Coinbase Expands PayPal Support Beyond the US Borders

The leading US digital crypto exchange, Coinbase, has recently published a new article on its blog, stating that its PayPal support is about to go beyond the borders of the US. The post, written by Allen Osgood, announces that the exchange will now include its Canadian customers as well.

In other words, Canadians that use Coinbase will now be able to instantly transfer sale proceeds directly into their PayPal accounts, as well as buy Bitcoin with PayPal. The decision comes as part of Coinbase’s aim to become not only the most trusted exchange in the world but also the most accessible. With withdrawals to PayPal now being a possibility, it is likely that the exchange will see an increase in the number of its users.

PayPal is well-known throughout the world, and one of the safest and most reliable ways of accessing funds online. However, for a very long time, it was not working with cryptocurrencies at all. Even now, the extent of its involvement with crypto is its collaboration with Coinbase.

But, Coinbase did not stop there, and it also allows PayPal withdrawals to its users in the EFTA (European Free Trade Association), as well as the EU itself. EU traders now have an alternative to the only other available systems — the UK Faster Payments and Single Euro Payments Area.

Now, PayPal and Coinbase are adding what is likely the best alternative to these systems, with withdrawals being available in 32 European countries. This includes 28 EU members, as well as Switzerland, Iceland, Norway, and Liechtenstein. While not in the EU, these countries are still EFTA nations, which is why they are included.

One thing that comes as a surprise is that Coinbase did it all quietly when it usually makes such moves quite well-known. This time, however, it simply updated its FAQ, and the platform’s product manager eventually released his blog post.

The crypto community was not impressed

Meanwhile, the community responded in an interesting way, particularly on Reddit, where the move saw a lot of criticism. Many have argued that PayPal can still decide at any time to close users’ accounts and keep their money. Others have complained about how the money can be extremely difficult to access, with some transactions lasting nearly for two weeks.

It appears that PayPal’s habit of freezing user accounts or just instantly closing them directly has been one of the biggest issues that Redditors have with the service. However, this is hardly surprising, considering that this kind of behavior is in direct contrast with everything that the crypto space stands for.

Additionally, another issue includes high costs of the transaction fee, where PayPal takes 5% of each transaction for itself. Even its base fees have been growing. Further, PayPal also stopped its Coinbase support for US customers in March 2018, blaming technical issues.

To allow users to get to their funds with more ease, Coinbase then released its Coinbase Commerce platform, which can be used for paying for goods and services with Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, and Bitcoin Cash. However, this also requires merchants to integrate Coinbase Commerce into their business as well. Even so, many did it, and Shopify was among the first to join the US’ largest cryptocurrency exchanges.