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PayPal Will Let Customers Withdraw Their Crypto

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PayPal has announced that its users will soon be able to withdraw their cryptocurrency holdings to the wallets of their choosing.

At present, PayPal does not let users move cryptocurrency holdings off their platform, despite allowing customers to buy Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies since October 2020.

At CoinDesk’s Consensus 2021 conference, Jose Fernandez da Ponte, VP of Global Business Development at PayPal, revealed that a withdrawal function is in the works.

“We want to make it as open as possible, and we want to give choice to our consumers,” da Ponte said during the conference. “We want them to be able to take the crypto they acquired with us and take it to the destination of their choice.”

Da Ponte also said that he sees PayPal and other similar financial institutions as the “natural way” for governments to distribute their central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and stablecoins in the future.

The inadequacy of the current system was shown during the pandemic, when some people received stimulus checks by mail, requiring them to travel to a physical bank to cash them. “I think we can do better than that,” said da Ponte.

According to da Ponte, PayPal comes out with new developments every two months on average, but it’s still unclear when the withdrawal functionality itself is coming.

PayPalCoin comming?

Asked about the rumor that PayPal plans to launch its own stablecoin, da Ponte responded negatively for now. “This is way too early,” he said. 

PayPal’s Gradual Adoption of Crypto

PayPal’s adoption of crypto and related services started out gradually, with constant implementation of new options. In October 2019 they gave users the ability to buy cryptocurrency with cash. They then further expanded the capabilities of its crypto platform in March by allowing users to pay with cryptocurrency.

In April, PayPal introduced cryptocurrency trading on Venmo, a company they acquired in 2013. PayPal also acquired the crypto custody firm Curv in March, suggesting the possibility of future expansion of their features.

PayPal was initially criticized for the fact that its services gave users very little control over their cryptocurrency and that they represent everything contrary to what crypto is supposed to be, the addition of features that most would expect from a regular crypto exchange might make the potential users become more favorable toward the company. While the centralization argument still applies, as long as customers can withdraw their crypto off the PayPal’s platform, this argument becomes less valid, as PayPal no longer necessarily serves as a custodian of their customers crypto, but can also only serve as an intermediary only, should one so desire. The options are there and its up to the users to decide for themselves whether the benefits outweigh the potential drawbacks.

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CumRocket and the Power of Elon Musk Tweet

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Elon Musk crypto bubble?

When Elon Musk tweeted “Canada, USA, Mexico”, spelling out an acronym “CUM”, many assumed he was referring to the “United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement” (former NAFTA), but with an Elon Musk twist. Because you know… it would make for a totally better acronym than what they came up with (USMCA).

Or maybe it was just me?

Low and behold, barely a day later Musk decides to bless us with yet another tweet, this time dispelling any doubts one might’ve had regarding the meaning of his previous tweet.

CumRocket To the Moon

Within literal minutes of his “Cum Rocket to the moon” tweet on June 5, CumRocket (CUMMIES) skyrocketed from $0.067 to $0.284 (+330% instant gain) before crushing back down to $0.114 some half hour later, and is currently trading at $0.1746 (+168.95% 24hr gain).

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Spaniards to Be Taxed on ‘Overseas’ Crypto Holdings

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As reported by El Economista, the Spanish parliament has voted in favor of a controversial new law that will require Spanish citizens to report their overseas crypto holdings, as the government appears ready to impose more control and regulation over the growing crypto sector.

According to an official government release, the new law will require Spaniards “to report their holdings and operations with cryptocurrencies,” on crypto held both domestically and abroad if the transactions “affect Spanish taxpayers.”

According to the release, information will be required on the balances and holders of the coins, as well as on all types of operations that have been carried out with them.

“Due to their proliferation and popularity among investors and savers, it is necessary to take greater control over cryptocurrencies”

The new regulations will make it “mandatory to inform” the tax body on annual declarations of assets and property.

The bill, named the ‘Law on Prevention and Fight Against Tax Fraud’ (Ley de Medidas de Prevención y Lucha contra el Fraude Fiscal), also contains other provisions intended to fight tax avoidance, and will give tax bodies the power to conduct spot checks on “homes and businesses”.

The bill has been in the works since last year, when the Council of Ministers gave it the green light, and still needs to be ratified, now that the senate voted in favor in a majority vote.

Once ratified, it will see “overseas” crypto holdings integrated into the often criticized Modelo 720 system, which requires Spaniards to complete exhaustive declarations of their overseas real estate holdings.

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Charles Hoskinson Explains Why He Believes Cardano Is Superior to Ethereum 2.0

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While Cardano (ADA) supporters like to refer to it as an Ethereum killer, Charles Hoskinson, founder of Cardano, said that Ethereum is actually “killing itself” by replacing the current proof of work (PoW) version with Ethereum 2.0, a new proof of stake (PoS) iteration.

When asked if Ethereum 2.0 could also be seen as a Cardano killer, now that it’s switching to PoS as well, Hoskinson said that he does not see it like that since Cardano is the market leader in PoS, implying hat their longer experience with PoS gives it an upper hand over Ethereum in PoS space: 

“We are leading that fight. We were first to the market… Engine doesn’t make a BMW a BMW. It’s a part of it, but you need a whole ecosystem, a whole collection of things.”

CHARLES HOSKINSON, MAY 26, 2021

Subjective: Assigning such prominence to the fact that Cardano was the first to market with PoS over Ethereum sounds like a weak argument seeing as Ethereum, along with Bitcon is becoming a household name, whereas Cardano… well, is not yet. So this whole argument of “first to market” that is based solely on the validation protocol being used falls somewhat short and makes us seriously wonder why Mr. Hoskinson would spit in his own cup by implying that being first to market carries such weight, seeing as ETH is actually the grandfather of smart blockchain and the true pioneer of the said space.

Fun fact: The first cryptocurrency to adopt the PoS method was Peercoin. Next, Blackcoin, and ShadowCoin soon followed suit.

Governance, interoperability, and user bases

The creator of Cardano also touched the topic of governance, saying that Ethereum 2.0 has bowed out, which he said would make it hard for the ecosystem to evolve once its founders retire or lose prominence, whereas enabling on-chain governance is a vital part of Cardano’s roadmap.

He also compared Bitcoin (BTC), the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, and the grand father of all cryptocurrency, to a “wood-powered steam engine” due to its slow evolvement.

“You have those Bitcoin core developers who desperately want to evolve the system: even though core developers want to implement multiple improvements like smart contracts and side-chains, they can’t get anything done.”

CHARLES HOSKINSON, MAY 26, 2021

Hoskinson also pointed out that Ethereum is not as interoperable for now as some other similar blockchain projects such as Cardano, Cosmos and Polkadot (among others) that made sidechains available on their network.

And finally, he claims that Eth 2.0 and Cardano on top of different technologies and philosophies also have different user bases:

“We are bringing millions of people in Africa that simply Ethereum doesn’t seem to care about… outside of South Africa and a few well developed places in Africa.”

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