Beginning this week, residents of the United Kingdom will be able to buy, hold and sell cryptocurrencies through PayPal for the first time — marking a significant milestone for a company that began offering digital asset services less than a year ago.
The global payments provider announced Sunday that U.K. customers will soon have access to Bitcoin, Ether, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash through PayPal’s website and mobile app. The announcement marks the first expansion of PayPal’s cryptocurrency services beyond the United States — a service that first launched in November of last year.
Jose Fernandez da Ponte, a senior executive for PayPal’s crypto division, cited the “digitization of money” during the pandemic as one of the primary motivations for entering crypto in the first place. He continued:
“Our global reach, digital payments expertise, and knowledge of consumer and businesses, combined with rigorous security and compliance controls provides us the unique opportunity, and the responsibility, to help people in the U.K. to explore cryptocurrency.”
