PayPal Accepts Bitcoin for Digital Purchases

Bitcoin digital moneyPayPal has made it possible for sellers to accept Bitcoin payments on its platform, through agreements with Bitcoin payment processors BitPay, Coinbase and GoCoin.

Initially, this will be exclusively available to sellers of digital goods, such as music or games, with the rollout beginning in North America.

PayPal is still keeping the crytocurrency at arms length for now, though, with PayPal senior director Scott Ellison hastening to add that this “does not mean that PayPal has added Bitcoin as a currency in our digital wallet or that Bitcoin payments will be processed on our secure payments platform”.

Further integration will be a gradual process, according to Ellison, as the company waits to “see how things develop”, but its hard to deny that this is a major step towards mainstream usage for Bitcoin, building on the earlier tests by PayPals sister company Braintree.

“Bitcoin has been big news this year, and for good reason. Although cryptocurrencies have been around for some time, only Bitcoin has achieved significant scale,” said Ellison. “While we’re focused on giving people everywhere safer and more seamless buying experiences, we’re also fierce advocates of giving businesses – and in turn their customers — flexibility and the freedom of choice.”