PayPal reportedly plans to offer direct crypto sales to its 305 million customers

The company currently facilitates payments in over 100 currencies

Last week, PayPal listed a job opening for “technical lead – crypto engineer” on LinkedIn and its website. AP

FinTech firm PayPal is reportedly planning to roll out a new service that will allow its 305 million users to directly sell and purchase cryptocurrencies from its platform, according to a new report.

The California-based company would be working with "multiple exchanges to source liquidity" and is looking forward to launching this service "in the next three months, maybe sooner", CoinDesk, reported.

“My understanding is that they are going to allow [buying] and [selling] of crypto directly from PayPal and Venmo,” the US-based news site said, citing a source.

“They are going to have some sort of a built-in wallet functionality so you can store it (cryptocurrency) there.”

PayPal did not respond to a request to comment from The National.

It is not yet clear which, or how many, cryptocurrencies PayPal would incorporate in this new project, or if it would involve the company's Venmo mobile payment service.

So far, customers can use PayPal services as an alternative medium to withdraw funds from crypto exchanges but the firm does not directly sell digital currencies.

PayPal facilitates receipt of funds in over 100 currencies and withdrawals in 56 currencies.

Speculation about the FinTech firm's foray into cryptocurrencies gained pace after PayPal listed a job opening for “technical lead – crypto engineer” on LinkedIn and its own website last week.

The role includes designing, developing and maintaining key crypto products targeted towards scalability of PayPal services, the company said in the job description.

“The role expects [a] high standard of engineering excellence with practical experience in building and maintaining internet-scale applications and services. We are looking for a person who is passionate about security and can thrive in [a] high pressure environment and is an expert in crypto domain,” it added.

The new role is based out of Chennai where PayPal has an engineering team working on cryptocurrencies.

Earlier this year, the company posted jobs for roles to strengthen its blockchain research group. It posted eight engineering positions – four each in San Jose and Singapore.

Blockchain is a digital chain of transactions that are linked with each other using cryptography – a mechanism for secure communications – on an open ledger.

"We are a strong believer in the potential of blockchain. The digitisation of currency is only a matter of when not if," the company's chief technology officer Sri Shivananda said in an earlier interview with CoinDesk.

Last year, PayPal said it would support Facebook’s cryptocurrency project, but later backed out after regulatory pressure on the project increased.