By LONDON (Reuters) - PayPal Holdings Inc will announce later on Tuesday that it has started allowing U.S. consumers to use their cryptocurrency holdings to pay at millions of its online merchants globally, a move that could significantly boost use of digital assets in everyday commerce.Customers who hold bitcoin, ether, bitcoin cash and litecoin in PayPal digital wallets will now be able to convert their holdings into fiat currencies at checkouts to make purchases, the company said.The service, which PayPal revealed it was working on late last year, will be available at all of its 29...…By LONDON (Reuters) - PayPal Holdings Inc will announce later on Tuesday that it has started allowing U.S. consumers to use their cryptocurrency holdings to pay at millions of its online merchants globally, a move that could significantly boost use of digital assets in everyday commerce.Customers who hold bitcoin, ether, bitcoin cash and litecoin in PayPal digital wallets will now be able to convert their holdings into fiat currencies at checkouts to make purchases, the company said.The service, which PayPal revealed it was working on late last year, will be available at all of its 29...WW…

By , (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc is launching an automated wealth-management platform to invest customer funds across managed portfolios made up of exchange trade funds for stocks and bonds, the bank said on Tuesday.Consumers can open an account with Marcus Invest with a minimum of $1,000 and will be charged an annual fee of 0.35%, the bank said.Goldman’s robo-adviser will allocate and rebalance customers’ wealth based on models developed by the bank’s investment-strategy group, which has traditionally catered to institutions and the ultra-rich.The move is the latest digital banking...…By , (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc is launching an automated wealth-management platform to invest customer funds across managed portfolios made up of exchange trade funds for stocks and bonds, the bank said on Tuesday.Consumers can open an account with Marcus Invest with a minimum of $1,000 and will be charged an annual fee of 0.35%, the bank said.Goldman’s robo-adviser will allocate and rebalance customers’ wealth based on models developed by the bank’s investment-strategy group, which has traditionally catered to institutions and the ultra-rich.The move is the latest digital banking...WW…

By , LONDON (Reuters) - Tesla boss Elon Musk is a poster child of low-carbon technology. Yet the electric carmaker’s backing of bitcoin this week could turbo-charge global use of a currency that’s estimated to cause more pollution than a small country every year.Tesla Inc revealed on Monday it had bought $1.5 billion of bitcoin and would soon accept it as payment for cars, sending the price of the cryptocurrency though the roof.So what’s the problem, you may ask? Bitcoin’s virtual, so it’s not like it’s made from paper or plastic, or even metal.The digital currency is created when...…By , LONDON (Reuters) - Tesla boss Elon Musk is a poster child of low-carbon technology. Yet the electric carmaker’s backing of bitcoin this week could turbo-charge global use of a currency that’s estimated to cause more pollution than a small country every year.Tesla Inc revealed on Monday it had bought $1.5 billion of bitcoin and would soon accept it as payment for cars, sending the price of the cryptocurrency though the roof.So what’s the problem, you may ask? Bitcoin’s virtual, so it’s not like it’s made from paper or plastic, or even metal.The digital currency is created when...WW…

By (Reuters) - When Leondra Garrett wanted to stock up on three new pairs of shoes early last year, the North Carolina resident split a $161 online purchase into four installments through a “buy now, pay later” service, in what seemed like a convenient deal.Now, she admits she should have read the small print about missed payments.When the buy now, pay later (BNPL) provider tried to withdraw a payment from Garrett’s bank account a few months later, she didn’t have enough funds to cover it. Soon after, the 42-year-old was charged $40 in penalties and her credit score dropped 10 points to...…By (Reuters) - When Leondra Garrett wanted to stock up on three new pairs of shoes early last year, the North Carolina resident split a $161 online purchase into four installments through a “buy now, pay later” service, in what seemed like a convenient deal.Now, she admits she should have read the small print about missed payments.When the buy now, pay later (BNPL) provider tried to withdraw a payment from Garrett’s bank account a few months later, she didn’t have enough funds to cover it. Soon after, the 42-year-old was charged $40 in penalties and her credit score dropped 10 points to...WW…

By , , (Reuters) - Since last year, entrepreneur Dustin Krieger has faced bans by an expanding list of big tech companies: four blocked PayPal accounts, half a dozen Twitter deactivations, de-listed merchandise by Shopify and most recently Amazon’s removal of his widely reviewed book promoting the QAnon conspiracy theory.But he’s not giving up.“We’ll maintain our own presence everywhere we are allowed,” Krieger, president of a Wyoming-registered company, told Reuters.Technology firms including Amazon.com Inc, eBay Inc, and PayPal Holdings Inc, which have taken action against businesses...…By , , (Reuters) - Since last year, entrepreneur Dustin Krieger has faced bans by an expanding list of big tech companies: four blocked PayPal accounts, half a dozen Twitter deactivations, de-listed merchandise by Shopify and most recently Amazon’s removal of his widely reviewed book promoting the QAnon conspiracy theory.But he’s not giving up.“We’ll maintain our own presence everywhere we are allowed,” Krieger, president of a Wyoming-registered company, told Reuters.Technology firms including Amazon.com Inc, eBay Inc, and PayPal Holdings Inc, which have taken action against businesses...WW…

By LONDON (Reuters) - Criminals are becoming more sophisticated in their use of cryptocurrencies to launder money, with hundreds of millions of dollars of dirty funds last year flowing through digital wallets that allow users to hide their trail, according to Elliptic.At least 13% of all criminal proceeds in bitcoin passed through privacy wallets - which make it harder to track cryptocurrency transactions - in 2020, up from 2% in 2019, according to a study by the digital currency forensics firm.While cryptocurrency transactions are pseudonymous, they are recorded on a public ledger called...…By LONDON (Reuters) - Criminals are becoming more sophisticated in their use of cryptocurrencies to launder money, with hundreds of millions of dollars of dirty funds last year flowing through digital wallets that allow users to hide their trail, according to Elliptic.At least 13% of all criminal proceeds in bitcoin passed through privacy wallets - which make it harder to track cryptocurrency transactions - in 2020, up from 2% in 2019, according to a study by the digital currency forensics firm.While cryptocurrency transactions are pseudonymous, they are recorded on a public ledger called...WW…

By , LONDON (Reuters) - With bitcoin surging to the cusp of its 2017 all-time high, backers are hoping fewer frenzied retail investors means less chance of a crash this time around.But with little mainstream usage as a form of payment and global uncertainty clouding financial markets, bitcoin is still far from a safe bet, analysts said.“There are a lot of differences to what was happening before,” said Larry Cermak, director of research at cryptocurrency media firm The Block.“The price has steadily increased, we are seeing very little retail participation and markets are much more liquid...…By , LONDON (Reuters) - With bitcoin surging to the cusp of its 2017 all-time high, backers are hoping fewer frenzied retail investors means less chance of a crash this time around.But with little mainstream usage as a form of payment and global uncertainty clouding financial markets, bitcoin is still far from a safe bet, analysts said.“There are a lot of differences to what was happening before,” said Larry Cermak, director of research at cryptocurrency media firm The Block.“The price has steadily increased, we are seeing very little retail participation and markets are much more liquid...WW…

By , The new service makes PayPal one of the largest U.S. companies to provide consumers access to cryptocurrencies, which could help bitcoin and rival cryptocurrencies gain wider adoption as viable payment methods.The San Jose, California-based company hopes the service will encourage global use of virtual coins and prepare its network for new digital currencies that central banks and companies may develop, President and Chief Executive Dan Schulman said in an interview.“We are working with central banks and thinking of all forms of digital currencies and how PayPal can play a role,” he...…By , The new service makes PayPal one of the largest U.S. companies to provide consumers access to cryptocurrencies, which could help bitcoin and rival cryptocurrencies gain wider adoption as viable payment methods.The San Jose, California-based company hopes the service will encourage global use of virtual coins and prepare its network for new digital currencies that central banks and companies may develop, President and Chief Executive Dan Schulman said in an interview.“We are working with central banks and thinking of all forms of digital currencies and how PayPal can play a role,” he...WW…

By LONDON, Oct 21 (Reuters) - PayPal Holdings Inc joined the cryptocurrency market on Wednesday, allowing customers to buy, sell and hold bitcoin and other virtual coins using the U.S. digital payments company’s online wallets.PayPal customers will also be able to use cryptocurrencies to shop at the 26 million merchants on its network starting in early 2021, the company said in a statement.PayPal hopes the service will encourage global use of virtual coins and prepare its network for new digital currencies that may be developed by central banks and corporations, President and Chief...…By LONDON, Oct 21 (Reuters) - PayPal Holdings Inc joined the cryptocurrency market on Wednesday, allowing customers to buy, sell and hold bitcoin and other virtual coins using the U.S. digital payments company’s online wallets.PayPal customers will also be able to use cryptocurrencies to shop at the 26 million merchants on its network starting in early 2021, the company said in a statement.PayPal hopes the service will encourage global use of virtual coins and prepare its network for new digital currencies that may be developed by central banks and corporations, President and Chief...WW…

By , The new service makes PayPal one of the largest U.S. companies to provide consumers access to cryptocurrencies, which could help bitcoin and rival cryptocurrencies gain wider adoption as viable payment methods.The San Jose, California-based company hopes the service will encourage global use of virtual coins and prepare its network for new digital currencies that central banks and companies may develop, President and Chief Executive Dan Schulman said in an interview.“We are working with central banks and thinking of all forms of digital currencies and how PayPal can play a role,” he...…By , The new service makes PayPal one of the largest U.S. companies to provide consumers access to cryptocurrencies, which could help bitcoin and rival cryptocurrencies gain wider adoption as viable payment methods.The San Jose, California-based company hopes the service will encourage global use of virtual coins and prepare its network for new digital currencies that central banks and companies may develop, President and Chief Executive Dan Schulman said in an interview.“We are working with central banks and thinking of all forms of digital currencies and how PayPal can play a role,” he...WW…