Payments giant PayPal has set another record with its cryptocurrency transactions on Monday as $242 million in the digital currency changed hands, according to data from Nomics.
The latest record in daily volume broke the previously set record of $129 million a week earlier. Monday’s surge in volumes happened as Bitcoin prices saw a heavy correction of around 20 percent from the recently achieved peak.
However, it is not clear if the volumes were due to the increase in purchases during the dip, or traders were selling their holdings in a panic with the fall of prices. Whatever may be the reason, the crypto markets recovered following the news of the surged PayPal volumes.
Retail has arrived. @PayPal cleared $242M in crypto sales yesterday. That's nearly double the previous record. ??✅ #Bitcoin #Ethereum #BullMarket pic.twitter.com/dnoPlADhla
— Alex Saunders ???? (@AlexSaundersAU) January 12, 2021
Mainstream Adoption of Crypto
PayPal facilitated payments for major cryptocurrency exchanges like Coinbase for years. Additionally, it was a founding member of Facebook’s digital currency project Diem, previously known as Libra, but pulled out of the consortium due to regulatory backlash.
The direct involvement of PayPal with digital currencies came last year as it allowed buying, selling and holding of Bitcoin and three other top Cryptocurrencies on its platform. The move was encouraged across the entire crypto industry and seen as the mainstream adaptation of cryptocurrencies.
Bitcoin prices remained very bullish since last month and peaked above $41,000. Though many are looking at the rally as a bubble, there is hardly any sign of a slow down.
Even in the recent dip, the number of wallets holding over 1,000 Bitcoins only increased. However, wallets with less than 0.1 Bitcoins declined. It also indicates bigger players are remaining bullish on Bitcoin white retailers are booking small profits.
Addresses with more than 1k $BTC continue growing at the expense of all others–even as this most recent downturn is taking effect.
While you were selling, whales were gobbling up your Bitcoin... pic.twitter.com/cWszH3W9um — Elias Simos (@eliasimos) January 11, 2021
Meanwhile, PayPal is investing in cryptocurrency startups and recently gained a stake in crypto tax automation startup Taxbit.
