PayPal Holdings Inc chief executive officer Dan Schulman said the use of digital currencies is set to go mainstream as more merchants take a \u201cdigital first\u201d approach to payments.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe entire world is going to come into digital first,\u201d Schulman said at the Web Summit conference on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Shops are moving to accept payments via smartphones and QR codes, even in-store, and more customers are starting to use digital wallets, which \u201care natural complements to digital currencies.\u201d<\/p>\n
PayPal announced in October that its customers can buy, sell and hold cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ether, Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin from digital wallets, as well as use the virtual money to shop at the 26 million merchants on its network.<\/p>\n
Asked about who he sees as PayPal\u2019s biggest competitor, Schulman said he\u2019s keeping an eye on Ant Financial.<\/p>\n
China\u2019s largest mobile-payment company has had \u201ctremendous success\u201d in the country, Schulman said, with a comprehensive digital wallet that includes \u201call elements of financial services, all elements of shopping.\u201d<\/p>\n
Schulman said PayPal\u2019s biggest opportunity is to move away from cash and toward digital payments. While that trend has already been happening, \u201cnow with the pandemic, that\u2019s accelerating and you\u2019re seeing an explosion in digital payments,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
PayPal\u2019s shares dropped 1.5% to $213.34 at 2:57 p.m. in New York. The stock has climbed 97% this year, outpacing the 36% advance of the S&P 500 Information Technology Index.<\/p>\n