PayPal CEO Dan Schulman: ‘We need to double down on the digital wallet’

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PayPal has said that its digital wallet service has a major role to play in the company’s future. The focus on digital wallets could see PayPal gaining more footing in the digital currency market. 

Dan Schulman, CEO and President of the digital payments company, made the plan to “double down” on digital wallets known during the company’s Q1 2022 earnings call and confirmed that the digital wallet feature is the future of PayPal and the entire payments industry. 

“We need to double down on the digital wallet. We believe that is where the future of the industry is going, it’s the future of PayPal, it is the heart of what we’re trying to do from an engagement perspective,” he said during the call.

Schulman also cited data from PayPal and Venmo that supports his stance. According to Schulman, more than 50% of the PayPal customer base uses the company’s digital wallet and users who use it transact 25% more at checkout than others who don’t, and lastly, over 70% of buy now pay later (BNPL) customers did it through PayPal’s digital wallet.

PayPal has long supported direct purchases of digital currencies including BTC, BCH, Litecoin and ETH from its web and mobile app.

As reported by Bloomberg in January, the company is also exploring the creation of a stablecoin. 

According to its earnings report, PayPal’s total revenue, including fees from the purchase and sale of digital currencies in Q1 2022, was $6.5 billion. The firm had a total payment volume of $323 billion. 

PayPal joins tech companies leaving San Francisco

Meanwhile, a report by TechCrunch revealed that PayPal is shutting down its office located in San Francisco. PayPal cited concerns over its global office footprint for the move.  

However, the city has been seeing an increased number of companies leaving. Previously, digital currency exchange Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN) and later Kraken shuttered their San Francisco bases. 

At the time, Kraken CEO Jesse Powell cited the unmanageable crime rate in the city. Powell revealed that the company’s staff were being attacked, harassed, and robbed on their way to and from the office. 

Watch: CoinGeek New York panel, Better Bitcoin Wallets for Consumers & Business