatory compliance. Schulman also indicates that PayPal was actually the first company to be granted a conditional BitLicense from New York regulators.
“We’re doing this hand in hand with regulators, and it’s the only way to go about doing this. Strong regulatory oversight is extraordinarily important, and I’ve got zero issues with that,” he added.
After launching in the United States, PayPal is now preparing to introduce crypto capabilities to global customers next year.
