While buying lunch with crypto is still a ways away for most people, Paypal (PYPL) is well on its way to making it happen sooner — the fintech company just named six members to its first Blockchain, Crypto and Digital Currencies advisory council..
The goal is to guide PayPal into the launch of "a more affordable, efficient and inclusive digital financial system," Jose Fernandez da Ponte, VP of Global Business Development at PayPal, said in a press release Tuesday,
What Is The Advisory Council Doing?
"We have established a cross-disciplinary advisory council on Blockchain, Crypto and Digital Currencies (BCDC) comprised of some of the world’s leading experts in cryptography, distributed technology, regulation, economics, and capital markets," he added.
The six members are:
- Peter Briger Jr., Fortress Investment Group co-CEO;
- Chris Brummer, Georgetown Law professor;
- Shafi Goldwasser, University of California, Berkeley's Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing director;
- Timothy Massad, former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Stability;
- Antoinette Schoar, MIT finance professor;
- Neha Narula, MIT Digital Currency Initiative director.
While PayPal is scant on news on what the council will discuss or the timeframe in which it will operate, it's clear that the advisory company is interested in branching out into the crypto sphere more concretely — potentially for facilitating transfers between different users.
Is Crypto Finally Becoming More Mainstream?
While news of bitcoin apartment purchases and partnerships with pizza chains make the news, most retailers do not currently have the technology to facilitate everyday small transactions in currencies like bitcoin or ether.
The debate on whether using cryptocurrency for small purchases is feasible or even necessary rages on, but there are many people invested in making it a reality — this week, Block offshoot Cash App said it has integrated with Lightning Network to let people in the U.S. transfer bitcoin for free. Founder Jack Dorsey has been focusing his energy on promoting the use of cryptocurrency even before stepping down as Twitter CEO last November.
"As a global leader in commerce and payments with bold ambitions for shaping how blockchain, crypto, digital currencies will provide increased access to financial services in the near term, we believe it is crucial to engage with the world’s best leaders to better understand the industry's most compelling opportunities and complex challenges," the PayPal statement reads.
