(Reuters) – PayPal Holdings Inc is unlikely to buy cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, John Rainey, the payment processor’s chief financial officer, told CNBC on Thursday.
“We’re probably not going to invest corporate cash in such financial assets, but we want to take advantage of this growth opportunity that lies before us,” Rainey said in a CNBC interview.
PayPal said in October that it will allow US customers to keep bitcoin and other virtual coins in their online wallets and shop with cryptocurrencies from merchants on its network.
Earlier this week, Mastercard said it plans to provide support for a number of cryptocurrencies on its network this year. Asset manager BlackRock Inc and payment company Square Inc have also recently supported cryptocurrencies.
Rainey said PayPal wanted to invest its money in services it currently provides, such as buy now, pay later.
Buy now, pay later services have blossomed on retail websites during the COVID-19 pandemic as more people started shopping online.
PayPal’s comments come amid a bitcoin frenzy after Tesla Inc, Elon Musk’s electric vehicle company, revealed it had purchased $ 1.5 billion worth of cryptocurrency and would soon accept it as a form of payment for cars, pushing the price of the digital currency is getting higher.
After Tesla’s announcement, various companies expressed their views.
Uber Technologies Inc. Chief Executive Officer Dara Khosrowshahi said the ride-hailing company discussed and “quickly rejected” the idea of investing in bitcoin. However, he added that Uber could potentially accept the cryptocurrency as payment.
Twitter Inc said it was still undecided to hold bitcoin, while General Motors Co said it will evaluate whether bitcoin can be accepted as payment for its vehicles.
Reporting by Aishwarya Nair and Shubham Kalia in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta