PayPal has continued to increase the amount of support it gives to cryptocurrency on its platform, and it has also released a new option for people shopping online. Now users in the US will not only be able to buy many forms of cryptocurrency, such as Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Litecoin (LTC), but will also be able to spend them online. Here is a guide on how you can buy and spend them on PayPal.
Buying cryptocurrency on PayPal
Prior to spending cryptocurrency from your PayPal wallet, you will be required to add some to it first. For now, this option is only available for PayPal users who live in the US, and their options for the type of cryptocurrency is limited to nothing other than BTC, ETH, LTC, and BTC Cash currencies.
- Log into PayPal and select ‘Crypto’ from your dashboard.
- On the next screen that you will be directed to, browse through the different currencies and click the buy button for the one that you would like to purchase.
- Verify your identity, follow the instructions that are given on the screen, and the currency will be added to your account.
For now, you can only use PayPal to hold the cryptocurrency that you have bought on the digital payment platform. You will neither be able to add funds from another cryptocurrency wallet nor transfer your crypto from PayPal to another source.
Spending cryptocurrency using PayPal
Once you have acquired some cryptocurrency in your PayPal wallet, spending it should be just as simple as using any other online payment method when you checkout items digitally.
Again this feature is only available to users in the US, though you will still be able to shop on any website that accepts PayPal as a form of payment. Your cryptocurrency will be converted automatically to whatever currency the website uses at a conversion rate that is decided by PayPal.
When you carry out online shopping, the payment process will also not change. You will simply have to select PayPal as your payment option as you normally would. When you are taken to PayPal to decide how you would like to make the payment, you will see the option to pay with a cryptocurrency alongside the details of your bank and card.