Sam Bourgi
Global payments provider PayPal is in the process of recruiting for several cryptocurrency-related positions at its Ireland offices, further highlighting the company’s ambitions in the rapidly growing digital asset market.
The Dublin-based Irish Independent reported Sunday that PayPal is looking to fill various crypto-focused roles in compliance, anti-money laundering and business development for its Dublin and Dundalk offices.
PayPal launched a dedicated crypto and blockchain business unit earlier this year to support its foray into cryptocurrencies, which initially began in October 2020 by allowing customers in the United States to buy Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Litecoin (LTC). In March of this year, the company expanded its offering by allowing U.S. customers to pay for goods and services using their digital asset holdings. Two months later, PayPal said it would allow customers to withdraw their cryptocurrencies to third-party wallets.
Martin Young
Jack Dorsey’s Square has reported a 200% increase in Bitcoin revenue for the second quarter year-on-year (YoY). The company announced the impressive earnings figures in its second-quarter shareholder letter on August 1. In the report, Square revealed its total gross profit grew 91% YoY to $1.14 billion.
Bitcoin services drove $2.72 billion in revenue for the app, with a gross profit of $55 million, respective increases of 210% and 223% respectively year-on-year. Cash App generated a gross profit of $546 million overall, up 94% YoY.
“Bitcoin revenue and gross profit benefited from year-over-year increases in the price of bitcoin and bitcoin activities, and growth in customer demand.”
However, compared to the first quarter of this year, Bitcoin revenue and gross profit decreased and is down 22.3% from 3.5 billion. Square attributed the weaker performance to the more than 50% retracement suffered by the broader crypto markets during May and June.
Martin Young
Nigerian cryptocurrency adoption continues to rise in spite of government crackdown, with peer-to-peer (P2P) trade volume for Bitcoin posting its second strongest week on record last month.
According to data from Google Trends, Nigeria still ranks number by search interest for the keyword “Bitcoin” as of this writing. P2P Bitcoin trading denominated in the Nigerian Naira has also steadily increased in 2021, with Nigeria ranking behind only the United States as the second-largest market for peer-to-peer BTC trading, according to Useful Tulips.
The growing Bitcoin adoption in Nigeria has helped Sub-Saharan Africa emerge as the leading region by P2P volume, with the region posting $18.8 million in weekly volume to beat out North America’s $18 million this past week.
A confluence of political and economic crises has spurred local crypto adoption, including social repression, currency controls, and rampant inflation.
This Daily Dose was brought to you by Cointelegraph.
