Are we set to experience a mini-boom in Bitcoin again?

• PayPal users will be able to buy cryptocurrency through their accounts and use cryptocurrency for merchant payments, starting with the US.

Dubai: Paypal’s decision to allow customers to buy, sell and hold Bitcoin underscores that Bitcoin deniers and cryptocurrency cynics are on the wrong side of history, CEO of deVere Group said.

“Unbelievably there are still some financial ‘experts’ and financial watchdogs who believe that cryptocurrencies are not the future of money. The price of Bitcoin crossed $12,000 on the news,” Nigel Green, chief executive of one of the largest independent financial advisory and fintech organisation deVere Group, said.

PayPal users will be able to buy cryptocurrency through their accounts and use cryptocurrency for merchant payments. This will roll out over the coming weeks in the US.

There are 26 million merchants that offer PayPal around the world.

Bitcoin is trading at $12,841, up 7.87 per cent while PayPal rose 4.95 per cent to $211.96.

The late 2017 bull-run saw the Bitcoin price reach its all-time high of $20,089. 

 “Let’s be clear: This is a major step forward towards the mass adoption of digital currencies,” Green said.

Investor activity picks up

 “The blistering speed of the digitalisation of economies and every aspect of our lives, including financial lives, shows that there will be a growing demand for digital, global, borderless money – characteristics that are inherent to the likes of Bitcoin,” he said.

Moreover, he said that there’s been something of an avalanche of interest in Bitcoin in recent weeks from household-name investors.

Investor activity is picking up considerably with various on-chain metrics and ongoing – and heightening – global political, economic and social turbulence suggesting that there will be a price surge before the end of the year, he said.

PayPal said in a release that consumers will be able to instantly convert their selected cryptocurrency balance to fiat currency, with certainty of value and no incremental fees.

PayPal argued that this move will “significantly increase cryptocurrency’s utility”.

PayPal obtained a conditional Bitlicense by the New York State Department of Financial Services. 

Still room for rally

Green said that there’s a growing sense that “we’re set to experience a mini-boom similar to that at the end of 2017.”  

“Prices are yet to catch up with investor interest – but this is only a matter of time as investors will not want to sleepwalk towards perhaps year-high prices in the run-up to the end of 2020.”

He believes Paypal’s decision will drive more institutional investors into the already burgeoning crypto sector, bringing with them their capital and expertise.

“The direction of travel has already been on this path, but there is a growing sense that more investors will now be preparing to move off the sidelines.Surely, the time is up for those relics who still believe cryptocurrencies are not the way forward?”