Venmo users can now buy crypto

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Venmo–PayPal’s mobile electronic payment platform–has just launched “Crypto on Venmo,” a service that gives Venmo’s 70 million users the ability to buy, hold, sell and learn about cryptocurrency within the Venmo app.

“Crypto on Venmo is a new way for the Venmo community to start exploring the world of crypto, within the Venmo environment they trust and rely on as a key component of their everyday financial lives,” said Darrell Esch, SVP and GM at Venmo.

“No matter where you are in your cryptocurrency journey, crypto on Venmo will help our community to learn and explore cryptocurrencies on a trusted platform and directly in the app they know and love. Our goal is to provide our customers with an easy-to-use platform that simplifies the process of buying and selling cryptocurrencies and demystifies some of the common questions and misconceptions that consumers may have.”

At the moment, Venmo users can buy BTC, ETH, LTC, and BCH through the app, and the minimum amount that Venmo allows users to purchase is $1.00. Beyond giving users the ability to trade digital currency, Venmo is looking to provide several educational resources that its users can leverage to learn more about the nascent digital asset market.

An anticipated offering

Venmo’s digital currency offering has been long anticipated. When PayPal first announced its very own digital currency service offering, they mentioned that they had plans to expand the service to Venmo in “early 2021,” and now, that service is beginning to get rolled out to Venmo users. Crypto On Venmo is currently live for some users but will be available to all users within the next few weeks.

According to Venmo’s 2020 Customer Behavior Study, more than 30% of Venmo customers had already started purchasing cryptocurrency or equities, 20% of which started during the pandemic. This data may have catalyzed Venmo to roll out a digital currency offering so its users could begin buying digital currency through Venmo rather than giving their business to another service provider.