Andreas Antonopoulos says PayPal embracing crypto may be good for Bitcoin's price, but it involves sacrificing some key principles.
Buying Bitcoin With PayPal?
People who buy their Bitcoin with PayPal are “second-class citizens” who don’t actually own any cryptocurrency, according to Andreas Antonopoulos.
The Bitcoin educator isn’t a fan of such payment platforms — and warned purchasing crypto through this mainstream platform means investors “only get a fraction of the full rights and privileges that accrue to someone who has control over their own keys.”
In a video posted on his YouTube channel, Antonopoulos warned that BTC faces a “real risk” if the crypto asset continues to be owned in large numbers by the likes of MicroStrategy, Square and PayPal. He explained:
“The real risk to Bitcoin — and this is where things get tricky — is if more and more Bitcoin is owned by intermediaries like this, held in the treasuries of companies like MicroStrategy or Square or PayPal or JPMorgan Chase.”
Antonopoulos claimed that BTC’s future could be plunged into danger because intermediaries whose interests “are not aligned with the fundamental principles of decentralized financial sovereignty” would end up being participants in consensus.
And although PayPal’s entry into the space and exchange-traded funds may help drive the markets upward, Antonopoulos says this isn’t the point:
“Yes, numbers go up. Yes, to the moon. Yes, hodl, hodl and all of that b*******. But at the end of the day, what you’re doing is sacrificing principles in order to get price appreciation and that story does not have a good ending.”
Can you Transfer Bitcoin to PayPal?
PayPal announced recently that their U.S. users can buy, sell and hold cryptocurrencies through PayPal, which many consider a huge step towards global acceptance of the new technology. In 2021, PayPal plans to introduce crypto to payment app Venmo, as well as allowing its users to use crypto to purchase items at over 26 million merchants.
PayPal will initially offer support for four cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum and Bitcoin Cash. PayPal users don't need to do anything extra in order to buy Bitcoin with PayPal (besides live in the U.S., and not Hawaii) — they just need to confirm some account information during their first crypto purchase on their PayPal Cash account. Getting BTC to PayPal will be a very straightforward path.
Should You Buy Crypto With PayPal?
As we wrote above, some very zealous crypto enthusiasts don't consider the purchase of Bitcoin with PayPal as legitimate — however, for the retail investor unfamiliar with cryptocurrencies, buying crypto with PayPal is a very legitimate option! Don't be scared off by the crypto zealots, the BTC to PayPal service is real.
Read More on Academy!
We looked at some of the pros and cons associated with buying crypto on PayPal in this Academy post. Take a read!
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