Technology

PayPal plans to become a CBDCs distributor

The development of a kind of digital wallet for distribution of CBDCs is part of PayPal's strategy to look more closely at new forms of digital money

LABS

18.Feb.2021 13:52 BRT
UPDATED 13:58 BRT

PayPal is preparing to be a platform for Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDCs) issued by central banks. The information was released by the company’s CEO, Dan Schulman, in a videoconference with investors.

Schulman said that PayPal wants to be the digital wallet for global CBDCs, through which central banks will be able to distribute tokens to customers – although issuing CBDCs is not unanimous among central banks, such as the European Central Bank and the Federal Reserve System , from the United States, which still have no plans to launch the euro and the digital dollar.

The development of a kind of digital wallet for distribution of CBDCs is part of PayPal‘s strategy to look more closely at new forms of digital money – by the way, a new business unit focused on blockchain and the digital economy was presented in the company’s product roadmap released in early February.

“We’re a perfect complement to central banks and governments to distribute those digitized forms of currency,” Schulman said, adding that the company’s goal is to provide that more people can access the digital economy.

Schulman also said that PayPal is researching about digitizing other assets through the use of smart contracts and tokenization. “This is a once in a multi-decade opportunity where the fundamental rails of the system are going to be redefined and we have a chance to help shape that”, he said.