PayPal completes crypto trading rollout for UK customers

PayPal officially announced on Friday that all eligible customers in the United Kingdom can now buy, hold and sell cryptocurrencies using their PayPal accounts.

Customers can trade four major cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Litecoin (LTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH). As announced previously, crypto trading will only be available to PayPal customers with verified identities.

PayPal announced plans to move into the British cryptocurrency market in late August, immediately proceeding with a partial rollout of crypto trading services. The move marks the first expansion of PayPal’s cryptocurrency services beyond the United States.

Speaking to Cointelegraph, a PayPal spokesperson said, “PayPal gradually rolled out its new crypto service to its UK customers. That process is complete,“ adding:

“We are keen to learn and observe how our customers use our buy, hold and sell crypto offering before we start to roll out more features and functionality.“

Related: Regulating crypto could give it ‘halo’ of legitimacy, says UK watchdog

PayPal’s entrance into the local crypto market comes as some U.K. banks are cutting payment channels to exchanges. In August, banking giant HSBC said it was suspending credit card payments to Binance, citing “concerns about possible risks” to its customers. Other banks like Barclays and NatWest bank had previously blocked transactions to Binance.

PayPal’s British crypto launch is a “breath of fresh air,” according to Gregory Klumov, CEO of tokenization firm Stasis. “Since the country is in the world's top 10 economies, such a milestone will clearly drive the continued adoption of digital assets in Europe and beyond,” he said.