In a recent report, PayPal proved it holds one billion dollars in cryptocurrencies on its balance sheet

The internet payment giant PayPal held cryptocurrencies worth nearly one billion dollars on its balance sheet by the end of the first quarter of 2023, according to its 10-Q filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Cryptocurrency buyers in the green

The filing, dated for the quarterly period ending March 31, 2023, showed that PayPal held bitcoin, ethereum, bitcoin cash, and litecoin worth $943 million on its balance. The cryptocurrencies, of course, belong to no one other than PayPal’s users.

This is an increase in customer crypto assets of $339 million compared to the previous quarter, representing a 56 percent increase. This is largely in line with the 72 percent rise in bitcoin during that period, from $16,547 on December 31 to $28,478 on March 31.

The company’s current crypto portfolio consists of bitcoin worth $499 million, $362 million in ether, and another $82 million in bitcoin cash and litecoin.

PayPal explained in its report that it allows customers to buy, sell, receive, send, and hold the aforementioned cryptocurrencies and use the proceeds from their sale to purchase goods and services.

– We maintain an internal record of our customers’ crypto assets, including the amount and type of crypto assets owned by each of our users – said PayPal in the filing.

PayPal also stated that it will fully protect customers from unauthorized crypto purchases or sales and from unauthorized crypto transfers up to $50,000.

Crypto support for PayPal

The payment company enabled users to withdraw crypto assets to personal wallets in June.

PayPal CEO Dan Schulman stated that he is ‘optimistic about cryptocurrencies of all kinds’ during an event at the Web Summit in 2020, after admitting that he personally owned bitcoin in 2019.

In March 2022, he added that CBDCs, stablecoins, and digital wallets would ‘redefine a large part of the financial world in the future’.

PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel has previously expressed particular respect for the power of bitcoin, suggesting it could undermine the global strength of the US dollar. However, his VC firm liquidated all its crypto investments in 2023 after holding them for 8 years.