The rollout of the U.K. crypto service was completed by payments giant Paypal Inc., the company announced Friday. The rollout started in August, when the company launched its crypto service in U.K.
Twitter account for Paypal U.K.
We are pleased to announce that all UK customers can now purchase, hold, and sell cryptocurrency bitcoin, ethereum or bitcoin cash from their Paypal accounts.
According to the company’s website, the U.K. crypto service is provided by Paypal Europe S.a.r.l. et Cie, S.C.A., a credit institution supervised by Luxembourg’s financial regulator, Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier. The crypto service is not subject to regulation by any regulators including the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the United Kingdom.
Paypal explained further: “You can purchase, sell, and hold cryptocurrency through Paypal’s cryptocurrency service. But you cannot use it to send currency.” The purchase and sale of cryptocurrency cannot be reversed and cannot be modified. The company stated in May, however, that it will allow cryptocurrency transfers to third party wallets.
The payments giant stated that the U.K. launch was the company’s first international expansion of its cryptocurrency offering.
Paypal declared it would launch a crypto service in the U.S. last October to allow its millions of customers in America to buy, hold, and sell cryptocurrencies. Paypal claims that its platform is currently available in more than 200 markets and serves over 400 million merchants and consumers. Paxos Trust Company is a New York-based technology and financial institution that offers cryptocurrency.
Paypal first announced Checkout using Crypto in March. In April, it launched crypto service on its mobile payment platform Venmo. The company announced its plans to increase crypto services and hire more than 100 crypto jobs in July.
Additionally, Paypal’s venture capital arm made investments in crypto and blockchain startups such as crypto risk management firm TRM Labs, TaxBit crypto tax software provider TaxBit and Talos institutional-grade crypto infrastructure technology.