In case you needed a sign that cryptocurrency has gone mainstream, here it is. Starting today, PayPal users in the United States can link their accounts to Coinbase to facilitate the purchase of digital currencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin. Previously, funding these purchases often meant using a debit card or a longer method like a wire transfer. With today’s update, Coinbase says you can fund your purchases “instantly”. It also means there is one less platform with your debit and bank account information.
To link your PayPal account to Coinbase, look for the ‘Add Payment Method’ option when purchasing cryptocurrency in the app. If you signed up with the same email for Coinbase and PayPal, you’ll be more or less good to go. Otherwise, you will need to go through PayPal’s two-factor authentication interface. Once you’ve linked the two accounts, you can spend up to $ 25,000 per day, so plan to set aside time over multiple days to buy a single Bitcoin. Another thing to keep in mind is that you should fund your purchases with your debit card or cash directly from your bank account.
For PayPal, this is just the latest example of its recent adoption of cryptocurrency. Last fall, the company began enabling people to buy and sell Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, and Bitcoin Cash. More recently it has enabled people to also check with digital currencies. By the end of this year, that’s something Venmo users will be able to do as well. When PayPal first announced the move, CEO Dan Schulman said the company hopes it will drive global adoption of the technology.
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