PayPal's Crypto Holdings Reach $604M, Bitcoin Dominates At $291M

Global payment giant PayPal Holdings Inc PYPL invested a considerable portion of its financial liabilities in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, as revealed in its recent annual report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Friday.

The report stated PayPal held a total of $604 million in various cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin BTC/USD, Ethereum ETH/USD, Litecoin LTC/USD and Bitcoin Cash BCH/USD.

"Bitcoin has the largest share in PayPal’s crypto assets, accounting for $291 million, while $250 million is held in ETH. The remaining $63 million includes Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash combined," according to the report.

The amount of PayPal’s crypto holdings accounted for 67% of the company’s total financial liabilities, which were recorded at $902 million as of Dec. 31, 2022.

On the other hand, PayPal's total financial assets stood at more than $25 billion.

It is worth noting that this is the first time PayPal included a breakdown of its crypto holdings in its annual financial report, despite offering its customers the option to buy, hold, and sell cryptocurrencies for over two years.

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PayPal acknowledged the unique risks associated with cryptocurrencies, including technological, legal and regulatory risks.

It recognized a crypto asset safeguarding liability to reflect its obligation to protect the assets held for its customers.

The company stores customers’ cryptocurrencies through a third-party custodian, as noted in the filing, but stressed that it could not be sure that these contractual obligations would be effective in preventing assets from being treated as part of the custodian’s estate in the case of bankruptcy or insolvency.

Earlier, PayPal introduced its hold-and-sold service for Bitcoin in the U.S. in November 2020 and had been trying to integrate various blockchain and crypto services into its platform, including central bank digital currencies, as stated by Vice President Richard Nash.

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