Coinbase Teams Up With PayPal To Enable Fiat Currency Withdrawals For European Users

Coinbase is upgrading its services for its users within Europe. Notably, users will now be able to make fist currency withdrawals from their Coinbase wallets using PayPal. In a statement, Coinbase said that users will only need to link their Coinbase accounts to their respective accounts with PayPal.

One extra alternative for European users

Initially, Coinbase clients based in the region could only access their assets via UK Faster Payments and SEPA. According to the cryptocurrency exchange giant, the new withdrawal option is easy and faster. Interestingly, this is the second region to access the service after activating the same for U.S. users late last year. As per the statement, other regions could begin using PayPal before 2019 elapses.

Notably, this is not the first time the exchange is integrating PayPal on its platform. In June 2016, Coinbase revealed that users could fund their accounts using PayPal and credit cards. Particularly, the move was strategic such that more clients would opt in onto the platform. This is because there is a huge section of potential customers who mostly operate with electronic money.

At the time, Coinbase said that the PayPal and visa support was only in the better phase. Notably, clients would only be able to use the PayPal option to settle transactions for bitcoin sells. On the other hand, credit cards would settle transactions for bitcoin buys. However, the company had to halt withdrawals via PayPal as it ran into problems. Further, it stopped accepting new credit cards. 

Users hope the integration will work better than before

In late 2018, Coinbase launched Coinbase Commerce, which would facilitate transactions in cryptocurrency. Notably, the service would allow “merchants to accept multiple cryptocurrencies directly into a user-controlled wallet.” As such, the merchants would have much more control over their tokens. Interestingly, enthusiasts believed at the time that this would culminate into the PayPal of cryptocurrency.

However, merchants were not enthusiastic about the entire experience since the company had issues with payments. Firstly, the price for bitcoin was very volatile and settling transactions was becoming a challenge. Further, some major banks announced that they would stop offering credit card services to customers looking to buy bitcoins. Add to that the issues concerning difficulties withdrawing cash from wallets using PayPal.

Ultimately, the firm had to put a stop to the services for two weeks so that the issues could be addressed. Therefore, one only hopes that this time, the company will do better.