Venmo will enable fiat-to-crypto payments in May

Users of mobile payments service Venmo will soon be able to buy cryptocurrencies and send them to other Venmo users or external wallets beginning in May, according to an April 28 announcement from PayPal executive Jose Fernandez da Ponte. PayPal is the parent company of Venmo.

Dropping in to announce a new feature of ours: crypto transfers?Get started now. https://t.co/R9QtUENfae pic.twitter.com/UoeEAWVhlz

— Venmo (@Venmo) April 28, 2023

At a Consensus 2023 interview titled “PayPal’s Next Chapter in Crypto,” da Ponte explained how the new feature will work:

“Starting in May, we are going to be enabling on-chain transfers from Venmo wallets, meaning that you can buy crypto on Venmo and send it to another Venmo user; you can send it to a PayPal user; you can send it to [an] external wallet; you can send it to your hardware wallet.”

The executive said this feature would expand the choices available to Venmo users, which he said has proven successful when implemented on PayPal. It would also provide a “use case” for digital assets because now crypto will be used for “fast and free near-instant transfers between Venmo wallets and PayPal wallets, which is basically connecting two of the largest networks and wallets in the country.”

An April 28 help page from Venmo’s website states that verified users will also be able to receive crypto from external addresses through a “crypto address QR code.”

Venmo started allowing crypto purchases in April 2021, and the app’s mobile version currently lists Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Litecoin (LTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) as options. Crypto features do not appear to be available on the desktop version.

PayPal has partnered with other companies to expand its crypto service offerings. In December, the payment provider integrated with MetaMask, allowing MetaMask users to purchase crypto through their PayPal personal accounts and have it sent directly to their self-custodial wallets.