PayPal Gradually Embraces Bitcoin

PayPal has teamed up with leading bitcoin payment processors, GoCoin, Coinbase, and BitPay—allowing digital goods merchants to accept the digital currency with a simple integration through the PayPal Payments Hub.

The announcement marks PayPal’s second small step in helping merchants accept bitcoin payments. The e-commerce company earlier announced that businesses working with its mobile payments provider unit, Braintree, will be able to accept bitcoin payments through the innovative v.zero SDK and relationship with Coinbase.

“We chose to work with BitPay, Coinbase and GoCoin because of our commitment to offering innovative and safer ways for businesses to accept payments,” said Scott Ellison, Senior Director Corporate Strategy at PayPal.

“All three companies have taken steps to ensure that they know their customers and that those customers are offered certain protections. We believe digital goods merchants will be excited to work with these industry-leading companies to sell ringtones, games and music and get paid with Bitcoin.”

The news does not mean that PayPal has included bitcoin as a currency in its digital wallet or bitcoin payments will be processed on its platform. Instead, the firm’s three partners will handle the Bitcoin processing for PayPal digital good merchants in North America.

PayPal is definitely taking gradual steps toward bitcoin adoption, and the recent move is just a way to test the waters for the new payment method. But it promises to do more with the cryptocurrency in the future to provide customers with more payment options.