PayPal's Done Magic for BTC Today, But Not Your Keys Not Your Funds, Right...?
If it happens that you lived under a rock today, far away from social media and crypto related news, then I'd reveal to you right from the beginning that the giant payments and money transfer service PayPal has just entered the cryptosphere and it will try and solve the puzzle that Facebook and it Libra hasn't.
What exactly means it entered the cryptosphere?
Well, PayPal is basically doing what Libra had in the books about a year or so ago, and that's offering to its app users the ability to not only buy and sell cryptocurrencies, but also be able to pay for stuff using them. Something like... what cryptos have actually been created for. For now, according to the news, it seems that folks like you and I will be able, quite soon, to purchase and sell cryptos, first ones testing it being the Americans, and as of beginning of 2021 the rest of the plebs following suit.
This news came like a well deserved kick in the butt for BTC and its followings, as the market has reacted positively, BTC getting closer to $13,000 after piercing through $12,000 like a sharp knife through butter... but there is a catch though, or two. One of that being that, according to Reuters, the giant payment service offering the ability to actually pay with crypto at its over 26 million merchants over the world, the crypto that is referring to is not your traditional crypto though. PayPal however will also support bank issued cryptocurrencies that will be used for payments and gradually replace the cash as we know.
I've been saying that for years, and I will say it again that the day cash is going extinct, our privacy and financial fundamental freedom has just been flushed to the toilet as well. Hence, somehow PayPal is doing service to the average Joe as well for making it possible to buy and sell crypto, not actual cryptocurrencies though, and pay using them, but it paves the road for the future money, money that will still be owned by banks, not the people.
“We are working with central banks and thinking of all forms of digital currencies and how PayPal can play a role,” President and Chief Executive Dan Schulman
Another thing that I'm actually not excited about and the second reason why I believe PayPal has done the move rather to serve the banks, and oligarchs owning them, and not the people, is the fact that no one is mentioning anything about private keys in their headline, which makes me actually think of Revolut. You know... you can purchase cryptos via Revolut as well, but the wallet, as probably in the case of PayPal as well, does not serve as a true crypto wallet. You don't have the keys, you don't own the crypto... It's just numbers on a screen, same like cash in the bank.
I know, you can buy stuff with them... you will be probably able to swing trade them, but it's not like you can move them around on different wallets. Again, it's for the banks, not the people. It's made to attract people using digital currencies, to help banks in ditching cash... but somehow the news managed to pump BTC today and it's not all that bad.
What's the narrative for the need of introducing bank issued digital currencies?
Quite simple, cryptos as we know them are too volatile and no McDonalds in the word would risk acceting you LTC or ETH for a damn hamburger and risking selling it actually below the list price of the product once converting the damn crypto actually happens. Hence such payments will automatically be converted to digital currencies, or the new cash, PayPal teaming up with cryptocurrency firm Paxos Trust Company to offer the service.
Bottom line, thanks PayPal for pumping the price of BTC... but honestly not too excited about your new features added to your service. I don't feel like they benefit me in any way as long as I don't own actual cryptos on that damn wallet of yours. I can pretty much do what you've just done by using Revolut. At the end of the day, BTC is still an asset, or a store of value if you will, but not yet a payment option that would disrupt the current dirty banks and centralized payments services and will probably never change this stigma.
Thanks for attention, Adrian
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
