Digital currencies are going mainstream, according to the Chief Executive Officer of PayPal Holdings (NASDAQ:PYPL)
PayPal CEO Dan Schulman says the use of digital currencies is set to go mainstream as more merchants take a "digital first" approach to payments and move their businesses online.
"The entire world is going to come into digital first," Schulman said at the Web Summit conference. "Shops are moving to accept payments via smartphones and QR codes, even in-store, and more customers are starting to use digital wallets, which “are natural complements to digital currencies."
PayPal announced in October that its customers can buy, sell and hold cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ether, Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin from digital wallets available through PayPal, as well as use virtual money to shop at the 26 million merchants on the company’s network.
Schulman said he sees PayPal’s biggest competitor in the digital space as Ant Financial, China’s largest mobile-payment company, which he said has had "tremendous success inside China" with a comprehensive digital wallet that includes "all elements of financial services, all elements of shopping."
The cryptocurrency Bitcoin has risen sharply this year and is now flirting with an all-time high of almost $20,000.
