Cryptos Surge as PayPal Allows UK Users to Trade Coins

By Adedapo Adesanya

Cryptocurrencies are aiming sky high on Monday with Bitcoin trading above $50,000 (N26,277,734.99) for the first time in more than three months as the market continues to rebound.

Bitcoin, which is the most valued digital coin in the world, rose to the $50,000 mark on Sunday, according to data from CoinDesk, though still lower than the all-time high of over $64,000 it reached in April.

When it hit its peak in April, investors quickly offloaded the asset due to headwinds encountered by the market majorly in June and July, dipping below $30,000.

This sharp declined was caused by renewed regulatory clampdown from the Chinese authorities, who forced bitcoin mining operations to shut down.

This month, the token and others have seen a renewed interest.

Last week, Coinbase said it would buy $500 million in crypto on its balance sheet and allocate 10 per cent of profits into a crypto assets portfolio.

Today, PayPal said it would launch its service to let people buy, hold and sell digital currencies in the United Kingdom starting from this week.

It marks the first international expansion of PayPal’s crypto product, which first launched in the United States in October 2020.

PayPal’s crypto feature lets customers buy or sell Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum or Litecoin for as little as £1. Users can also track crypto prices in real-time and find educational content on the market.

Like the US version of the product, PayPal is relying on Paxos, a New York-regulated digital currency company, to enable crypto buying and selling in the UK. PayPal said it has engaged with relevant U.K. regulators to launch the service.

Apart from Bitcoin, other digital currencies were also pointing north.

Business Post gathered from the trading platform, Quidax, as at press time that Ethereum (ETH) was up by 7.5 per cent to N1,729,000, Ripple (XRP) jumped 14.9 per cent to N670.00, Dash skyrocketed 33.7 per cent to N139,026.19, Litecoin rose by 10.2 per cent to N99,188.94, while Tron (TRX) has gained 2.5 per cent to trade at N46.99.