Digital payments firm PayPal agreed to acquire Israeli crypto security firm Curv to accelerate and expand its initiatives to support cryptocurrencies and digital assets. PayPal expects to complete the acquisition in the first half of 2021. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Curv, a provider of cloud-based infrastructure for digital asset security, will join the recently created business unit of PayPay which is focused on blockchain, crypto and digital currencies.
The move to acquire Curv is part of PayPal’s commitment to help shape the role that digital currencies will play in the future of financial services and commerce.
Curv’s expertise in cryptography and cloud security will allow PayPal to create a secure, distributed architecture for signing transactions. This allows any institution or enterprise to quickly and easily hold and exchange digital assets on public or private blockchains without managing private keys on outdated physical infrastructures.
In October last year, PayPal launched a new service that allows customers to buy, hold and sell cryptocurrency directly from their PayPal account. This was part of payments firm’s plans to significantly increase cryptocurrency’s utility by making it available as a funding source for purchases at its merchants worldwide.
The company is initially supporting select cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Litecoin (LTC), directly within the PayPal digital wallet.
PayPal customers will be able to use their cryptocurrency holdings as a funding source to pay at PayPal’s 26 million merchants around the globe. Consumers will be able to instantly convert their selected cryptocurrency balance to fiat currency to make payments.
PayPal has also been granted a first-of-its-kind conditional Bitlicense by the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) through its partnership with New York authorized virtual currency firm Paxos.
Mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies has traditionally been hindered by their limited utility as an instrument of exchange due to volatility, cost and speed to transact. However, advanced technological platforms now offer the possibility of mainstreaming digital currencies.
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