Users of MetaMask can now buy and transfer Ether thanks to a partnership between MetaMask's parent firm ConsenSys and the digital payments platform PayPal.
The service will initially only be available to a limited number of American PayPal users, given the US is one of MetaMask's main user markets, according to the announcement made on December 14.
Customers can purchase and transfer ETH from PayPal to MetaMask through their mobile MetaMask app. They will then be redirected to their PayPal account to finish their transactions.
"This integration with PayPal will allow our U.S. consumers to not only buy cryptocurrency securely through MetaMask but to easily explore the Web3 ecosystem," said Lorenzo Santos, product manager for MetaMask.
PayPal is one of a growing number of traditional payment providers incorporating crypto assets into their offerings and aiming to make it simple for customers to engage with the crypto ecosystem.
Over the past few years, PayPal has embraced cryptocurrency in a number of ways. A "checkout with crypto" function that supported Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, and Bitcoin Cash was added in 2021 after it first enabled consumers to buy, hold, and trade cryptocurrencies on its platform in 2020.
Since 2020, the payment app had largely kept customer cryptocurrency holdings isolated within its ecosystem; but, starting in June, users were able to move any cryptocurrency they had purchased through PayPal to other wallets or exchanges.
MoneyGram, a global peer-to-peer payments provider, stated in November that American users, including those in Washington, DC, could purchase, trade, and store cryptocurrencies, particularly Bitcoin.
Western Union also filed three trademark applications in October for managing digital wallets, exchanging digital assets, and trading commodities derivatives, indicating the payments provider likely intends to broaden its Web3-related service offerings.
Cash App, a mobile payment processing app, has introduced support for Bitcoin Lightning Network transactions so that users can send and receive BTC using the quicker, more effective layer-2 protocol.
