Paypal Launches Crypto Trading For UK Customers, Klumov: It's A Fresh Wind

JAKARTA – PayPal officially announced on Friday 17 September that all eligible customers in the UK can now buy, hold and sell cryptocurrency using their PayPal account.

Customers can trade four major cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Litecoin (LTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH). As previously announced, crypto trading will only be available to PayPal customers with verified identities.

PayPal announced plans to move into the cryptocurrency market in the UK at the end of August, and immediately proceeded with the partial launch of its crypto trading service. The move marks the first expansion of PayPal's cryptocurrency service outside the United States.

Speaking to Cointelegraph, a PayPal spokesperson said, “PayPal is gradually rolling out its new crypto service to its UK customers. The process is complete.”

“We want to study and observe how our customers use our crypto buy, hold and sell offers before we start rolling out more features and functionality,” the spokesperson said.

PayPal's entry into the local crypto market came as several UK banks cut payment channels to exchanges. In August, banking giant HSBC said it had suspended credit card payments to Binance, citing "concerns about possible risks" to its customers. Other banks such as Barclays and bank NatWest have previously blocked transactions to Binance.

The launch of British crypto PayPal is a “fresh breath,” according to Gregory Klumov, CEO of tokenization firm Stasis. “Since the country is in the world's top 10 economies, such a milestone will clearly drive the continued adoption of digital assets in Europe and beyond,” he said.