However his critics have warned against using Bitcoin in transactions as they think that cryptocurrency doesn’t offer anything better than the current payment processing system used by PayPal, this is called ACH and was started in the 70s. ACH is a network of financial transactions that processes large credit and debit card transactions.
“When we think about where eBay is right now,” Williams told International Business Times, “the backbone of PayPal is the ACH system, which is tried, true and stable. When we compare that to bitcoin, it [bitcoin] isn’t stable.”
Bitcoin is known to be volatile and often in the span of a month the price has swung several hundred dollars. This has been a challenge that programmers are faced with when thinking about how to implement the currency into their payment systems. The price of bitcoin in USD has gone to a high of $950 from $770 and then slid down to $445.
eBay added on virtual currency to their site in April, allowing shoppers to buy virtual currency, mining contracts or mining equipment. Each sale has been different but some currency vendors do charge as much as 10% to purchase bitcoins and this has stopped some people from getting the currency. Along with this there have been price fluctuations and this has meant that shoppers have had to think about the average price per bitcoin before going ahead and purchasing currency.
Integration of bitcoin into PayPal could offer an alternative way for people to pay for their products. Some people have said that virtual currency could perhaps help to bring down fees. However PayPal didn’t make any comment about how their fee systems would work if they should integrate bitcoin into PayPal. At the moment they charge around 3% to merchants who sell through the digital wallet.
PayPal and eBay for now are not using bitcoin and at the moment it is unclear as to whether eBay will use digital currency at all.
