Online payments giant PayPal has announced plans to expand its crypto trading service to the UK.
Speaking at the company’s second-quarter earnings call on Wednesday, PayPal CEO Dan Schulman outlined the company’s ambitions: “We continue to be really pleased with the momentum we’re seeing on crypto. […] We’re going to launch, hopefully, maybe even next month in the U.K., open up trading there.”
PayPal’s second-quarter earnings show the company has done very well out of its crypto trading service. It currently offers it in the US, where users can buy, hold and sell cryptocurrencies directly through their PayPal account.
Schulman also said that the company is adding “incremental functionality” to its crypto trading platform. On July 15, PayPal increased crypto purchasing limits from $20,000 to $100,000.
The CEO stated that PayPal is also working on open banking integration, saying that it, “will increase the ability to fully integrate it into ACH and do faster payments.” It’s the latest move in PayPal’s crypto expansion.
In April, PayPal-owned firm Venmo launched crypto trading services to its 70 million users. PayPal is close to launching its new “super app”, which will offer increased crypto functionality among other features.
Potential DeFi Integration
Another comment that will intrigue crypto users is Schulam’s hint that PayPal could also look to integrate DeFi coins into its service in the future. He said that the company is examining “what the next generation of the financial system looks like”.
“How can we use smart contracts more efficiently? How can we digitize assets and open those up to consumers that may not have had access to that before? There are some interesting DeFi applications as well. And so we are working really hard”, he added.
Schulman’s comments came at the same time it was revealed the Uniswap, the world’s largest decentralized exchange, has been discussing DeFi integreation with PayPal. This became known via a leaked video from the EthCC conference in Paris last week.
