Paxful CEO and co-founder Ray Youssef says banks will have to support cryptocurrency if they want to remain relevant in the new economy.
In an interview with The Cryptonomist, Ray Youssef says PayPal is doing the right thing by adopting Bitcoin (BTC) and that banks and other digital wallets better get in before it’s too late.
“I think every bank and wallet in the world will have no choice but to enter crypto. Because if they don’t enter, crypto is entering their space and it’s going to leave them in the dust. So, the smart ones are getting in early. The small ones have already gotten in. And as far as PayPal doing this, I think it’s good.”
According to Youssef, PayPal and the entire crypto industry could do a lot more to innovate if authorities provide more regulatory guidance.
“That’s all people want is clarity. I think PayPal, there’s a lot more they could do… There’s a lack of clarity. There’s some regulation like the BitLicense, which you know could have been a lot better. It could have fostered a lot more innovation. But what we’re seeing is that the regulators are now only just starting to figure things out. It’s taking them some time, naturally.
It’s new technology and it’s our job to work with them, to help them understand what’s happening in this entire space so they can come out with some legislation that actually does protect the people, while at the same time allowing innovations to continue.”
In addition, Youssef believes PayPal could help the crypto industry more if they opened up their network to external Bitcoin transactions.
“If PayPal really wants to help crypto rather than just help themselves, what they should do is allow people who have PayPal accounts to transact with crypto OTC, outside of PayPal. As long as it’s a legitimate transaction, why not?
In the past, PayPal would shut down accounts for anyone trading PayPal for Bitcoin, and that’s accepting on your platform but still cracking down on legitimate, honest OTC trades. That doesn’t show good faith. If they want to help the industry, they’ll open up their network to that and they’ll make a process whereby people can declare they’re doing that and it’s all kosher.”
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