The leading payment processor has corroborated reports suggesting it has acquired crypto custodian Curv
PayPal announced yesterday that it has acquired the digital asset company Curv, confirming reports making rounds on social media since last week. The world’s largest payment processor revealed it would complete the purchase by the second quarter of the year.
Reports of the acquisition surfaced at the beginning of last week, with PayPal finally substantiating the rumours through a press release.
“PayPal Holdings today announced that it has agreed to acquire Curv to accelerate and expand its initiatives to support cryptocurrencies and digital assets. Curv is a leading provider of cloud-based infrastructure for digital asset security based in Tel Aviv, Israel.”
The company’s blockchain, crypto, and digital currencies VP, Jose Fernandez da Ponte explained that the purchase would help achieve the objective of a sweeping financial system.
“The acquisition of Curv is part of our effort to invest in the talent and technology to realize our vision for a more inclusive financial system,” he said. “We’ve been impressed by their technical talent, entrepreneurial spirit, and the thinking behind the technology they’ve built in the last few years. We’re excited to welcome the Curv team to PayPal.”
Speaking about the developments, Curv’s chief executive Itay Malinger set forth that PayPal was best suited to help the crypto firm realise its innovation goals.
“As a pioneer in security infrastructure for digital assets, Curv is proud to be recognized as an innovator and trusted partner to leading financial institutions around the world. Now, as the adoption of digital assets accelerates, we feel there’s no better home than PayPal to continue our journey of innovation.”
PayPal did not divulge any specific details regarding the cost of the acquisition. However, reports estimate the purchase to be in the range of $500 million. This is not the first crypto-related undertaking PayPal has been involved in however.
The payment service company announced support of crypto purchase on its platform in October last year. The development meant that its users could conveniently buy and even hold crypto on the platform. The crypto sector quickly reacted to the announcement resulting in a $25 billion crypto market capital leap.