Following on from Tesla announcing that it bought Bitcoin to hold on its balance sheet, other large companies are saying they won’t buy it – but they do want to take advantage of the growth opportunities that it offers.
PayPal was the latest company to say that it is unlikely to buy Bitcoin. The payments giant currently allows its customers to hold the leading cryptocurrency, and others, on an online wallet. It also enables purchases using cryptocurrencies on its merchant network.
In a CNBC interview, the PayPal Chief Financial Officer, John Rainey commented:
“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”
The PayPal CEO, Dan Schulman, echoed these sentiments. While noting that digital wallets were a “natural complement to digital currencies” and that a transition to digital currencies was inevitable, he did remark:
“We want to use our balance sheet as a strategic weapon,” And “That may be returning cash to shareholders and it may be through acquisition”
Earlier in the week Mastercard announced that it was preparing for a future of crypto payments. The payments card provider said:
“We are here to enable customers, merchants and businesses to move digital value — traditional or crypto — however they want. It should be your choice, it’s your money.”
The rides service Uber also put on record yesterday that, while open to the possibility of accepting payments for rides in the future, it would not be buying Bitcoin. The Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, was quite vehement when he said:
“We’re going to keep our cash safe. We’re not in the speculation business,” he added. “The upside in our company is in the business that we’ve built, not the investments that we invest in.”
General Motors CEO Mary Barra commented last Wednesday that:
“We don’t have any plans to invest in bitcoin. Full stop there.”
However, she was receptive to the idea of accepting Bitcoin as payment for vehicles when she remarked:
“This is something we’ll monitor and we’ll evaluate. If there’s strong customer demand for it in the future, there’s nothing that precludes us from doing that.”
Other big companies are sitting on the fence and Twitter is one of those still undecided. According to the social media giant in a Reuters article, it has thought about holding Bitcoin on its balance sheet. Chief Financial Officer, Ned Segal, said:
“We might consider whether we would be transferring dollars to bitcoin at the time of the transaction or if we wanted bitcoin on our balance sheet ready to complete that transaction,”
Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.