"PayPal and Venmo Expand Crypto Offerings with Solana, Chainlink"

PayPal and Venmo to Add Solana and Chainlink

Global payments platform PayPal is expanding its cryptocurrency offerings by adding support for Chainlink (LINK) and Solana (SOL). This move will allow US-based users to buy, sell, and transfer these popular tokens. The rollout of support for LINK and SOL will happen over the next few weeks and will also be available for Venmo users, which is a US mobile payment platform owned by PayPal. This announcement was made on April 4 by the company.

According to the latest available information from PayPal, approximately 83 million people used Venmo at least once in 2023. With a global reach extending to around 428 million accounts as of December, the majority of which are in the United States, PayPal aims to cater to the growing demand for cryptocurrencies among consumers. May Zabaneh, an executive in PayPal's crypto and blockchain division, highlighted that offering more tokens on PayPal and Venmo provides users with greater flexibility, choice, and access to digital currencies.

The crypto services offered by PayPal are currently only available to US residents. Besides Chainlink and Solana, PayPal's US crypto offerings now include a total of seven digital assets, including its payment stablecoin PayPal USD (PYUSD).

PayPal's Push for Stablecoin PYUSD

The introduction of PYUSD, PayPal's stablecoin, in 2023 marked the company's official entry into the cryptocurrency market. Within a year of its launch, PYUSD exceeded $1 billion in total market capitalization for the first time. Although the circulating supply of PYUSD has declined to approximately $760 million according to industry data, PayPal has been demonstrating the utility of this stablecoin.

In a notable move, PayPal settled an invoice with global consulting firm Ernst & Young using PYUSD in October. This demonstrated the senior vice president of blockchain at PayPal, Jose Fernandez da Ponte's belief that the enterprise environment is highly suitable for stablecoin payments. Despite PYUSD's modest circulating supply compared to leading stablecoins like USDT and USDC, PayPal's involvement in the sector has significant implications, as mentioned by Polygon Labs CEO Marc Boiron.

In an interview with Cointelegraph, Boiron credited companies like PayPal and Stripe for driving stablecoin adoption at a time when regulators and enterprises were still uncertain about the technology. The addition of Chainlink and Solana to PayPal and Venmo's cryptocurrency offerings further solidifies the platforms' commitment to meeting the evolving needs of digital asset users.