Paypal is in deep negotiation to acquire crypto startup Curv, according to sources close to the story. On Tuesday, an Israeli news outlet reported that the deal could be worth between $200 million and $300 million. However, the payment giant could be paying more than that, as an inside source said Paypal is buying the firm for $500 million.
“From where I’m hearing it, I’m pretty sure it’s true,” the source expecting a $500 million deal stated.
An alternative to BitGo
The crypto community believes PayPal’s decision to buy Curv came after failing to buy crypto custody and trading firm BitGo last year. Sources familiar with the BitGo deal said PayPal offered $750 million in cash for BitGo but the deal fell through. PayPal or Curv have not made any official announcement about the acquisition yet.
Curv was established in 2018 and is based in New York. However, the company based its research and development offices in Tel-Aviv.
The company offers multi-party computation (MPC) security technology. The technology deploys both hot and cold wallets, as well as the keyless security infrastructure. It backs these infrastructures with a team of cybersecurity experts and cryptographers.
In October last year, the startup had a series A funding, raising $30 million in the process, from a wide range of venture capitals.
PayPal’s growing interest in cryptocurrencies
After staying away from the crypto industry for a year, PayPal decided to join the league when it enabled crypto services on its platform. This has gone a long way to increase crypto adoption. Several other payment companies like Visa and Mastercard have since followed PayPal’s lead, although in a much lesser capacity.
PayPal’s new crypto service allows users to sell, buy, or hold Bitcoin and some other top crypto assets. At the same time, it partnered with Paxos to enable crypto payment facilitation.
Additionally, Paypal has engaged several other companies in a bid to promote its new crypto service. The report revealed that expected demand for its new service has exceeded expectations.
PayPal is also gradually expanding its crypto services for its international userbase. It has already concluded plans to roll out a service in the United Kingdom. Apart from the traditional buying and selling services it offers presently, the payment giant also wants to enable crypto payments at all its global merchant partners. The seriousness of the company’s expansion in the crypto industry has impacted the industry positively.
