Buy Bitcoin and Ethereum with credit card instantly. CryptoFish is the fastest, easiest and safest way to buy Cryptocurrency. The Instant, secure and easy way to buy bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. You can buy Zcash on Coinbase through their brokerage service (simple but more expensive) or the Coinbase Pro trading platform (for advanced users). Coinbase accepts users from 103 countries around the world and its payment methods include debit cards and domestic transfers such as ACH and SEPA. Bitcoin (BTC) is the Goliath of cryptocurrency. With the largest market cap and the highest level of mainstream recognition of any digital currency, this peer-to-peer electronic cash allows you to send and receive payments without going through a middleman like your bank.
This guide will teach you how to buy bitcoins.
ACH is also a popular method of payment for buying and selling bitcoin instantly and securely. If you are buying or trading bitcoin in high volumes with ACH transfer our recommendation is to use Etoro or CEX.IO for your trading needs. Buy Bitcoin with Credit Card. Secured lending is just like exchanging, only better. It allows obtaining bitcoin with credit card or PayPal quickly. Most bitcoin exchanges do not allow to buy bitcoin with credit card or make you wait several days to receive bitcoin. In contrast, xCoins is instant! The entire process takes only a few minutes.
Lucky for you:
It's easy to find where to buy bitcoins online because there are so many options.
If you want to learn the best way to buy bitcoins, keep reading!
Welcome to Buy Bitcoin Worldwide! I'm Jordan Tuwiner, the founder of this site.
We understand that buying bitcoins can be extremely confusing and frustrating. Luckily for you, this site has ample information to help make buying bitcoins easier for you.
Keep reading!
Want to learn how to purchase bitcoin or get bitcoins?
You’re in the right place!
The short answer is:
Find a Bitcoin exchange
Trade your local currency, like U.S. dollar or Euro, for bitcoins
Move your bitcoins into a secure Bitcoin wallet
For the long answer, read this Bitcoin buying guide and by the end you’ll understand these key points:
How and where to buy bitcoin
How to choose the right exchange
How to secure your coins after you buy
How to avoid scams
Below, we listed exchanges you can use to purchase BTC. We suggest our listed exchanges and doing your own research before making your final decision.
Certain exchanges are simply there to steal your personal information or rob you of your bitcoins.
We conduct intensive research on every exchange we list to filter out any and all dishonest exchanges.
To select the perfect exchange for your needs, consider these 7 factors.
Want to buy BTC privately?
You can already cross off a number of payment methods:
Buying bitcoins with cash or cash deposit is the most private way to purchase bitcoins.
If you need to buy a large amount of bitcoins--say 25 or more--then big brokers or major exchanges are the way to go.
Coinbase has high limits for buying with a bank account.
CoinMama has the highest limits for buying with a credit card.
Most cash exchanges have no buying limits. Limits, however, will vary between individual sellers and are usually lower than online exchanges.
How quickly do you need to convert regular money into bitcoins? Different payment methods deliver your coins at different speeds.
Your first Bitcoin purchase may be time consuming. Once you get everything setup all subsequent purchases will be much faster!
Bitcoin ATMs can be the fastest way to purchase bitcoin if you’re lucky enough to have one in your area. Here's a map to help you out.
Some brokers offer instant buys with bank transfer, credit card, or debit card.
There is no official Bitcoin price. Use our price index to see the average price of Bitcoin across all major international Bitcoin exchanges and compare that to the price on your chosen exchange.
How long has the exchange been in service? Is the exchange trustworthy? Our Bitcoin exchange reviews can help you to find a trusted exchange.
How much does the exchange charge for its services? The fee will vary greatly based on the payment method you choose to use.
Remember to include deposit and withdrawal fees as well as trading fees. Some exchanges will lower their fees if you trade a lot of bitcoins.
How can you pay for the bitcoins? Payment method may be the most important factor.
In fact:
We're sure you already have a payment method in mind that you'd prefer to use. More on that below.
Some exchanges require a Bitcoin wallet before you can buy.
If you don't have a wallet yet, learn how to get a Bitcoin wallet and then come back.
We'll wait for you here ;)
We can both agree that this Bitcoin stuff is confusing. Stick with us!
We're about to have you on your way to choosing a payment method and buying bitcoins.
The above was just a brief overview of where you can buy bitcoin. Now, let's get into the details.
In order to buy bitcoins, you’ll need to exchange your local currency, like Dollars or Euros, for bitcoin. Here’s an overview of the 4 most common payment methods:
Credit/debit cards are the most common way to pay online. So, it's really no surprise that many people want to buy bitcoins this way.
A few places to buy bitcoins online with a credit card are:
You can also check out our complete guide on how to buy bitcoins with credit card or debit card.
Bank transfer is one of best ways to buy bitcoins in most countries.
Some of the best ways to buy bitcoins with your bank account:
You can also check out our complete guide on how to buy bitcoins with a bank account/bank transfer.
Cash deposit is often the fastest and most private ways to buy bitcoin. You can usually receive your bitcoins within a couple hours.
Some of the best places to buy bitcoin instantly with cash:
You can also check out our complete guide on how to buy bitcoins with cash or cash deposit.
Note: There is no easy way to buy bitcoin at Walmart. We get asked this A LOT!
Get this:
There are Bitcoin ATMs all around the world that let you purchase bitcoin with cash.
You simply insert cash into the machine, and get bitcoins sent to your wallet.
Use our Bitcoin ATM map to find a Bitcoin ATM near you.
There is no way to directly buy bitcoins with PayPal. Under PayPal’s terms and conditions merchants are not allowed to sell bitcoins for PayPal.
I really recommend not buying bitcoins with PayPal. The fees are really high. Chances are that your PayPal is connected to your credit card or bank account, which can be used to buy at much lower fees.
However, there are a few hacks to get around this. You can buy other digital items with PayPal and sell those items for bitcoin. It's all explained in our guide on how to buy bitcoins with PayPal.
If you're still a bit confused, that's okay. Buying bitcoins is hard, but that's why I built this site, to make it easier!
If you still need help, I hope this FAQ will help to answer any remaining questions.
As with any market, nothing is for sure. Bitcoin is traded 24/7 and its price changes every second.
Use tools like our Bitcoin price chart to analyze charts from other Bitcoin trading sites. These charts will help you understand Bitcoin’s price history across the many global Bitcoin exchanges.
Long wait times are usually a problem with existing payment systems, not with Bitcoin itself.
Bitcoin transactions only take about 10 minutes to confirm. Bank transfers in the U.S., for example, can take up to five days to complete.
Bitcoin transactions can be confirmed as quickly as 10 minutes; it’s rare to experience a delay longer than one hour.
This means that a merchant can’t release bitcoins to a customer until five days have passed unless they're willing to take on risk.
Yes, of course! Most exchanges that let you buy bitcoins also let you sell (for a fee of course).
If you don't want to sell bitcoins, you can also spend them. While you can't incorporate a company with Bitcoin yet, you can spend it lots of other places.
This is due to Know Your Customer (KYC) laws which require exchanges to record the real world identity of their clients.
Bitcoin requires no permission to use or buy.
You will have to check the legality of Bitcoin in your country. In most countries Bitcoin is legal!
Physical bitcoins are physical, metal coins with a Bitcoin private key embedded inside.
We recommend that you stay away from physical bitcoins unless you’re a numismatist.
While physical coins sound like a good idea, they force you to trust the honesty of the creator of the coin. The creator could create two copies of the private key.
Unless you immediately open and withdraw the digital bitcoins from your physical bitcoin, the creator could at any time steal the funds it contains.
Yes, of course!
Each bitcoin is divisible to the 8th decimal place, meaning each bitcoin can be split into 100,000,000 pieces. Each unit of bitcoin, or 0.00000001 bitcoin, is called a satoshi.
Most exchanges let you buy as little as $5 worth of bitcoins at a time.
A long time ago anyone could mine bitcoins on their computer at home. Today, only specialized computer hardware is powerful enough to do this.
Think about it like this:
Should you buy gold or mine gold? Well, to mine gold you need big powerful machines, a lot of time, and money to buy the machinery. This is why most people just purchase gold online or from a broker.
So Bitcoin is no different.
You should just buy some if you want coins without trying to mine.
With Bitcoin, there are not really accounts.
Instead, you should have a Bitcoin wallet. If you want to store bitcoins, then a wallet is where you keep them.
In Bitcoin these wallets are not called an account but a wallet functions almost the same way. The only difference is you are responsible for the security if your wallet rather than placing the security in the hands of a bank or trust.
You can check in a Bitcoin block explorer like Smartbit.
There are many reasons people want to own bitcoins.
Many people like to purchase some and put them to the side in the hopes that they will be worth more in the future.
Many people are using bitcoins to remit money to their families from out of the country. Right now, Bitcoin is one of the cheapest ways to do this.
People also use Bitcoin to buy stuff online. Big companies like Microsoft, Dell, Newegg and Overstock all accept bitcoins.
Bitcoin is also very unique compared to other markets in that it trades 24 hours a day and never stops. Most stock markets only open on weekdays from 9 AM to 5 PM. So many traders buy and sell bitcoins because it is a fun and fast market to trade.
Bitcoin itself is not a stock despite it functioning somewhat like one. You can’t buy bitcoins through a traditional stock fund and instead have to buy bitcoins yourself. This may change in the future if a Bitcoin ETF ever gets approved.
Bitcoins are actually just secret digital codes. When you buy bitcoins, the seller is using a wallet to transfer the ownership of the coins to you. Once your purchase is complete, the codes are now owned by you and not the seller.
It seems the Chinese really like Bitcoin’s properties such as its sound monetary policy and that it can be used anywhere in the world. Bitcoin's volatility also makes it interesting for speculative traders.
Bitcoin is legal in nearly every country. Only a few countries have actually banned the use of bitcoins. Before you buy, make sure you double-check the legal status of Bitcoin in your country.
Bitcoin functions as the 'reserve' currency of cryptocurrency. So it is very hard to buy other coins without first buying bitcoins. Once you purchase the bitcoins you can convert the bitcoins into other cryptocoins. This is mostly because Bitcoin has very good liquidity and is traded on every cryptocurrency exchange. So most coins are traded against Bitcoin rather than the US dollar or other fiat currencies.
Bitcoin is not anonymous but rather pseudonymous. All Bitcoin transactions are public but it is not always known the real identity behind any given Bitcoin address.
If the limits on one exchange are to low you can simply open an account with another exchange to give yourself the ability to buy more.
You can signup, join, and use as many Bitcoin exchanges as you want that are available in your country.
In most countries you will need to pay some kind of tax if you buy bitcoins, sell them, and make a gain. In the US you must do this on every transaction.
Be sure to check with your country’s tax authorities to make sure you are paying all the required taxes on your bitcoin use.
It is possible to buy bitcoin & crypto in an IRA.
Just like any other form of money, you can get bitcoins by requesting from your employer to be paid in bitcoins.
The supply of Bitcoin is fixed. There can never be more than 21 million -- and there are about 17.3 million right now. Every 4 years, the bitcoin halving happens where the new supply rate is cut in half.
This is the question everyone is asking. No one knows!
It's now been 400+ days since Bitcoin hit an all-time high. The previous high was over 1,000 days.
The good thing is, developers are hard at work to make Bitcoin the best money the world has ever seen.
Understanding Bitcoin is sometimes difficult for newcomers because it’s really two things:
In terms of acting as payment network, Bitcoin works quite differently from others such as PayPal or Venmo. These traditional forms of payment over the internet, which are tied to the legacy financial system, involve the use of centralized, trusted third parties to order transactions and keep track of user account balances.
In the case of Bitcoin, those who are in charge of ordering transactions are dynamic and potentially anonymous. This is the key differentiator to understand about Bitcoin.
The way in which transactions are processed allows bitcoin to act in a permissionless, censorship-resistant, and apolitical manner.
No single entity is in control of the financial activity that happens on the network.
Anyone can use Bitcoin, whether in the USA, UK, New Zealand, Germany, UAE or any other country.
What is needed is an electronic payment system based on cryptographic proof instead of trust, allowing any two willing parties to transact directly with each other without the need for a trusted third party.
The above quote is what the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto wrote in the original Bitcoin white paper.
Nakamoto effectively created a decentralized solution to what is known as the double-spending problem. This was an issue seen in many previous digital payment systems.
Now that we’ve covered Bitcoin as a payment network, let’s take a look at bitcoin as a form of digital gold.
Bitcoin is often referred to as digital cash due to its ability to be transacted over the internet in a manner similar to physical cash, but the digital gold analogy makes more sense due to the monetary properties of bitcoin.
In the beginning, 50 bitcoin were created roughly every ten minutes, but that increase in supply is halved every four years.
The issuance schedule will continue until around the year 2140, when the supply will be capped at nearly 21 million bitcoins.
This monetary policy is a part of the Bitcoin network’s consensus rules, and there is no central banker in charge of controlling the supply.
On August 18, 2008, the domain name 'bitcoin.com' was registered.
A few weeks later, on October 31, 2008, the world as we know it would be changed forever.
On that day, a link to a paper with the title Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System, was uploaded to a cryptography mailing list.
In January of the following year, the bitcoin software was implemented and released as open-source code.
The bitcoin network was created on January 3, 2009, when the first block of the chain was mined.
This was called the genesis block. Embedded in the coinbase of that block was a text alluding to a British news headline from that day referring to bank bailouts.
A cypherpunk by the name of Hal Finney was the first person to receive a bitcoin transaction. Finney downloaded the software for bitcoin when it was released and on January 12, 2009, he received ten bitcoins. The first commercial transaction with bitcoin was executed in 2010 when a programmer bought two pizzas from Papa John's for ₿10,000.
I've been using Bitcoin for 3+ years. I've never fallen victim to a single scam. Follow the tips explained here and you'll greatly reduce your chances of losing money.
There are many scams related to Bitcoin. Scammers target new Bitcoiners and less tech-savvy users. Follow these basic rules in order to avoid Bitcoin scams:
Study your intended exchange and make sure it’s trustworthy. Search forums like Reddit for the experiences of other users.
You can also use our Bitcoin exchange reviews to get in depth information about certain exchanges. If you don’t find your intended exchange listed on this site, extra caution and research is advised as it may be a scam!
If you’re using a peer-to-peer exchange like LocalBitcoins or Wall of Coins, check the seller’s feedback. If most of their feedback is positive, your trade is more likely to go through without issues. If a seller has lots of negative feedback, it’s best to simply stay away and find a more reliable seller.
Many scammers will try an approach like this:
“Send me bitcoins, and once I get the bitcoins I’ll pay you on PayPal!”
Don’t ever agree to a trade like this. Bitcoin payments are irreversible, so if you send first the scammer can simply not pay you and keep their bitcoins.
PayPal can't force the scammer to pay either, due to the pseudonymous nature of Bitcoin which doesn’t record the identity of a payment’s sender or recipient. This would leave you with no way to get your bitcoins back.
Any service that claims to pay interest on bitcoins or increase your bitcoins is likely extremely risky or an outright scam. If it sounds too good to be true, stay away.
What are altcoins? Altcoins are cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin.
Altcoins are traded globally on hundreds of exchanges. Avoid throwing money into coins which are experiencing a sudden and dramatic spike in price and volume. Such moves, especially in insignificant coins with otherwise thin volume and flat price action, are likely to crash fast.
Don't store coins on Bitcoin exchanges! Bitcoin users have lost over $1 billion worth of bitcoins in exchange hacks and scams.
Your bitcoins are only safe if you store them in a wallet that is controlled by YOU!
Here are two examples where users got screwed by leaving bitcoins with a third party:
So, do yourself a favor:
Get yourself a Bitcoin wallet and control your own coins. For large amounts of bitcoins, we recommend cryptocurrency & Bitcoin hardware wallets. Hardware wallets are small, offline devices that store your bitcoins offline and out of reach from hackers and malware.
Check out the Bitcoin hardware wallet comparison chart below:
Wallet | Screen | Released | Price | Buy |
---|---|---|---|---|
Ledger Nano X | 2019 | $119 | ||
Ledger Nano S | 2016 | $59 | ||
TREZOR T | 2018 | $165 | ||
TREZOR One | 2013 | $78 |
We can both agree on this:
Buying bitcoins with PayPal is hard and confusing.
Luckily, today we'll show you how easy and fast it can be.
We've put together the complete guide on how to convert PayPal to bitcoin.
A lot of our readers have shown interest in converting PayPal to bitcoin.
It's not super simple, but yes it really works and is the best way to buy bitcoin with PayPal today.
We suggest using the exchanges listed below or doing research before buying from any exchange.
Many exchanges are simply trying to steal your passwords and personal information!
We do research on every exchange we list and are very careful not to include scam exchanges on our site.
eToro is currently the most seamless way to buy Bitcoins using PayPal.
When nearly every other exchange either refuses to support PayPal or has been shut down after supporting it, eToro stands, ready to accept your PayPal payment (with a few caveats).
There are not many options for buying bitcoins with PayPal.
VirWoX was the major PayPal to Bitcoin exchange, but it got shut down in January 2020.
eToro is the best way to use PayPal to gain exposure to Bitcoin. It allows you to speculate on the price but access the coins.
This ad promotes virtual cryptocurrency investing within the EU (by eToro Europe Ltd. and eToro UK Ltd.) & USA (by eToro USA LLC); which is highly volatile, unregulated in most EU countries, no EU protections & not supervised by the EU regulatory framework. Investments are subject to market risk, including the loss of principal.
eToro is a social trading platform, and lets you deposit via PayPal. As mentioned earlier, you don't get to buy actual bitcoins but still gain exposure to its price moves.
eToro is available in most countries, but is NOT available in the following countries:
Afghanistan, Albania, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brunei, Burundi, Canada, Chad, Congo Republic, Crimea Region, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Guyana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Iran, Japan, Laos, Libya, Mali, Myanmar, Namibia, Nicaragua, North Korea, Palau, Samoa, Serbia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Turkey, Uganda, Yemen
eToro is available in the United States, but does not accept PayPal for US customers. If you're in the USA, here are some other ways to buy bitcoin.
Want actual bitcoins?
Were you buying with a PayPal account connected to your credit or debit card?
Then just buy bitcoins with your credit card or debit card directly!
The fees are much lower and you'll get your bitcoins faster.
Still want to buy BTC with PayPal? Keep reading and we'll show you how!
LocalBitcoins has long been a workaround to the problem of buying Bitcoins using paypal.
That's because LocalBitcoins is really a network of face-to-face buyers and sellers.
Sellers can choose what forms of payment they accept, and some of them choose to support paypal.
LocalBitcoins also works for buying bitcoin with PayPal. The main issue is there are very low limits, unless you are willing to go through LocalBitcoins new KYC process. This will allow you to buy more Bitcoins but also removes a lot of the privacy protections that LocalBitcoins used to provide its users.
This ad promotes virtual cryptocurrency investing within the EU (by eToro Europe Ltd. and eToro UK Ltd.) & USA (by eToro USA LLC); which is highly volatile, unregulated in most EU countries, no EU protections & not supervised by the EU regulatory framework. Investments are subject to market risk, including the loss of principal.
Unlike eToro, though, it should work in most countries, and there are a wide range of sellers, all with strong feedback scores. See below:
Did you just buy bitcoins? Don't store your bitcoins on eToro
Move them into a Bitcoin wallet that you control.
In this chapter, we will answer some of the most commonly asked questions about buying bitcoin using Paypal.
It's updated regularly, so there is a good chance we've already answered any questions you have.
You can't fund your PayPal account using Bitcoin from within PayPal.
However:
Using an exchange like Coinbase you can sell bitcoins to your PayPal account.
We understand:
The fees are crazy high for buying bitcoins with PayPal.
Were you buying with a PayPal account connected to your credit or debit card?
Then just buy bitcoins with your credit card or debit card directly!
The fees are much lower and you'll get your bitcoins faster.
No, you can only sell bitcoins from your Coinbase account TO PayPal.
There have been rumors that PayPal has been planning Bitcoin integration.
And as recently as July 22, 2020, an unknown source inside of PayPal claims they will be adding a way to buy bitcoins through PayPal soon.
Even so, PayPal still has not integrated Bitcoin with its services and even if the rumors are true, there is no guarantee there will be an integrated wallet.
eToro requires ID to purchase although you may be required to use a verified PayPal account.
LocalBitcoins requires ID as well.
Paxful is another way to buy bitcoin with PayPal. You can view listings here.
This ad promotes virtual cryptocurrency investing within the EU (by eToro Europe Ltd. and eToro UK Ltd.) & USA (by eToro USA LLC); which is highly volatile, unregulated in most EU countries, no EU protections & not supervised by the EU regulatory framework. Investments are subject to market risk, including the loss of principal.
Do you want to buy large amounts of bitcoin? Try buying bitcoins with bank transfer instead.
Yes of course!
As mentioned above, you can sell your Bitcoins to Coinbase or on LocalBitcoins and receive cash to your Paypal account. use in the USA and some of Europe. The fees for selling bitcoins to PayPal are 3.75% using Coinbase.
You can use this method to buy bitcoins and then trade the bitcoins for another cryptocurrency using an exchange like Poloniex or Kraken.
No, Poloniex only deals with cryptocurrency and does not accept deposits using credit card, bank transfer, cash or PayPal.
Kraken is currently one of the biggest crypto exchanges and many people want to know if it accepts deposits via PayPal.
Well, the answer is no. Kraken accepts bank transfers, SWIFT, SEPA and ACH.
No, Coinmama only accepts bank transfers, SWIFT, SEPA, credit card, debit card and ACH.
In this last chapter, we will cover common scams and hacks related to buying Bitcoin using paypal, as well as how to store your Bitcoins after buying so that they remain safe.
It's up to you to protect you investment, so pay close attention - buying is only half the battle.
If you get one thing from this article let it be this:
Don't store your bitcoins on exchanges!!!
I've been buying bitcoins for more than three years. I've never lost any money to scams or thefts. Follow the guidelines in this article and you'll be able to do the same.
Here are two examples where users got screwed by leaving bitcoins on exchanges:
And there are many more I could list.
Make sure you get yourself a Bitcoin wallet that will securely store your bitcoins.
Besides storage, there are many scam exchanges out to steal your credit card information and/or bitcoins.
Following these two basic principles should help you avoid theft, scams, and any other loss of funds:
In this bonus chapter, we walk you through how to buy bitcoin on localbitcoins using Paypal, every step of the way.
By the time you complete this chapter, it should be easy for you to get your Bitcoins using Paypal.
We don't recommend buying bitcoins with PayPal on LocalBitcoins. the fees are horrible as the premium is about 20% compared to the global Bitcoin exchange rate. Plus another 1% charged by LocalBitcoins!
Another con of using LocalBitcoins is you are dealing with an individual seller rather than a marketplace. You will also need a verified phone number connected to your LocalBitcoins account.
If you are still sure this is how you want to get your Bitcoins, here is how to do it.
To start, login to LocalBitcoins and then enter your buy amount and PayPal as the payment method:
You should now see a list of sellers willing to accept PayPal. Note that when I wrote this guide, the price of Bitcoin was $1,000 so the prices are mostly even more than 20% above the market rate!
Click on one of the sellers and you'll see a page like this:
In the example above, you can see the buyer's limits on the left side (25-100 USD). On the right, the buyer has laid a number of rules and requirements for your PayPal account. This buyer, for example, requires that you send a picture of your photo ID, have a verified PayPal account, and also send a selfie holding your ID.
Note, you can also check a seller's feedback and history. Click on the username on the right side and a new tab will show that looks like this:
This seller has 3,000+ confirmed trades so your transaction would likely go through smoothly. If a seller has no feedback/history, this is a huge red flag!
If you had a verified account then on the left side you would be able to enter how much you want to buy and go through with your trade!
In this bonus chapter, we discuss the history of Paypal's comments on Bitcoin and its recent addition to the platform.
Paypal has spent many years talking down to Bitcoin, but finally offers it to buy.
In late October of 2020, Paypal announced it would begin selling Bitcoin and 3 other common cryptos on its platform, directly to its 346 million users.
Hardcore Bitcoiners will be sad to know that the buying functionality is really limited for now.
Users can only buy and sell thier Bitcoins within Paypal. That means that users cannot withdraw the coins or even transfer them to other paypal users. Because of this, there is no way for a buyer to take custody of the coins himself. He must trust Paypal to custody them for him.
This may be ideal for older, less technically abled investors who merely want price action from Bitcoin. Still, for now, Paypal is basically offering users a way to speculate on the price of Bitcoin and nothing else.
There is one exception to this. Users can spend the Bitcoin with merchants who accept Bitcoin via Paypal. This is because Paypal is not sending the merchant Bitcoin anyway. They are payhing the merchant in USD and accepting the Bitcoin on their behalf. So when you spend your Paypal Bitcoins at one of these merchants, they are just selling your Bitcoin for you in order to pay the merchant.
Back in April 2018, the founding CEO of PayPal said that Bitcoin was the biggest scam in history. Bill Harris used the words ‘speculative’, ‘gamble’, ‘scam’ and ‘bubble’ to describe the cryptocurrency. He warned people to be careful against what he termed as a “pump and dump scheme” with risks that the world had never witnessed.
This announcement seemed to negate an earlier suggestion by a top executive at PayPal that Bitcoin would become a popular payment option. In February of 2018, Chief Financial Officer John Rainey was interviewed by Wall Street Journal. In a part of the interview titled “Crypto Factor”, he maintained that there was a likelihood of Bitcoin becoming a popular payment option.
However, Rainey indicated that it would take years before this would ever become a reality. This is a position that PayPal’s co-founder shares. Max Levchin was quoted in December 2017 saying that the digital asset technology was revolutionary. Even so, Levchin did not think that PayPal was ready to embrace the technology yet.
In early 2020, it emerged that Paypal had begun something called the 'Blockchain Research Group' and posted job openings for eight engineering positions in San Jose, California and Singapore.
[Paypal wants its own] perspective and view on [blockchain] technology itself to see how it can help us contribute to the concept of creating an open digital payments platform that can serve everyone....We are a strong believer in the potential of blockchain. The digitization of currency is only a matter of when not if.
Then, on July 22, 2020, Coindesk broke the story that Paypal would be adding Bitcoin and other crypto purchasing through its platform soon. As of now, we do not know when Paypal intends on launching this service or even what coins it will support, though its almost certain Bitcoin will among the coins offered.
What we do know is that the service will be provided via Paxos Crypto Borkerage API. Paxos will handle all custody, KYC, and compliance. Paypal will merely allow you to use your paypal balance to or connected cards to buy and sell Bitcoin through its own user interface.
PayPal has already partnered with Coinbase, BitPay and GoCoin for transactions of digital goods. This allowed merchants using Paypal to also accept cryptocurrencies with minimal effort. John Donahoe, the Chief Executive Officer at eBay, said he believed such a partnership would hugely benefit his company in the future.
It's important to note, though, that this story comes from an anonymous source, and has not been confirmed by Paypal at this time. However, the source suggested that an announcement would be mader later this week. We'll update this page accordingly as we find out more.