PayPal Earnings Boosted by ‘Crypto Efforts’

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PayPal released its first quarter results on May 5, which were boosted by the company’s “crypto efforts,” according to CEO Dan Schulman.

According to the earnings report, net revenue reached $6.03 billion, an increase of 29% year-on-year. Operating income rose 162% to $1.04 billion. Meanwhile, net profit rose an astounding 1,206% from $84 million in 2020 to $1.1 billion in Q1 2021. Yesterday, PayPal’s shares rose 5.5% apparently due to the anticipated results.

These boosted earnings were the result of a concerted shift to digital payments due to the global coronavirus pandemic. PayPal’s recent adoption of crypto offerings also bolstered revenue.

CEO’s appraisal

CEO Dan Schulman declared cryptocurrencies to be a key growth engine for the company, during the earnings call.

“We’ve got a tremendous amount of really great results going on tactically with our crypto efforts,” Schulman said. He added that half of crypto users open their PayPal app daily, suggesting it has been increasing engagement for users. This highlighted his assertion that PayPal’s adoption of digital assets “has been widely embraced”.

The CEO also stated the payments provider has extensive plans for further crypto integration. Citing productive conversations with “central banks, regulators and government officials around the world,” he emphasized the plans would be pursued “in partnership with governments and in compliance with local, national, and global regulatory frameworks.”

Along with cryptocurrencies, Schulman noted that central bank digital currencies would “play a critical role in shaping a more inclusive recovery and a more equitable financial system.” He also believes that “current technological underpinnings of our financial system will be substantially upgraded over the coming years.” He had made a similar statement in an earlier interview.

PayPal also announced plans to roll out a “next-generation digital wallet,” later this year. Schulman described it as an “all-in-one, personalized app [that] will provide increasingly customized and unique shopping, financial services, and payments experiences.”

PayPal’s crypto adoption

PayPal made a big push into crypto in the last six months. Last month, its launched “Checkout with Crypto.” This enables PayPal’s American customers to make payments with bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), bitcoin cash (BCH), and litecoin (LTC).

Additionally, PayPal’s mobile service app Venmo also launched “Crypto on Venmo.” This lets their users buy, sell, and hold crypto within the application. Finally, Coinbase announced that its users could make payments on the exchange through PayPal.