NEW YORK (Reuters Breakingviews) – Accurate views on global finance in the Covid-19 era.
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FROM PUFF TO HUFF. PayPal’s big plans for digital currencies are losing their fizzle. The $ 270 billion payment company took another step, this time by announcing that the crypto security company Israel Curv would buy Curv for an undisclosed amount. Buyer stock fell 3%.
The value of PayPal has doubled over the past year. Growth of over 30% in total pay volume in 2020 was the main draw, but the promise of major new markets has added spice. CEO Dan Schulman called the move to digital forms of money “inevitable” in October when the company said customers could buy and sell bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies from their PayPal accounts.
Promoting well-being for bitcoin, which rose more than 300% in 2020, will not help. Digital currency fell on Monday and is 11% off the February high. Such a reward can be encouraging, but it makes digital money less useful for payments. (By Robert Cyran)
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