Get All Access for $5/mo

Visa, PayPal to Allow Customers to Pay With Cryptocurrency Visa and PayPal have both jumped on the digital currency trend, giving customers more options to settle payments

By Justin Chan Edited by Jessica Thomas

Visa and PayPal recently announced that they would allow the use of cryptocurrency on their platforms.

According to Reuters, Visa said yesterday that it would allow customers to specifically use the cryptocurrency USD Coin in transactions made across its payment network. Visa told the news wire that it launched a pilot program with Crypto.com — a crypto platform — and will seek out other partners later this year.

Related: Why Small Businesses Should Consider Bitcoin

"We see increasing demand from consumers across the world to be able to access, hold and use digital currencies and we're seeing demand from our clients to be able to build products that provide that access for consumers," Cuy Sheffield, Visa's head of crypto, said in a statement.

Visa's latest move is expected to make transactions easier, as customers with the Crypto.com Visa card had to convert the digital currency into hard money before any transaction could take place. The new system, which relies on the ethereum blockchain, would allow customers to simply pay with digital currency — without the need for conversion.

As The Verge points out, PayPal announced today that U.S. customers can also now pay with Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin or Bitcoin Cash. Any payment made in cryptocurrency will immediately be converted to U.S. dollars in order to complete a transaction. The publication further points out that the crypto-payment feature is set to automatically appear in the PayPal wallet if a user has a "sufficient cryptocurrency balance to cover an eligible purchase."

Both Visa and PayPal are joining a growing number of companies that are making cryptocurrencies an accepted form of payment. Earlier this month, Tesla announced that it would accept Bitcoin as payment. In 2018, PayPal's competitor Square launched a feature for Bitcoin on its Cash App.

Justin Chan

Entrepreneur Staff

News Writer

Justin Chan is a news writer at Entrepreneur.com. Previously, he was a trending news editor at Verizon Media, where he covered entrepreneurship, lifestyle, pop culture, and tech. He was also an assistant web editor at Architectural Record, where he wrote on architecture, travel, and design. Chan has additionally written for Forbes, Reader's Digest, Time Out New YorkHuffPost, Complex, and Mic. He is a 2013 graduate of Columbia Journalism School, where he studied magazine journalism. Follow him on Twitter at @jchan1109.

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Employee Experience & Recruiting

Knowledge Based 9-5 Jobs Will Slowly Become Obsolete. This Is How To Prepare.

Both businesses and independent workers should prepare for this changing worker environment.

Business News

Is One Company to Blame for Soaring Rental Prices in the U.S.?

The FBI recently raided a major corporate landlord while investigating a rent price-fixing scheme. Here's what we know.

Side Hustle

'I Could Never Go Back to Corporate': She Quit Her Silicon Valley Tech Job After Her Creative Side Hustle Hit 6 Figures

As a college student, A Jar of Pickles owner Kirstie Wang found it difficult to focus in class — instead teaching herself Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop.

Thought Leaders

How Leaders Can Create a Resilient Workforce and Support Employee Mental Health Challenges

Are you prepared to support the mental wellness of the incoming workforce?

Business News

A Popular Costco Section May Disappear in January

Books are reportedly moving to a seasonal-only aisle, and the move could affect sales for the entire publishing industry.

Franchise

Arby's Launched a Burger-Shaped Golf Driver for Father's Day — Here's How to Get One

This is the latest in a line of creative marketing campaigns from the brand.