New Venmo feature lets users transfer crypto
PayPal, the digital payments giant, acquired Venmo in 2013. Tiffany Hagler-Geard—Bloomberg/Getty Images
Venmo will soon allow users to transfer Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash to external wallets – as well as to other users of the popular payment app.
The feature will roll out starting in May, according to a statement from PayPal, which bought Venmo in 2013. Users can also transfer crypto to PayPal wallets, which released a similar capability for users in 2022.
Crypto transfers on Venmo will be irreversible, just like crypto transactions more broadly – a function of cryptocurrencies’ use of blockchains, or immutable public ledgers.
“We are excited to connect Venmo’s customers to the community, other wallets and exchanges, and we intend to continue rolling out additional crypto products and services in the coming year,” PayPal said in its statement.
The announcement by PayPal is one of the first trickles of crypto updates from the payments giant since February, when it was reported that the publicly traded company halted work on its own stablecoin following reports that Paxos, its partner in the effort, was under investigation by the New York Department of Financial Services , a key player among US cryptocurrency regulators.
At the time, a spokesperson for PayPay told Fortune that the company was “exploring a stablecoin” and that if and when the payments giant moves forward, it will “work closely with relevant regulators.”
Before the onset of Crypto Winter and the recent regulatory crackdown on the industry, PayPal was one of the more public crypto boosters among legacy fintech firms.
In October 2020, the company announced that US users of PayPal would be able to buy, hold and sell Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin. One year later, the payments giant expanded the feature to Venmo customers.
Amid the crypto bull market of 2021, PayPal continued to build out crypto offerings. It let users pay merchants with cryptocurrency, partnered with Coinbase to let those with PayPal-linked debit cards and bank accounts buy tokens on the exchange, and it expanded its crypto service beyond the US to other countries, including the UK
Following the collapse of several prominent crypto firms in 2022, PayPal noticeably rolled back its public rhetoric about cryptocurrencies. In February, longtime CEO Dan Schulman announced his intention to retire at the end of 2023.
