PayPal-Owned Venmo To Add Crypto, Savings, Deal-Finding Functionalities

PayPal Holdings Inc PYPL CEO Daniel Schulman announced during an earnings call this week his firm’s intent to expand the functionality of Venmo, a mobile-friendly payments app.

What Happened: Venmo is a holistic platform for payments and money transfers.

As part of a vision to unlock access to fast and easy mobile payments, the company’s parent announced it would amp up innovation around the platform, adding cryptocurrency; the ability to save money; and to stay in the know on shopping deals through integrated tools from Honey, a platform for savings, deals and rewards.

"We all know the current financial system is antiquated, and we can envision a future where transactions are completed in seconds, not days; a future where transactions should be less expensive to complete; and a future that enables all people to be part of the digital economy, not just the affluent," Schulman said.

"We are significantly investing in our new crypto, blockchain, and digital currencies business unit in order to help shape this more inclusive future."

Why It Matters: PayPal is looking to increase financial wellness by unlocking access to the nascent asset class.

The company recently added trade support for cryptocurrencies in the U.S. through a partnership with Paxos Trust Company.

Going forward, the ability to buy, sell and hold crypto assets on the Venmo platform will be added, while PayPal will look to expand the depth and breadth of its financial services offering with budgeting, savings and investing tools.

"We anticipate the rollout of that capability to begin late this quarter, and we hope to launch our first international market in the next several months," the CEO said.

This is "just the beginning of an extensive roadmap around crypto, blockchain, and digital currencies," he said.