Tech
PayPal to Suspend Cryptocurrency Sales in UK Until 2024
Payments giant PayPal will no longer allow UK customers to purchase cryptocurrency through its platform from October, as it must comply with new rules on cryptocurrency promotions.
The UK’s financial regulator is set to introduce tougher rules to limit how cryptocurrencies are marketed to UK consumers, including requiring cryptocurrency firms to display risk warnings and scrapping “refer a friend” bonuses.
PayPal will “temporarily suspend” customers’ ability to purchase cryptocurrency on its platform starting Oct. 1, as it works to comply with new regulations, which will take effect Oct. 8, it said in an email to customers Tuesday. It said it plans to restart “in early 2024.”
“PayPal works closely with regulators around the world to comply with applicable rules and regulations in the markets in which we operate,” it told customers in the email, a copy of which it shared with Reuters.
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It said customers could hold and sell their cryptocurrencies “at any time.”
The news was previously reported by cryptocurrency media outlets, including CoinJournal. PayPal launched cryptocurrency buying and selling in the UK for the first time in 2021.
Regulators around the world are increasingly looking to regulate cryptocurrencies, after the collapse of several cryptocurrency companies, including FTX, last year caused huge losses for amateur investors.
After the dramatic collapse of token prices last year, the price of the leading cryptocurrency Bitcoin has gradually recovered, increasing by about 76% so far this year. However, its price is less than half of the all-time high reached in November 2021.
Earlier this month, PayPal shares got a boost when it announced it had launched a US dollar stablecoin – a type of cryptocurrency designed to maintain a constant price by being pegged to a stable asset.
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