PayPal Just Supercharged Crypto Adoption—US Merchants Can Now Accept 100+ Digital Assets

Breaking the fiat shackles: PayPal's latest move drags traditional commerce kicking and screaming into the crypto future.

The floodgates open

No more cherry-picking just Bitcoin or Ethereum—over 100 cryptocurrencies now get real-world utility through one of payment's biggest legacy players. Suddenly that 'accept crypto' sticker means something.

Merchants win (for once)

Small businesses bypass predatory card networks' 3% vig. Consumers spend appreciating assets (or dump shitcoins)—either way, the payment processor still takes its cut. Some things never change.

The fine print

Settlement still happens in fiat by default—because nothing terrifies Wall Street more than actually using decentralized money as money. Baby steps toward obsolescence.

PayPal streamlines crypto checkout with wallet integration and instant conversions

The payment process will allow customers to connect their existing crypto wallets at checkout. Depending on the wallet, PayPal will facilitate a crypto sale via centralized exchanges like Coinbase or decentralized ones like Uniswap. The proceeds will be converted first into PayPal’s stablecoin, PYUSD, and then into US dollars for the merchant.

CEO Alex Chriss illustrated the platform’s global reach by describing how a shopper in Guatemala could use crypto to buy a gift from a merchant in Oklahoma City, which was made possible through the company’s open platform.

This development is the firm’s latest effort to deepen its presence in the digital asset space. The company first enabled crypto trading for US users in 2020, later extending the service to Venmo.

PayPal reignites crypto push as market recovers and political support grows

During the 2022 “crypto winter,” PayPal scaled back its crypto messaging. However, with the market rebounding and growing political support for digital assets under President Donald Trump’s administration, the firm is ramping up again.

The company intends to expand the ability for merchants to accept crypto to larger enterprise customers in the US and globally; however, a spokesperson declined to provide a timeline.

According to PayPal, this move taps into a $3 trillion crypto market and provides access to more than 650 million crypto wallet holders worldwide. The platform also facilitates near-instant settlements by converting crypto to PYUSD and then fiat, drastically reducing the time and costs of international bank transfers. 

PayPal’s platform handles everything from KYC (Know Your Customer) and AML (Anti-Money Laundering) checks to fraud prevention and chargeback management. This means merchants can accept crypto without having to contend with the risks and complexity of the base blockchain.

PYUSD, which rolled out in 2023 and is issued by Paxos, a regulated trust company, also provides another LAYER of compliance. The stablecoin’s market cap is up nearly 70% to $850 million since the beginning of 2025, according to CoinGecko. 

PayPal’s new offering puts it ahead of other fintech rivals in the crypto space. Though Block (formerly Square) and Stripe have each integrated crypto payments in some form, PayPal’s end-to-end experience integrating a wallet, exchange routing, a stablecoin, and fiat conversion is arguably the most comprehensive offering. 

Trump has framed his administration as a hard pivot away from the policies of former President Joe Biden, who took a more aggressive approach to investigating cryptocurrency-linked enterprises. 

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