What just happened? PayPal is making cryptocurrency more accessible on its platform. The financial services provider recently raised the purchase limit of cryptocurrency for eligible customers to $100,000 per week, a fivefold increase over the previous $20,000 per week limit. PayPal also did away with its $50,000 annual purchase limit.
Doing some quick math, it's now possible for eligible buyers to purchase up to $5.2 million worth of cryptocurrency over the span of one year.
PayPal users in the US have access to four of the leading crypto assets on the platform: Bitcoin, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash and Ethereum. Crypto purchased on PayPal is more or less locked on the platform, although holders can now use their virtual currency to pay for goods at millions of merchants.
PayPal earlier this year also extended its crypto services to Venmo, the mobile payment service provider it acquired through its purchase of Braintree in December 2013.
PayPal's move into crypto helped fuel a rally that started late last year and extended into early 2021. Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market value, hit an all-time high of more than $63,000 in mid-April but has since lost about half of its value and is currently trading just south of $32,000. While there are some exceptions, most other cryptocurrency has largely mirrored Bitcoin's performance as of late.