EBay has been in talks to accept Bitcoin through its Braintree unit, according to a report Thursday (Aug. 14) in The Wall Street Journal.
The move will likely give the digital currency a much needed perception boost, which is especially critical given that Bitcoin’s value is based on public perception. “The price of bitcoin, which is correlated to media and public interest, has bounced between around the high $500s and the low $600s for some time. Now, it has dropped to $517,” TechCrunch reported on Thursday (May 14).
The Journal story on PayPal and Bitcoin, though, made clear that how integrated the two will be—at least initially—is unclear. “PayPal officials have meet in recent weeks with several companies that facilitate bitcoin transactions, including Coinbase,” the story said. “Braintree provides software for payments processing to many online and mobile companies like Uber and Airbnb. EBay and PayPal wouldn’t initially accept bitcoin, the people familiar with the matter said, but that could change over time.”
This all comes at a delicate time for Bitcoin, when government regulators are expressing concerns about digital currencies and JP Morgan is even preparing a new Bitcoin rival. (For more information on Bitcoin, please visit PYMNTS.com’s Bitcoin Tracker.)
