The global payment provider PayPal has doubled its previous crypto volume record. On January 11th, digital assets worth $ 242 million changed hands on the platform.
Yesterday’s trade dwarfed PayPal’s previous volume record of $ 129 million on Jan. 6, according to Crypto Market Data Aggregator Nomics. Since January 1, the daily volume has increased by 950% from $ 22.8.
Given the surge in PayPal volume as Bitcoin rallied to new highs, the US-based payment company appears to be gaining popularity with retailers. Claiming the rise in PayPal volume was a likely sign of increased retail adoption, Alex Saunders of Nuggets News tweeted, “Retail is here.”
Retail has arrived. @PayPal made $ 242 million in crypto sales yesterday. That is almost double the previous record. ✅ #Bitcoin #Ethereum #BullMarket pic.twitter.com/dnoPlADhla
– Alex Saunders @ (@AlexSaundersAU) January 12, 2021
Although many members of the crypto community praise PayPal’s entry into the crypto community to attract new users to digital assets, others have criticized PayPal for creating a “gated” crypto community that does not support withdrawal functions. Twitter user Toomas Zobel speculates that the increase in volume could possibly have resulted from retail surrender:
“Is there a way to see if it’s buying or selling volume? In this vast garbage dump, retailers may just surrender instead of creating buying pressure. “
The debates on whether PayPal’s volume milestone is bullish or bearish comes shortly after Nexo CEO Antoni Trenchev’s speculation about Bitcoin’s recent over $ 40,000 crash, driven by retail investors looking to make quick profits.
The PayPal crypto services are accessed via the Paxos ItBit exchange. PayPal selected ItBit to process its crypto transactions after it started trading digital assets in October 2020.
PayPal is expected to offer cryptocurrency services to its 26 million merchants in the coming months, which is likely to result in further demand for the company’s cryptocurrency services.
