eBay's John Donahoe has more good things to say about Bitcoin , this time with CNBC's Josh Lipton:
Donahoe: I think there's no doubt digital currency is going to play an important role going forward, and at paypal, we're going to have to integrate digital currencies into our wallet.
Lipton: So handicap it. How quickly do you think we'll see bitcoin in Paypal?
Donahoe: I don't know, I can't give a specific time. But I think you'll see Bitcoin used in different use cases, whether it's a peer-to-peer use case, a cross-border transaction, someone's sending currency to someone else, and over time, you'll start to see it with some merchants accepting Bitcoin. And I don't know how big it will get, how quickly, but the underlying theme is a digital coin something we should be aware of.
Lipton: Do you own any bitcoin, personally?
Donahoe: Yes, I do.
Lipton: What do you think it should be worth?
Donahoe: For me, I'm not buying it as an investment. I'm buying it to understand how it can be used. I think there are two sides of it, the investment side and the digital currency side. I'm more interested in the digital currency side- about how you and I can Exchange value seamlessly using technology.
Lipton: I don't know if it's a Stockholm syndrome or what, but everybody that I talk to out here, and you sort of get into it, really does talk about Bitcoin as the next big thing. And they believe it. And they mean it. It is not just some kind of fly-by-night thing they are playing with. They are serious and very big companies out here, very, very serious about it.
The comments come after Donahoe excited many last month when he said:
“We think bitcoin will play a very important role in the future. Exactly how that plays out, and how we can best take advantage of it and enable it with PayPal, that’s something we’re actively considering. It’s on our radar screen.”
In acknowledging that he owns Bitcoin, he joins colleague David Marcus, CEO of PayPal, who indicated the same when reassuring the public about their stance on Bitcoin in January.
Bitcoin has just spiked by over 3% in less than an hour, now trading near $660 on Bitstamp. One can certainly speculate that the jump came in response to Donahoe's comments, which came to light within the past hour. While the causes for Bitcoin's rise over the past few weeks remain unclear, it may indeed be a result of positive sentiment of tech giants finally getting into digital currency.
