PayPal’s Journey Into Crypto Continues: Expands Purchase Limits

The online payment giant PayPal continues to expand its crypto services by increasing the existing crypto purchase limit and appointing a former Chainalysis executive to direct its crypto division.

In a move intended to “meet the ever-changing needs” of its customers and provide customers with “more choice and flexibility” when using the platform to acquire cryptocurrency.

Users in the US have been able to buy crypto by using PayPal since October of 2020 but were limited to $20 thousand per week.

Now, PayPal customers in the United States can buy up to $100,000 per week with no annual purchase limit, a reflection of the company’s interest in becoming a major player in the crypto industry.

So far, the company has focused on providing its users with educational resources like in-app guides and educational materials, as well as establishing partnerships with crypto exchanges like Coinbase.

Venmo, which is owned by PayPal, also launched crypto trading functions back in April. PayPal has also started actively investing in blockchain-focused companies like Blockchain Capital and TRM Labs.

The former raised a total of $300 million and counted with the participation of VISA, PayPal, and Fund V, while the latter raised $14 million in Series A funding.

Appointing a New Executive To Lead Regulatory Efforts

With an increasingly unstable regulatory landscape in the United States, PayPal has appointed Jesse Spiro to work on regulatory policy in its cryptocurrency division.

In an interview with CoinDesk, Spiro referred to his appointment as, “extremely attractive and exciting,” as well as talking about the role PayPal can play in the crypto industry by mentioning,

“The fact that PayPal has the global reach that they do, the technology and the resources behind them, and the fact that as an MSB [money services business] of their size [they have] embraced cryptocurrency, I think it’s so exciting. At PayPal, I’ll be supporting regulatory affairs for their crypto business and I can’t tell you how exciting that is in relation to the future of crypto and what the future landscape is going to look like.”

Spiro was the former Head of Policy and Regulatory Affairs since 2019.

He has also worked as the Global Head of Threat Finance & Emerging Risks for Thomson Reuters and Refinitiv, as well as a member of the United States Digital Chamber of Commerce Anti-Money Laundering Taskforce.

PayPal Could Play a Major Role In Crypto Regulation Efforts

With regulators in the United States struggling to come up with a regulatory framework for Crypto, the interest demonstrated in the crypto industry by giants like PayPal, Morgan Stanley, and Bank of America could increase the legitimacy of the industry as a whole.

The efforts taken by regulators in the United States have been punitive.

Agencies like the Internal Revenue Service, Securities and Exchange Commission, and Department Of Justice have opted to take action against the crypto industry instead of providing the industry with specific guidelines.

In recent weeks, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston Eric Rosengren referred to the risk that stablecoins pose to the financial system if not regulated by stating:

“I do think we need to think more broadly about what could disrupt short-term credit markets over time, and certainly stablecoins are one element. I do worry that the stablecoin market that is currently, pretty much unregulated as it grows and becomes a more important sector of our economy, that we need to take seriously what happens when people run from these types of instruments very quickly.”

Fearmongering has been among the strategies used by regulators to justify their approach toward cryptocurrencies, usually failing to realize that they are increasing the volatility of the coin and affecting millions of investors by failing to engage in discussions with major industry players.

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