Cryptocurrency Mobile Payments Firm Coinbase Steps Up its PayPal Connection
One of the biggest things that’s keeping people out of the cryptocurrency market—apart from its lasting, pervasive image problems—is that it’s still comparatively difficult to trade in it. Even just finding the means to convert cryptocurrency back into dollars can be a challenge for some, and that’s a point that Coinbase is about to fix, as it filled us in on recently. Now, those in the European Union (EU) or in European Free Trade Association territory will have things that much easier as they can cash out their accounts directly to a PayPal account.
Before this move, EU and Free Trade Association partners could only withdraw to SEPA or UK Faster Payments tools, which was cumbersome to say the least. Coinbase users demanded a better and easier option to work with, and PayPal topped the list. All users need to do to take advantage of this, reports note, is to link their PayPal accounts to their Coinbase accounts, and it becomes that easy to move funds back and forth.
This is actually just the beginning, the reports noted. While right now, the PayPal connection is only available to users in the EU, the Free Trade Association, and the US—where it was available originally—there are plans to bring PayPal support to more countries before this year has ended.
It’s points like this that make cryptocurrency that much more likely to go mainstream. Sure, we’ve seen a lot of moves on this front already, with improved regulation and laws offering protection for the end user. We’ve also seen some expansions in use cases beyond Overstock.com. By also offering a means to more readily cash out, one of the biggest impediments is thus removed. Easier to buy, easier to sell, and easier to use; these are the three primary means by which cryptocurrency can reach its true potential.
Thanks to efforts like this, we’re seeing cryptocurrency grow into its own, and ultimately become a power in the mobile payments market. There’s still room for improvement—Coinbase itself only offers a limited number of cryptocurrencies, and not even all of the 10 most popular at last report—but the farther in we go, the more likely we are to see a fully realized crypto market.