Online payment giant PayPal has announced a new app offering multiple financial services previously foreign to the platform – including “crypto capabilities.”
PayPal’s New App Features
As reported by Newswire, the new app will introduce the ‘PayPal Savings’ service in partnership with synchrony bank, a savings account that offers APY rates of 0.4% with no monthly fees or minimum necessary balance.
While this is still well below rates offered by many centralized and decentralized crypto lending services, it still dwarfs the national average interest rate of 0.06%. Additionally, the service also promised it had the necessary regulatory acceptance and oversight that cryptocurrency-based institutions often don’t.
Other new features include managing gift cards, paying with QR codes, and accessing credit all from within the same app. Notably, it will even offer the ability to “buy, hold, and sell crypto” and “a finance tab that includes access to high yield savings and crypto capabilities.”
This suggests that the app will have the basic functionality of a crypto wallet. It could grant access to cryptocurrency to PayPal’s over 400 million consumers while familiarizing them with the technology.
Dan Schulman, CEO of PayPal, sees the new app as a “one-stop destination” for consumers to control their finances:
“Our new app offers customers a simplified, secure and personalized experience that builds on our platform of trust and security and removes the complexity of having to manage multiple financial or shopping apps, remember different passwords, and track loyalty rewards.”
PayPal’s Foray Into Cryptocurrency
Given PayPal’s recent activity within the cryptocurrency space, the introduction of this new service in the new app comes as no surprise. CEO Schulman hinted at a new “super app wallet” being introduced with “additional crypto capabilities” early last month, alongside the aforementioned high-yield savings opportunities.
Just days ago, PayPal also announced that its customers in the UK could buy, sell, and store cryptocurrencies directly from their accounts. They then signaled to users to “lookout for it in the PayPal app.” Eligible digital assets include Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, and Litecoin.
The app’s rollout begins now, though its new savings and shopping tools will arrive for US citizens in a few months.
