PayPal will halt cryptocurrency sales in the UK until 2024

LONDON, Aug 16 (Reuters) – Payment giant PayPal (PYPL.O) It will stop allowing UK customers to buy cryptocurrency through its platform from October as it works to comply with new rules around cryptocurrency promotions.

Britain’s financial regulator must incorporate tougher rules to limit how cryptocurrency is advertised to UK consumers, including requiring cryptocurrency companies to carry risk warnings and removing “refer-a-friend” bonuses.

PayPal will “temporarily pause” the ability for customers to buy cryptocurrency on its platform starting October 1 while it works to comply with the new regulations, which take effect on October 8, it said in an email to customers on Tuesday. . He said he expects to restart in “early 2024.”

“PayPal is constantly working closely with regulators around the world to comply with applicable rules and regulations in the markets in which we operate,” he told customers in the email, a copy of which he shared with Reuters.

He said that customers could hold and sell their cryptocurrencies “at any time.”

The news was previously reported by crypto news outlets, including CoinJournal.

PayPal first launched buying and selling cryptocurrency in the UK in 2021.

Regulators around the world are increasingly seeking to regulate crypto assets, after the collapse of several crypto firms, including FTX, last year left amateur investors with heavy losses.

After token prices fell sharply last year, the price of the top cryptocurrency bitcoin has gradually recovered, rising around 76% year to date. Still, its price is less than half the all-time high reached in November 2021.

Earlier this month, PayPal’s shares soared when it announced it had launched a US dollar stablecoin – a type of cryptocurrency designed to maintain a constant price by being tied to a stable asset.

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