Mainstream investors apparently liked the company’s turn towards crypto.
PayPal (PYPL) reached $215.87 on Oct. 21, a few dollars past its previous all-time high of $212.38, set on Sept. 2, 2020, according to data from TradingView.
This price action came shortly after the payments company announced that it would soon be including crypto assets on its platform. PayPal plans to integrate Bitcoin (BTC), Etheruem (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) offerings into their network in 2021.
Opening the trading day at $206.20, PayPal quickly rose past its all-time high, but just barely — breaching the level by about $0.14. The asset subsequently fell lower before breaking the previous high with conviction, rising past $215.
Bitcoin has also reaped the benefits of PayPal’s news, briefly reaching $12,900— a $1,000 price increase over 24 hours. The price has dipped back to $12,750 at time of publication.
Not everyone is impressed, however. Crypto analyst PlanB described the news as anticlimactic in a tweet, noting that customers will not be able to transport their digital assets off of PayPal, based on an FAQ page on the company’s website. “Currently, you can only hold the Cryptocurrency that you buy on PayPal in your account,” the page says. “Additionally, the Cryptocurrency in your account cannot be transferred to other accounts on or off PayPal.”
PlanB reconsidered his sentiment in a follow-up tweet, noting Bitcoin’s price action in response to the development, as well as the potential mainstream crypto access PayPal may add.
PlanB is known around the crypto industry for his stock-to-flow model which predicts that Bitcoin’s price could rise above $100,000 per coin.
