PayPal unlikely to invest cash in cryptocurrencies

PayPal Holdings Inc is not likely to buy cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, the payments processor's Chief Financial Officer John Rainey told CNBC on Thursday.

"We're not going to invest corporate cash, probably, in sort of financial assets like that, but we want to capitalize on this growth opportunity that's in front of us" Rainey said in a CNBC interview.

PayPal said in October it will allow US customers to hold bitcoin and other virtual coins in its online wallet, and shop using cryptocurrencies at merchants on its network.

Earlier this week, Mastercard said it was planning to offer support for some cryptocurrencies on its network this year. Asset manager BlackRock Inc and payments company Square Inc have also recently backed cryptocurrencies.

Rainey said PayPal wanted to invest its money in services the company is currently providing, such as buy now, pay later.

Buy now, pay later services have blossomed across retail websites during the COVID-19 pandemic, as more people turned to online shopping.

PayPal's comments come amid a bitcoin frenzy after Elon Musk's electric vehicle company Tesla Inc revealed it had bought $1.5 billion of the cryptocurrency and would soon accept it as a form of payment for cars, sending the price of the digital currency higher.

Following Tesla's announcement, several companies came out with their views.

Uber Technologies Inc Chief Executive Officer Dara Khosrowshahi said the ride-hailing company discussed and "quickly dismissed" the idea of investing in bitcoin. However, he added that Uber could potentially accept the cryptocurrency as payment.

Twitter Inc said it was still undecided in holding bitcoin, while General Motors Co said it will evaluate whether bitcoin can be accepted as payment for its vehicles.