PayPal Offers Cash Option in Russia

PayPal is jumping onto the cash-based electronic payments business trend in Russia, The Moscow Times reported.

The online payment platform launched in Russia last year and this move positions PayPal to offer customers both a card and cash option for payment transactions. Customers are able to do so by setting up an online PayPal wallet that will process transactions through Rapida, a Russian payment system.

According to The Moscow Times: “A law passed this year upping controls on anonymous payments limits the size of transactions to a maximum of 15,000 rubles ($330) per transaction, or up to 40,000 rubles a month ($870).” It also reported that last year, non-banking payment terminals handled 850 billion rubles ($18.6 billion) in payments.

“The new service makes Russia virtually the only place in the world where individuals can choose not to link a bank or credit card with their PayPal account,,” Vladimir Malugin, head of PayPal’s Russian office, told The Moscow Times.