Discover why PayPal is temporarily suspending bitcoin purchases for UK users and how it relates to changing crypto rules.
According to Reuters’ report from yesterday, PayPal will stop allowing its users to buy Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in October. The problem, however, is far more complicated than many have suggested, and it is likely to have little effect on how platform users do their business in the cryptocurrency markets.
PayPal: the ban on Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies
It’s crucial to note right away that this suspension is only temporary. In other words, it will start in October and end as early as 2024.
Additionally, only UK-based users—a relatively small percentage of PayPal’s clientele—will be impacted.
The issue is that a new legal framework to control the usage of cryptocurrencies is being developed in the UK, and the company has chosen to spend some time to attempt to understand how to comply with the new regulations as well.
The British government and parliament have been drafting new regulations for the crypto industry as a whole for some time.
The regulatory framework is still being developed, so there is still room for error at this early stage of the process.
It is quite evident that PayPal does not feel like taking chances in such a case because it is a firm that is now justifiably counted among those who enforce the law in the most accurate and diligent manner possible.
Furthermore, neither purchasing nor selling Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies constitutes one of their primary services, nor is Britain one of their principal markets.
Given this, it should come as no surprise that they took some time to carefully assess the changing circumstances in order to be able to respond appropriately. As a result, they chose to temporarily suspend the crypto service in the UK.
The ban will start on October 1 since new, tougher restrictions will go into effect in the UK on October 8. But if everything goes according to plan, this suspension might be lifted by the beginning of 2024.
The remainder of the globe
This decision won’t affect operations anywhere else in the globe because it is exclusively related to the changing UK regulatory framework.
However, it is important to keep in mind that PayPal only offers crypto services in a select number of nations.
Without a doubt, the US is the company’s most significant area, where they continue to provide the same services they initially announced in late 2020, which helped spark the most recent significant bull run.
To be fair, the regulatory environment around cryptocurrencies in the US is likewise still in flux, but since US regulators are still lagging behind, there are no recent developments that are sufficiently significant to prompt PayPal to take immediate action.
In Europe, and notably in the Eurozone, the situation is still different.
In actuality, the corporation has not yet made its crypto services available to Europeans, most likely due to ongoing regulatory concerns. Although it won’t take effect until next year, the EU has recently adopted a highly detailed framework regarding the use of cryptocurrencies.
At this point, it is to be anticipated that PayPal will start making its cryptocurrency services available to citizens of some European nations as soon as the new laws approved by the EU are incorporated into the jurisdictions of the various EU countries.
However, as is typical when breakthroughs of this caliber suddenly appear on the global scene, the overall situation is still very uncertain.
PayPal and Ledger
Ledger has revealed that PayPal will now be accepted as a form of payment inside of Ledger Live.
In reality, Ledger Live offers more than just a wallet; it also enables cryptocurrency and Bitcoin purchases. With the help of this new integration, Ledger Live users will be able to buy cryptocurrencies using PayPal as a form of payment.
Another rumor that Ledger and PayPal were forming a new cooperation also surfaced yesterday, albeit it later turned out to be untrue.
This was probably merely a misinterpretation of the news mentioned above, namely the straightforward inclusion of PayPal among the available payment options on Ledger Live.
