PayPal Holdings, Inc. recently announced that it is expanding its cryptocurrency offerings to U.S. merchants, allowing business accounts to buy, hold, and sell cryptocurrency directly from their PayPal business accounts.

This new feature will be available to millions of merchants across the U.S., although it will not be accessible to business accounts in New York State at launch.

“Since we launched the ability for PayPal and Venmo consumers to buy, sell, and hold cryptocurrency in their wallets, we have learned a lot about how they want to use their cryptocurrency,” says Jose Fernandez da Ponte, Senior Vice President of Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, and Digital Currencies at PayPal. “Business owners have increasingly expressed a desire for the same cryptocurrency capabilities available to consumers. We’re excited to meet that demand by delivering this new offering, empowering them to engage with digital currencies effortlessly.”

In addition to buying, holding, and selling cryptocurrency, U.S. merchants can now transfer cryptocurrency externally. This new feature enables PayPal business account holders to send and receive supported cryptocurrency tokens to and from third-party eligible wallets via blockchain addresses.

PayPal’s Growing Cryptocurrency Capabilities

This latest development is part of PayPal’s ongoing efforts to expand the utility of cryptocurrency for its users.

In 2020, PayPal enabled its customers to buy, hold, and sell cryptocurrency through their PayPal and Venmo accounts. In 2023, PayPal launched a U.S. dollar-denominated stablecoin, PayPal USD (PYUSD), further solidifying its presence in the digital currency space.

Earlier this year, PayPal allowed PYUSD to be used as a funding instrument for its Xoom platform, offering zero transaction fees for eligible transfers to friends and family abroad.

More recently, PYUSD was made available on the Solana blockchain, offering users enhanced flexibility and control by providing the choice of multiple blockchains.