Major American cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has introduced PayPal Instant Cash Withdrawals — free of charge.
Coinbase customers can now link their PayPal and Coinbase accounts. New users will have to complete all ID verification steps. Current customers who wish to take advantage of PayPal’s instant and free withdrawals must first link their PayPal account to their Coinbase account. After you’re verified and linked, look for the PayPal withdrawal option — If you don’t see the option to add PayPal as a payment method, then this feature is not yet available for your region.
So far, customers can only use PayPal to withdraw or sell, Coinbase does not support the ability to purchase digital currency using your PayPal account. Depending on the country of residence, Coinbase customers can either withdraw cash to PayPal or sell their crypto directly to their PayPal account.
Currently, there is only support for U.S., Jersey, Norway, Romania, Switzerland, and San Marino based PayPal accounts, but the exchange has plans to roll out this service to users from other countries throughout 2019. As soon as it’s ready, you’ll receive an email with instructions on how to link your PayPal account.
Coinbase and PayPal were previously integrated in 2016. Due to technical difficulties, the integration was terminated. They limited Coinbase users to two withdrawal methods offered by the legacy financial system, being ACH transfers and bank wire transfers. These methods provided by traditional finance networks can add up to 2 – 3 business days on top of the withdrawal, they come with different fees, and they can be complicated and time consuming for some users.
PayPal filed a patent with the United States in March to speed up payments in cryptocurrency. The patent describes an “Expedited Virtual Currency Transaction System” that uses private secondary keys to shorten wait times for transactions between consumers and traders.
With this move, Coinbase has improved its range of services. Coinbase announced in September that it would soon be able to list more digital assets more quickly. Last month, the exchange announced it has begun to consider adding more tradeable cryptocurrencies with up to 31 new coins, including Ripple, EOS, and Cardano.