PayPal may soon launch a trading service, competing with other apps such as Robinhood.
The rumour comes from CNBC.
Invest at PayPal, trading function coming soon?
The hint that something similar is in the works is the hiring of Rick Hagen, who on his LinkedIn profile says he is CEO of Invest at PayPal, a section of the company that is not known at the moment.
Hagen is the former president and founder of Ally Invest, an investment firm recognized by Finra and the SEC. On the social network dedicated to business, in addition to calling himself former president of Ally, he writes about himself:
“Leading PayPal’s efforts to explore opportunities in the consumer investment business”.
This role has just been taken on, so much so that the start date at Invest at PayPal is August 2021.
PayPal ready to compete with Robinhood
PayPal is in a moment of strong innovation. In recent months, it has started allowing the purchase and sale of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in the US. Even more recently, it launched this service in the UK. Now it seems that in addition to being a payment provider, PayPal wants to evolve towards other financial services, including online trading.
This could be at the expense of Robinhood, the popular app that grew out of Covid-19 and made headlines for its short squeeze of Gamestop (GME) shares.
The difference between the two lies in the massive spread of PayPal, which has almost 350 million accounts worldwide. Robinhood is currently only available in the UK.
PayPal stock
The indiscretion does not seem to have excited investors. In fact, PYPL shares are down 0.61%. However, 2021 is turning out to be an exciting year for PayPal stock.
Since the beginning of the year, their value has increased by about 24%. PayPal shares are currently worth $286, with last weeks annual record high of $310.
As PayPal continues to expand its services, it could grow even more and this could be reflected in its stock price.
The post PayPal ready to launch trading appeared first on The Cryptonomist.
