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PayPal Told EU It Had Crypto Plans Back in March

PayPal had previously declined to say whether it had any designs in the crypto space; the letter from early March appears to confirm it.

Updated Sep 14, 2021, 9:30 a.m. Published Jul 14, 2020, 2:32 p.m.

Venmo is a division of payments company PayPal.

Payments giant PayPal told the European Commission earlier this year it is actively working in the cryptocurrency space.

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PayPal detailed in a March 20 letter – that appears to have been published in June – to the European Commission it had taken "unilateral and tangible steps" in the crypto space.
Sources told CoinDesk in June that PayPal was planning on rolling out cryptocurrency buying and selling services but the company declined to comment at the time.
PayPal's letter, advice on how the European Union can better regulate the emerging asset class, said that it believed cryptocurrencies could address "pain points" in the financial system.
The San Jose, Calif., company, which says it has 300 million active users worldwide, said it joined Facebook's Libra Association in mid-2019 to learn about crypto and blockchain; it left the Association that October.
The payments giant recommended the European Commission ensure crypto-related activities come under the scope of the bloc's existing anti-money laundering regulation.
It also said future European regulation should remain technologically neutral.

See the full letter below:

PayPal

Paddy Baker

Paddy Baker is a London-based cryptocurrency reporter. He was previously senior journalist at Crypto Briefing.

Paddy holds positions in BTC and ETH, as well as smaller amounts of LTC, ZIL, NEO, BNB and BSV.