PayPal moves to mainstream crypto payments

PayPal is rolling out Pay with Crypto, which the company claims will simplify cross-border commerce for merchants by connecting a combination of cryptocurrencies, digital wallets and merchants worldwide, and slashing transaction fees by up to 90 percent vis-à-vis cross border credit card payment fees.

Pay with Crypto connects merchants to a market (crypto) that has been put at over $3 trillion, offering instant crypto to stablecoin or fiat conversion. Supporting transactions across over 100 cryptocurrencies and wallets, such as Coinbase and MetaMask, Pay with Crypto expands merchant revenue opportunities and taps into a global base of more than an estimated 650 million crypto users, PayPal stated in a press release. What's more, with a transaction fee of 99 basis points (0.99 percent), it seriously undercuts interchange.

"Businesses of all sizes face incredible pressure when growing globally, from increased costs for accepting international payments to complex integrations," said Alex Chriss, president and CEO of PayPal. "Today, we're removing these barriers and helping every business of every size achieve their goals." "

Chriss went on to say, "Imagine a shopper in Guatemala buying a special gift from a merchant in Oklahoma City. Using PayPal's open platform, the business can accept crypto for payments, increase their profit margins, pay lower transaction fees, get near instant proceeds, and grow funds stored as PYUSD at 4 percent when held on PayPal. By enabling seamless cross-border crypto payments, we're breaking long-standing barriers in global commerce." PYUSD is PayPal's stablecoin, which now pays a rewards rate of 4 percent.

PayPal stated that Pay with Crypto advances its mission to transform commerce by integrating crypto and digital currencies into a unified platform that connects fiat and digital payments. It offers consumers diverse payment options and unlocks merchant opportunities for global growth, the company added. "PayPal empowers U.S. merchants to accept crypto payments, improve efficiency, attract customers, earn rewards for PYUSD held with PayPal, and send faster, low-cost payments to freelancers and vendors using PYUSD," the company said.

Latest in a string of new relationships

PayPal has been busy staking its claim on the cryptocurrency world. In June 2025, the company signed an agreement with Fiserv to expand stablecoin use by committing to future interoperability between FIUSD (Fiserv USD)and PYUSD.

"Our expanded relationship with PayPal furthers our mission to scale stablecoin-powered payments – leveraging our position at the intersection of banking and commerce to build more efficiency and optionality into the payments ecosystem," Takis Georgakopoulos, COO at Fiserv, said at the time.

In July, PayPal launched PayPal World, which brings together several of the world's largest digital wallets on a single platform. Venmo, is already connected. Interoperability with Mercado Pago, which operates throughout Latin America, India's UPI and Tenpay Global, a cross-border payment platform based in China, will soon follow, the company stated.

"These innovations don't just simplify payments – they drive merchant growth, expand consumer choice, and reduce costs," Chriss said.

PayPal said Pay with Crypto will be rolled out to merchants in the coming weeks, offering them the ability to accept payments in 100 cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), US Dollar Coin (USDC), the Tether stablecoin (USDT), XRP (previously referred to as Ripple), BNB (Binance Coin) and Solana.

Connected wallets include Coinbase, OKX, Binance, Kraken, Phantom, MetaMask and Exodus, with others in the queue.

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