PayPal is reportedly buying the Curv cryptocurrency custody firm, with price estimates ranging between $200 to $500 million. The Curv acquisition is the latest in a series of moves indicating PayPal’s interest in cryptocurrencies.
The payment processing giant enabled crypto purchases in Q4 2020, raising the buy limits from $10,000 to $15,000 in November due to unforeseen demand. PayPal recently announced that it would extend crypto buying and selling to the United Kingdom and Venmo users in 2021.
PayPal’s crypto offering has been somewhat limited, with users having no control over their private keys. It will be interesting to see what use case the company has for Curv, a custody firm that handles the storage of digital assets.
Curv raised $23 million last year to continue serving institutional demand for Bitcoin, with Coinbase Ventures and Digital Currency Group among the investors.
Major DeFi protocol Compound also integrated Curv last year, making PayPal’s new acquisition a serious player in crypto custody.
